What material is ineligible for Facebook/Instagram and TikTok?

Like YouTube Content ID, Facebook/Instagram and TikTok scan user-generated content (UGC) against copyrighted material, including music.

Royalties are generated when these services find a match between UGC and copyrighted material.

Including non-original material in your distributed sound recording (such as a sample, film/TV clip, or third-party instrumental) can generate bad matches on these services.

AS A REMINDER, YOU MUST ALWAYS OBTAIN PERMISSION TO INCLUDE THIRD-PARTY MATERIAL IN YOUR USER CONTENT!

To avoid bad matches, Facebook/Instagram and TikTok have strict requirements about what is eligible for their services, including but not limited to:

• You must own and/or control exclusive rights for your sound recording. Ineligible content includes:
  • Sound-a-likes
  • Sound recordings with unauthorized material (including music samples, remixes of popular songs, third-party instrumentals, film/tv audio clips, and viral TikTok/YouTube audio clips, even if you have modified this material in some way)
  • Unauthorized DJ and extended mixes

• Your sound recording must be sufficiently distinct from other sound recordings delivered to these services. Ineligible content includes:
  • Production library music (including soundbeds, incidental scores, production loops, royalty-free music, and non-exclusively licensed music such as beats purchased from BeatStars or other platforms)
  • Public domain material (even if you are authorized to distribute it to other services), such as many pieces in the Classical genre
  • Ambient, meditation, yoga, or sleep music
  • Karaoke tracks

• Your sound recording must be music. Even if self-recorded, ineligible content includes:
  • Sound effects (including car horns, sirens, ringtones, etc.)
  • Spoken word/speech 
  • Podcasts/radio shows/album commentary

If we determine that User Content does not meet these eligibility guidelines, it will not be delivered to Facebook/Instagram and TikTok (and, for DEBUT members, this means it will not be approved).

And, if we learn that ineligible User Content has been delivered to these services, we will remove it.

So, please follow these guidelines and let us know if any of your User Content does not meet these criteria or if you have any questions.