Last updated on October 3rd, 2022 at 05:37 pm
Using sound in creating a Tiktok video is very essential. A song or music is referred to as a Sound on Tiktok.
With the principal necessity of a sound for a Tiktok video to be wonderful, it can be disappointing to not get to use a sound of your choice.
It is frustrating to document a video only to get a ” This sound isn’t licensed for commercial use” response when a choice sound for the video is selected.
As a person who is very interested in being an active user of the Tiktok platform, this can be burdensome.
First of all, you must understand why this is happening. Then, you need to know what to do about the situation.
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Why Does My TikTok Say “This Sound Isn’t Licensed For Commercial Use”?
You get the “This sound isn’t licensed for commercial use” response when you operate a business account and wish to use a sound that is not covered in the Commercial Music Library.
There are two categories of accounts on Tiktok; the first is the Personal account and the second is the Professional account.
TikTok Personal Account
The personal account is the default account when a user first opens his or her account on TikTok.
It is after a user owns this account that he or she can switch to a professional account. Operating the personal account allows you access to any song of your choice.
However, the limitation of having 1000 followers before being verified and getting a link in your bio exists with the personal account.
TikTok Professional Account
Two types of accounts are under the professional account. The first is the Creator account.
Though the Creator account is a professional account, it is fun to work with and is open to an unlimited supply of songs.
The second account in this category is the Business Account. This account comes with an instant Link in the Bio feature irrespective of the number of followers the user of the account has.
However, this account does not have access to every kind of sound as at the last upgrade of the app.
The only sound that is licensed to this account are sounds in the Commercial Music Library which are Royalty-Free.
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TikTok Commercial Music Library
TikTok launched the Commercial Music Library in May 2020. This library is a collection of sounds that are permissible to be used for commercial purposes.
There are majorly Royalty Free sounds. This was done to take care of copyright issues that can arise from using some Main Stream songs that are copyrighted.
Having to have a limited supply of sounds for your TikTok video creation can be demanding. You don’t have to go through that except you need to.
Below is a simple guide on how to increase your access to a larger library of sounds.
How to Fix “This Sound isn’t Licensed For Commercial Use”
With an understanding of the different accounts that are present, the simplest way to fix this problem is to switch accounts from business accounts to personal accounts.
That way, you can make use of the unrestricted sound feature in your personal account.
1. Switch From Business Accounts to Personal Accounts on TikTok
A step by step approach on how to switch from persona accounts to a business account is provided below:
Step 1: Launching the TikTok app
Open your device and tap on the TikTok app to launch the app.
With a Personal Computer, if the TikTok app is not installed, with your web browser, go to the TikTok platform and log in.
Step 2: Open your TikTok Profile
After the app has been launched, press your Profile to open your Profile.
Step 3: Open Menu
Once the Profile is opened, look for the menu which is a three-dotted icon (•••) and click on it.
Step 4: Select Settings and Privacy
Clicking on the Menu will open up a display of several options. Search for Settings and Privacy and click on it to Launch it.
Step 5: Open Manage Accounts
From Settings and Privacy, click on the Manage Account feature.
Step 6: Select Switch to Personal Account
After the Manage Account is clicked open, go to Switch to Personal Account and tap on it. This will lead you to a page to confirm your decision.
If you wish to go ahead select the Back option. This will lead to an automatic switch of accounts.
It is necessary to note that with the switch of accounts you get to enjoy all the features of a Personal account like unrestricted access to sounds of your choice and suggestions of sounds best suited for your video content.
However, at the same time, you lose out on all the features of a Business as well. You no longer have access to a Link in your Bio and you equally lose your analytics.
Not a lot of users are fine with losing access to their analytics and Link in bio, especially if all of these are necessary for business promotion.
In such a situation two things can be done. The first is to make the most use of the Commercial Music Library, and the second is to alternate between a personal account and a business account.
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2. Using Trendy Sounds for Business Account
Though the sounds in the Business account are limited, there are still a good number of trendy sounds.
To enhance the ease of using trendy sounds, it is best to have them saved in the sound Favourite section of the account. To do this, you have to search out sounds.
A method of doing this is to watch trendy TikTok videos and check if the sound used in the video is licensed for commercial use. If it is, then, save the sound to your favourite.
Keep doing so until you have a list of sounds in your Favourite that can be used for different video content.
Another way to make use of trendy sound in a business account is to alternate between the personal account and the business account.
So far, it has been noted that sounds that are not commercially licensed that are used in a personal account to create remain intact in the video after a switch to a business account is made.
This means you can create certain videos in a personal account and have the account switched back to business status.
However, it is important to warn that it is not certain what TikTok operators will do when this is discovered.
This Sound isn’t Licensed for Commercial Use FAQs
What happens when I switch my account from a Business account to a Personal account?
With the switch of accounts, you get to enjoy all the features of a Personal account like unrestricted access to sounds of your choice and suggestions of sounds best suited for your video content.
However, at the same time, you lose out on all the features of a Business as well.
You no longer have access to a Link in your Bio and you equally lose your analytics.
Do I lose sounds that are not licensed for commercial use that was used in my Personal account when I switch to a Business account?
For now, TikTok still permits sounds that are not in the TikTok Commercial Music Library to play if the video was created while in a personal account setting even though the account has been switched to a business account.
Conclusion
If you got the “This sound is not licensed for commercial use” notification, you can simply sort out the problem by switching your account from a business account to a personal account.
However, in a situation where you need the added features of a business account, you can maximize the sounds available in the Tiktok Commercial Music Library.
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