How to Find Royalty-Free Music on TikTok

Finding the perfect song for your TikTok can feel like striking gold - it elevates your video from good to unforgettable. But using trending audio without the right permissions can land you in hot water, leading to muted videos, copyright strikes, or even account penalties. This guide walks you through the safe and simple ways to find high-quality, royalty-free music, so you can focus on creating content that connects without worrying about legal headaches.

Why You Can't Just Use Any Song on TikTok

Before jumping into the "how," it's helpful to understand the "why." Every piece of popular music you hear on the radio, Spotify, or in a movie is protected by copyright. This means the creators and owners of that music have the exclusive right to decide how it's used. When you use a popular song in a video promoting your business or brand without a license, you're infringing on that copyright.

TikTok has licensing agreements with many major music labels, which is why an enormous library of popular music is available for personal use within the app. However, these licenses typically don't cover commercial use - that is, any video created by a brand, business, or creator promoting a product or service. Using a trending but unlicensed sound for your brand's video can result in:

• Muted Audio: TikTok's algorithm can detect copyrighted music and will often remove the sound from your video, leaving it awkwardly silent.
• Video Removal: In more serious cases, the platform may take your video down entirely.
• Account Penalties: Repeated copyright violations can lead to a strike against your account, and multiple strikes might result in a temporary or permanent ban.

For brands and serious creators, the risk simply isn't worth it. Sticking to royalty-free music is the only way to safeguard your content and your account's health.

The Easiest and Safest Method: TikTok's Commercial Music Library

The best place to start is right inside the TikTok app. Recognizing the needs of businesses, TikTok created a dedicated library of music that is fully pre-cleared for commercial use on the platform.

The TikTok Commercial Music Library gives business accounts access to over a million songs and sounds from emerging and established artists. You can use any track from this library in your organic content and ads on TikTok without worrying about copyright infringement.

How to Access the Commercial Music Library:

1. Make sure your account is registered as a TikTok Business Account. You can switch this in your settings by going to Manage account >, Switch to Business Account.
2. Start creating a video by tapping the "+" icon.
3. Tap "Add sound" at the top of the screen.
4. You'll automatically be taken to the Commercial Music Library. If you want to be sure, look for the "Commercial Sounds" tab.
5. You can browse by recommended playlists, genres, trends, new releases, or use the search bar to find a specific vibe, mood, or instrumental.

While this library doesn't contain the latest Top 40 hits from major artists, it's constantly updated with high-quality tracks that sound professionally produced. You can often find songs here that are trending among other business accounts, giving you a safe way to participate in sound-based trends.

For More Variety: Third-Party Royalty-Free Music Platforms

If you've searched the Commercial Music Library and can't find the perfect track, or if you want a more unique sound to establish your brand's identity, a dedicated royalty-free music platform is your next best bet. These services offer vast catalogs of music, often searchable by BPM, mood, genre, and instrumentation. Most operate on a subscription model, where a monthly or annual fee gives you unlimited downloads and a license to use the music in your projects.

Here are some of the most popular and creator-friendly platforms:

1. Epidemic Sound

A favorite among YouTubers and social media managers, Epidemic Sound offers a massive library of over 40,000 tracks and 90,000 sound effects. Their subscription gives you a license that covers your use of their music across all your social platforms, not just TikTok. The search functionality is excellent, letting you filter by everything from genre to vocal characteristics.

2. Artlist

Artlist is known for its high-quality, cinematic-style music curated from a global network of independent artists. Its subscription includes a "universal license," which means any song you download while subscribed is yours to use in your projects forever, even if you cancel your subscription later. This is a huge benefit for building a personal library of go-to tracks.

3. Soundstripe

Similar to the options above, Soundstripe boasts a large, radio-quality catalog of music and sound effects. They offer clear, creator-friendly licensing plans and have useful integrations with tools like Adobe Premiere Pro and Frame.io, making it a great choice for video-heavy workflows.

4. Uppbeat

If you're on a tight budget, Uppbeat is a fantastic place to look. It offers a generous free plan that allows creators to download a limited number of full tracks per month, which is perfect for just getting started. The library is curated for creators and focuses on current, upbeat, and relevant styles. You just have to add a simple credit to your description when using a free track.

How to Add Third-Party Music to Your TikTok Videos

Using music from an external service takes a few extra steps, but it's simpler than you might think.

1. Find and download the song you want to use from your chosen platform (e.g., Epidemic Sound, Artlist).
2. Save the audio file to your phone or computer.
3. Use a video editing app like CapCut (TikTok's free, powerful editing counterpart) or another tool like InShot or Adobe Rush.
4. Import your video clips and the downloaded audio track into the editing app.
5. Edit your video and sync the cuts to the rhythm of the music.
6. Export the final video with the music already attached.
7. Upload this final video directly to TikTok. Since you licensed the music, it is safe to use.

Pro Tip: When uploading a video with your own licensed audio, TikTok will still prompt you to add a sound. To keep your original audio, simply open the "Add sound" menu, go to the "Volume" tab, and make sure the "Original sound" is turned up to 100% and the "Added sound" is at 0%.

The Free But Careful Route: Creative Commons Music

For those who need completely free options, the world of Creative Commons (CC) licensing offers a way. A CC license is one way creators can grant others permission to use their work for free, as long as certain conditions are met.

However, you must pay close attention to the specific type of license.

Common Creative Commons Licenses:

• Attribution (CC BY): You can use the music for any purpose (including commercially) as long as you give credit to the original creator. This is typically the most flexible option for brands.
• Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND): You can use the track but cannot change it in any way.
• Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC): This is the big one to watch out for. It means you cannot use the music for commercial purposes - so it's off-limits for brand accounts.

Where to Find Creative Commons Music

• YouTube Audio Library: One of the best-kept secrets for free music. You can access it through YouTube Studio. It has thousands of high-quality tracks and sound effects, and you can filter specifically for music that is free to use without attribution.
• Free Music Archive (FMA): A long-standing library of free music with a robust collection of tracks under various Creative Commons licenses. Be sure to check the license for each individual song.
• SoundCloud: Use the search filter to look for music "to use commercially." It's another great place to discover indie artists, but always double-check the license details on the track page before downloading.

When using CC-licensed music that requires attribution, a good practice is to credit the artist right in your TikTok caption or in a pinned comment. For example: "Music: '[Song Title]' by [Artist Name], licensed under CC BY 4.0."

Final Thoughts

Securing the right to use music on TikTok is a fundamental step in building a sustainable and professional brand presence. By using TikTok's Commercial Music Library, subscribing to a reputable royalty-free service, or carefully navigating the world of Creative Commons, you can safely score your content with amazing tracks that capture your audience's attention and keep your account in good standing.

Once you've crafted the perfect video with perfectly-paired audio, getting it in front of your audience is the final, vital step. We built Postbase because we believe world-class content creation deserves simple, reliable tools. Since Postbase was designed from the ground up for short-form video, you can plan your TikToks, Reels, and Shorts in one beautiful calendar, customize the content for each platform, and trust that it will publish exactly when you schedule it - every single time.