In short: A trending song that is fine in an organic post can become a problem once the video runs as an ad. TikTok says the songs in its General Music Library are “not pre-cleared for commercial content” and points businesses to its Commercial Music Library, and a March 2026 article by the law firm Osborne Clarke says most platform music offerings are licensed only for private use. The simple fix for UGC is to brief creators to film with their own voice and natural sound, and to let the brand add music from a library that is cleared for ads.
Why music is different once a video becomes an ad
A platform’s music library is built for people posting on their own accounts. An ad is a different use, because a business is promoting a product. Osborne Clarke’s article on music and social media says that “the appropriate licences must therefore be obtained in advance from all rights holders” for the intended use. It also says: “Even short snippets of music are regularly subject to licensing requirements in a marketing and advertising context.” It adds that one recording can involve several rights holders, such as composers, lyricists and record producers, so a license has to cover both the composition and the sound recording.
The same article says that most platform music offerings “are intended solely for private users and licensed only for private use” and are not intended for commercial influencers, corporate accounts or paid collaborations. It also reads “commercial” broadly: as soon as an economic purpose is pursued, even indirectly, one is operating in the commercial sphere. The article is written from the perspective of one European country’s copyright law, so details differ elsewhere, but the point matches what TikTok says on its own pages.
What TikTok says
- Commercial Music Library. TikTok describes it as “a growing collection of songs and sound effects from around the world” for “royalty-free use in branded content and ads”, with songs “to use in your organic and paid content”. It asks you to use a Business Account.
- General Music Library. “Songs in our General Music Library are not pre-cleared for commercial content.” TikTok warns that promoting a business with it through a personal account puts you “at risk of copyright infringement”.
What Meta says
Osborne Clarke names the Meta Sound Collection as an example of a royalty-free library offered for business use on Facebook, notes that Instagram planned to mark royalty-free tracks with “RF”, and cautions that not all royalty-free songs in the music library were clearly identifiable when it wrote. Instagram’s own help page on music mentions rights agreements and access to Meta’s Sound Collection. YouTube and other platforms have their own libraries and terms, so read the current rules for each platform you advertise on.
What this means for UGC videos
This part is practical advice, not from a source.
- Music gets baked in. A creator who adds a trending sound in an editing app often exports a file where music and voice are mixed together. If the brand runs that file as an ad, the track goes with it, and it cannot be taken out without losing the voice.
- The brand carries the risk. It is the brand’s ad that runs with the track in it, so the brand should ask for clean audio up front.
- Brands can choose music later. A video with a voice and natural sound can have a cleared track added in the ad platform or editing tool, and changed when the ad is refreshed.
Your options at a glance
| Option | Fit for ads? | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Voice and natural sound only | Yes | The brand adds cleared music later |
| Track from a commercial library | On that platform | Check the library’s terms |
| Track the brand licenses itself | As the license says | Check term, territory and media |
| Trending song from a personal-use library | No | TikTok: not pre-cleared |
What to put in the brief
- “Film with your own voice and natural sound. Please do not add music or trending sounds.”
- If music is wanted, name the track, say which library it comes from and confirm it is cleared for paid ads on the platforms you use.
- Ask for the video without music, so the brand can add its own.
- Say where the video will run, including paid ads, so the music matches the use.
A music clause also belongs in your contract if you work outside a platform; see the UGC contract checklist. For what “paid use” covers, see UGC usage rights explained.
Checklist for creators
- Do not put a trending sound under a video you deliver to a brand unless the brief names it and it is cleared for ads.
- Record clear voice and natural sound, and keep the room quiet instead of covering noise with music.
- If you are not sure where a track comes from, leave it out.
- Keep a note of any track you did use and where you got it.
On Usicri
On every upload the creator confirms that they hold the rights to everything in the video, music included (see the declaration on the upload form and the Terms of Service). A track from a personal-use library is not something a creator can honestly confirm for an ad, so film with your own voice and natural sound and leave music to the brand. An approved, paid video comes with a license that covers advertising, which is exactly why the video should not carry anything the creator could not license. Usicri does not check videos for music rights, so the checklists above are for you. See open campaigns.
Other people in the frame are covered in model releases for UGC.