What Is Silent Music
Copyright Risk?
Unlicensed music in brand social media creates exposure that never appears on an application or a loss run. Here's what it is and why it matters to insurers.
By Liam Doolan, Founder & Director
Insurers use the word silent for exposure that sits inside a policy without ever being priced or modelled. Cyber was the classic example: losses landing on property and liability wordings that were never written with them in mind. Music copyright on social media is the same kind of risk, and it is growing quickly.
Where the exposure comes from
Almost every business now markets itself with short-form video. Restaurants post reels, gyms post class clips, retailers post product drops, and agencies post for dozens of clients at once. Much of that content uses popular, commercially released music, because that is what the platforms put at users' fingertips.
The catch is that the main music libraries on TikTok and Instagram are licensed for personal, non-commercial use. Brand content is limited to commercially cleared libraries, such as TikTok's Commercial Music Library and Meta's Sound Collection. Using a chart track in a brand post, an ad or an influencer collaboration usually needs a separate licence that most businesses never obtain.
Why it is expensive
In the US, statutory damages run from $750 to $30,000 per work, and up to $150,000 per work where infringement is found to be wilful. The rightsholder does not need to prove any actual loss. A brand that has used a few hundred tracks across several accounts can face a claim in the tens of millions before legal costs.
Rightsholders are acting on it. Sony's claim against Marriott over music in hotel and franchise posts was reported at around $140M. Warner Music sued Crumbl over 159 songs, Universal sued Chili's parent over 62 social videos, and in 2022 a US court found Bang Energy liable for music in its own TikTok videos, including influencer content posted on its behalf.
Why it stays silent
- It is not on the application. No proposal form asks which songs an insured posts.
- It is not in the loss data. Most claims settle privately, so they never reach the loss history that pricing relies on.
- It keeps growing after binding. Insureds, franchisees and influencers keep posting every day the policy is in force.
Depending on wording, defence costs and settlements can fall on general liability (personal and advertising injury), media liability or errors and omissions cover. None of those lines were priced for it.
Measuring it
The exposure is measurable, because it is public. Every post an insured has published can be checked for commercial music and matched to its rights holder. That is what Silent Coverage does: a website, company name or social handle is all we need to return an overall risk score, total statutory exposure and exposure to the Big 3 music companies (Universal, Sony and Warner) within 24 hours: a risk analysis that lets you make an informed decision on the account.
Once the number exists, it can be priced, excluded or remediated, before a demand letter turns it into a loss.