How to Post Covers on TikTok Without Copyright

Posting a great cover on TikTok can feel like hitting a creative jackpot, but the fear of a copyright takedown notice can kill the vibe. You've filmed the perfect take, harmonized like a pro, and are ready to share it - only to wonder if it will be muted or removed in minutes. Let's clear up the confusion. This guide breaks down exactly how copyright works on TikTok for cover songs and gives you actionable strategies to post your music without getting flagged.

First, A Quick Look at Music Copyright

Understanding why covers get flagged requires knowing a little bit about music rights. Every commercially released song has two primary copyrights attached to it:

• The Musical Composition: This is the song itself - the lyrics, melody, and arrangement. It's owned by the songwriter(s) and their music publisher (like Sony Music Publishing or Universal Music Publishing Group).
• The Sound Recording (or "Master"): This is the specific recorded version of a song you hear on Spotify or the radio. It's typically owned by the record label (like Columbia Records or Interscope).

When you post a video with a popular song playing from your phone, you're using both the composition and the sound recording. When you perform a cover song yourself, you are only using the musical composition, since you are creating your own new sound recording. In either case, you technically need permission (a license) from the copyright holders.

So how does anyone post music at all? The answer lies in TikTok's own extensive licensing deals.

The Safest Method: TikTok's Official Sound Library

The single most reliable way to post covers without copyright issues is by tapping into the system TikTok has already built. The platform has broad, multi-year licensing agreements with major record labels and music publishers. These deals allow users to include songs from their vast catalogs in videos. This is what populates the "Sounds" library on the platform.

When you use a sound directly from TikTok's Commercial Music Library, you're covered. You don't have to worry about securing separate licenses, as TikTok has already handled it for the billions of users on its platform.

For Personal and Creator Accounts: The General Sounds Library

If you have a personal or creator account, you have access to a massive library of popular and trending music. The majority of hit songs are available for you to use in your videos, including the originals of the songs you might want to cover.

This is your starting point. Any time you decide to record a cover, your first move should be to search for the official version of that song in TikTok's library.

For Business Accounts: The Commercial Sounds Library

This is an important distinction many brands miss. If your account is registered as a "Business Account," your access to music is much more limited. The sounds you see are from the "Commercial Sounds" library, a curated collection of over a million royalty-free tracks that are pre-cleared for advertising and promotional use.

Why the difference? TikTok's deals with record labels cover user-generated content (people having fun), not commercial advertising. A brand using a hit song to promote a product without a direct license from the rights holders would be committing serious copyright infringement. To protect brands (and itself), TikTok restricts business accounts to this royalty-free library. If you're running a brand, don't be tempted to use workarounds to access the popular sounds - it could land you in legal trouble.

The Big Question: What About Performing Your Own Cover?

This is where things get a bit more complex. When you play a guitar and sing a Taylor Swift song, you aren’t using her original sound recording. You’re only using the musical composition. To legally sync that composition with a video, you'd traditionally need what's called a "synchronization license" (or sync license) from the music publisher.

Getting a sync license for a major artist is notoriously difficult and expensive, so how are millions of covers posted on TikTok every day?

The answer, again, lies in TikTok's publisher deals. In addition to licensing sound recordings from labels, TikTok also strikes deals with major publishers. These agreements often give users a blanket license to create new recordings of the songs in their catalog for use on the platform. This means you singing and playing Ed Sheeran is often covered by the exact same agreement that covers someone using Ed Sheeran's original recording in a lip-sync video.

However, this protection has limits:

• The song has to be in a publisher's catalog that has a deal with TikTok. Most major publishers do, but indie artists or older, more obscure songs might not be covered.
• These agreements can and do change. A publisher could pull its catalog from TikTok at any time (as we've seen happen), and rights to covers of those songs would disappear overnight.

Because of this uncertainty, you still risk having your sound 'muted for copyright reasons' even when performing everything yourself if the publisher isn't covered or issues a takedown request. Fortunately, there's a powerful and widely used strategy to significantly reduce this risk.

Actionable Strategies for Posting Covers Safely

Forget the guesswork. Follow these steps to give your cover video the best possible chance of staying live and reaching an audience.

Strategy 1: Use the "Background Sound" Method (The Gold Standard)

This technique is the go-to for experienced creators because it directly leverages TikTok's audio recognition system. The platform's algorithm "listens" to the audio in your video to identify copyrighted material. By officially attaching the licensed sound to your video - even silently - you tell the algorithm that your content is cleared.

Here’s how to do it step-by-step:

1. Find the Original Song: Before you record, tap the "+" to create a new video, then tap "Add Sound" at the top. Search for the correct version of the song you plan to cover. Select it.
2. Adjust the Volume: Once back on the recording screen, you'll see a music note icon on the right-hand panel labeled "Sounds." Tap it. A volume slider will appear for the "Added sound." Turn this slider all the way down to 1% or 0%. The sound is now technically part of your video but will be inaudible.
3. Record Your Performance: Now, record your cover. Sing and play as you normally would. Your live performance will be the only thing the audience hears.
4. Post Your Video: When you're done, the information for the official song will be attached to your video, visible at the bottom. TikTok's system now recognizes your video as being "linked" to a licensed track, dramatically reducing the odds of it being flagged for copyright.

This single step solves the vast majority of potential copyright problems for your raw, live performances.

Strategy 2: Always Credit the Original Artist and Songwriter

While this isn't a legal defense, crediting the original artists is fundamental to cover song etiquette. It shows respect for their work and helps other users discover the original song. Far from hurting your visibility, it signals to both the community and algorithms that you understand you're interpreting someone else's work.

How to Credit Properly:

• In the Caption: A simple "Cover of 'Song Title' by @originalartist" is perfect. Tagging the artist's official TikTok account can sometimes even get you noticed by them.
• In the Hashtags: Use hashtags that clearly state it’s a cover. For example, #songtitlecover, #artistofthesongcover, or just a simple #cover.

Strategy 3: Transform The Song Substantially

The more your cover sounds like a unique reinterpretation, the better. Changing the genre, tempo, or switching from an electric to an acoustic arrangement creates a "transformative" work. While "transformative use" is a complex legal concept that doesn’t grant you immunity, highly original arrangements are less likely to be automatically flagged by audio-fingerprinting systems that are trying to match your performance to the original recording.

Strip it down to guitar or piano. Turn a rock anthem into a lo-fi chill track. The more "you" you put into it, the more distinct it becomes.

Strategy 4: Understand the Difference Between "Allowed" and "Monetizable"

Even if TikTok allows your cover video to remain on the platform, that doesn't automatically mean you can earn money from it through programs like the TikTok Creator Fund. Many licensing deals allow for a song's use in user videos but prohibit the user from directly monetizing that content. Any ad revenue or creator pool funds generated from views on that video will often be claimed by or shared with the music rights holders.

What If Your Cover Gets Muted Anyway?

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, a video gets muted or taken down. This usually happens for one of two reasons:

1. The publisher of the song does not have an active deal with TikTok.
2. A specific takedown request was issued for that song.

When this happens, you’ll get a notification explaining that your audio was removed for copyright reasons. You have the option to appeal, but unless you have an actual license for the composition, your chances of winning the appeal are very low. The best course of action is often to remove the video and move on. Don't re-upload it repeatedly, as multiple copyright strikes can put your entire account at risk.

Final Thoughts

Posting covers on TikTok doesn't have to be a guessing game. By understanding the basics of music copyright and leveraging the tools and licensing agreements TikTok provides, you can share your talent confidently. The safest path is always to use the "background sound" method, which tags your performance with the officially licensed audio and satisfies the algorithms.

Finding a content strategy that works for you, like consistently posting covers, is a huge win. But creators and social media managers know that once you've figured out the "what," the "how-to-manage-it-all" becomes the next big challenge. We built Postbase because we saw how many social media tools were stuck in the past, struggling with the short-form video formats that now dominate platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Planning a cohesive content calendar shouldn't mean fighting with clunky software, an intuitive visual calendar that handles Reels and TikToks natively makes it easy to see your entire strategy and stay consistent without the headache.