Music and sound are core to the TikTok experience and play an integral role in the community’s creativity and ability to spark cultural moments. In fact, 88% of TikTok users say sound is essential to the TikTok experience and 68% remember a brand better when they feature songs that they like in their videos. (1)

To help businesses of all sizes embrace the power of sound on TikTok, we introduced the Commercial Music Library (CML), a pre-cleared global music library that helps make it easier for brands to find music to soundtrack their content on TikTok. The Commercial Music Library connects brands with over one million songs and sounds from both emerging and established artists, to help them easily and quickly become innovative storytellers and engage new audiences in new and surprising ways.

As part of our ongoing efforts to expand our offerings to brands, TikTok's Commercial Music Library is excited to announce the Artist Impact Program, a new program that brings even more music from global artists onto the platform and provides greater opportunities for artists and brands to connect. The program allows artists to monetize their music on TikTok by allowing businesses to use it in their content, giving them unprecedented opportunities to be discovered and re-discovered in markets around the world.

To fuel the pipeline of talent and artist-driven music on the Commercial Music Library, TikTok has signed a number of global distribution partnerships with the likes of Believe, DistroKid and Vydia, giving artists the opportunity to tap into advertising budgets from brands featuring them in their TikTok campaigns.


Driving content creation with trending music

The Commercial Music Library and its extensive, global network of music distributors, labels, and publishers partnerships including 411 Music Group, Amadeus Code, Inc., Amuse Inc., Believe, Blowout Inc, Create Music Group, Danal Entertainment Co, Ltd, DistroKid, Downtown Artist & Label Services, Epidemic Sound, Falcon Music, Fuse Adventures in Audio, Heavy Duty, JK Records, Kobalt, Mound Media Inc., Music & New Co., Ltd., PT Musica, Score a Score, Songtradr, Stem Disintermedia, SoundOn, Sub Pop, Thematic, Two AM Music Global, and Vydia - are helping to fuel the entire music ecosystem from artist to labels and brands.

"We are thrilled to partner with TikTok on its Commercial Music Library as we are convinced it will create new and exciting sync opportunities for all Believe artists, and allow their music to reach new and existing audiences globally," states Pete Beck, Global Head of Sync at Believe.

"Letting artists opt-in to TikTok's Commercial Music Library further expands artists' reach, and connects artists with brands in a cutting-edge and powerful way," states Mike Fink, Head of Creator Services, DistroKid.

"As an early adopter of TikTok’s Commercial Music Library and Artist Impact Program, Vydia has seen great results for our independent artists and labels, including exposure to major brands, increased collaborations, and a new source of revenue," states Brendan Lustenring, Director of Label & Artist Relations at Vydia. "This success has spanned across multiple genres, including Pop, Alternative, R&B, Country, Latin, and Afrobeats, and continues to create expansive opportunities for our community. Through Vydia’s partnership with TikTok, we look forward to supporting this program as it continues to expand into new markets.”

“We are looking to help evolve the sync industry to take advantage of the speed and scale of digital advertising and short-form video. Our goal is to provide brands with a safe, yet expansive library of music to use in their content, while opening up new revenue streams for the artists that power it. Our ambition is to make TikTok a place where everyone can find growth and opportunity, and we hope our robust music resources will help in this endeavor," states Bryan Cosgrove, Director of Commercial Music & Creative Licensing at TikTok.

Fueling the music ecosystem

There are over one million sounds and songs available for use in the Commercial Music Library, spanning global styles, genres, and regions, making it quick and easy for businesses to find songs that fit their brand voice, products and audiences. From emerging talent like INJI and eydrey to more established artists like Ciara and Akon, the Commercial Music Library allows artists of every size to promote themselves and find success on-and-off the platform.

Emerging artist INJI launched her song "Gaslight" on the Commercial Music Library through the distributor DistroKid in April 2022. She saw an immediate jump in usage with several brands including her song in their campaigns, helping to drive momentum around the sound. In three months the song was on TikTok's top viral playlist and in 7 months it had been viewed 3.5 billion times in just that month alone. By the end of the year, "Gaslight" had over 14 billion views and 3 million video creates--with 65% of views and 57% of creates stemming from businesses using the sound from the Commercial Music Library. In addition to exposure that has transcended on-and-off the platform, INJI has also been earning steady, consistent payouts from brand usage.

"Putting my music on the Commercial Music Library was absolutely path-changing for me. I put my first song ever on the CML, allowing brands to use it in their content and for the song to be heard by many, many more ears than it would’ve reached," states INJI. "It was very impactful to me that when I hummed my song 'Gaslight,' a LOT of people would recognize it from TikTok. Getting a trend going around your song is probably the best way to make that happen, but the CML is a close second. Exposure is probably the most important resource for an early-stage artist, and if there’s one thing the CML can do, is give you exposure.”

At TikTok, we are continuously working to provide the right creative tools to help connect brands of all sizes with the diverse, creative TikTok music community. The Commercial Music Library will continue to evolve the variety and volume of music to fuel branded content creation and support artists worldwide. Stay tuned for more updates to the Commercial Music Library.


Source:

  1. US TikTok Marketing Science, Music Perceptions Research, conducted by MRC Data, November 2020