Brands can't use commercial music tracks without explicit and specific permission in socmed posts

by WarriorForum.com Administrator
7 replies
A new article on Social Media Today reports that a fresh clampdown comes amid a rising amount of copyright infringement cases being filed against brands for using unlicensed music in their promotions, as they lean into trends, particularly in short-form video, which rely on music cues and elements.



"Energy drink maker Bang achieved enormous marketing success through its aggressive and flashy social media strategy that used popular influencers to advertise its drinks on TikTok and Instagram Reels. But the company didn't obtain a license to use the music in more than 100 of its videos, and it was hit with copyright lawsuits from all three of the major US record labels. A federal judge this year ruled in favor of the labels in two of those cases."
That's just one example - Bloomberg also notes that Warner Music recently sued UK-based makeup company Iconic London for copyright infringement in their TikTok and Instagram posts as well. The increasing enforcement of copyright for social media usage flags a new focus for the major labels. In recent years, big recording companies have employed entire teams to scour the online landscape for unlicensed usage of their clients' work.

That's been most present on YouTube, where labels had up till recently been able to claim revenue on any video that used their licensed music, providing an additional revenue stream within itself. YouTube has since changed its process, and now gives creators the opportunity to remove violative segments of their uploads, as opposed to simply reverting ad revenue to the labels. But the increased emphasis on music copyright infringement has made this a higher priority for rights-holding organizations.

And TikTok is now their key focus. The short-form video platform has become a key avenue for music promotion, with popular tracks playing a big part in many viral trends, and even sparking entire careers off the back of TikTok momentum.

Which has then led to TikTok providing more, easier ways to add tracks into your clips. But for marketers, you need to know the rules around such, in order to avoid falling foul of the law, and costing yourself big time in the process (note: the aforementioned Bang energy drinks has now filed for bankruptcy).
#brands #commercial #explicit #music #permission #posts #socmed #specific #tracks
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  • Profile picture of the author ArnieB
    This is going to be tumultuous if truly implemented at the small scale level, as on TikTok ads - you can run ads with copyright music and it will be undetected by the ads approval bots.

    But if you say you run a Spark ad, which is an actual post on your TikTok page - it's easy for them detect it and not allow to run.

    I doubt any one will be suing a business running $20k and less in ad budget.
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    • Profile picture of the author GordonJ
      Hold on. Let me explain. A history lesson here. The reason Scientology got religion status at the federal level, making it legit, was due to the hundreds of small law suits filed around the country, in small counties hog tying the legal system.
      It doesn't cost much to file a suit, so even a small company running any ads at all, with today's AI and bots scouring the net looking for it...one might think twice about it.

      How about instead, seeing it as an opportunity as creators to come up with beats, or tunes, or jingles which can be owned and a part of the creation. We have many musicians here at WF, what a great time to be offering those services.

      Lawsuits can become a real pain for the small operation, why chance it?

      GordonJ


      Originally Posted by ArnieB View Post

      This is going to be tumultuous if truly implemented at the small scale level, as on TikTok ads - you can run ads with copyright music and it will be undetected by the ads approval bots.

      But if you say you run a Spark ad, which is an actual post on your TikTok page - it's easy for them detect it and not allow to run.

      I doubt any one will be suing a business running $20k and less in ad budget.
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  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    Of course this is illegal. It's amazing that any company thought they could get away with it, regardless of the platform.

    Oh ... and nobody is too small. Lawyers will gladly sue any company of any size for as much as they can get.
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  • Profile picture of the author RMRC
    This is an interesting read. I definitely wouldn't want to chance this and go bankrupt when it could be avoided altogether.
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  • Thank you for this. We use licensed music for our ads, and this is a good reminder that we need to pay for licensing when using any kind of content.
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  • Profile picture of the author rclemente
    Hello, how is everyone doing?

    Wow, very interesting and this is why we should NEVER use copyrighted material of any kind! And now they are stating we shouldn't use copyrighted material with music trust me I never will! I will make up my own music lol.......
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