Get your music on TikTok

How music gets onto TikTok

TikTok's music library is filled by labels and distributors. When we deliver your release, each track becomes a sound: something anyone can find by its title or your name and add to a video. TikTok then recognises your audio in the videos that use it and pays for those uses.

A sound is not the same as a stream. Nobody presses play on your song from start to finish; they pick a part of it for a video of their own. What earns, and what spreads, is how many people choose it.

TikTok is available worldwide except India, so your sounds can be used almost everywhere.

The exclusive-audio rule

TikTok matches your recording wherever it turns up, the same way YouTube Content ID and Meta's Rights Manager do. That is the point — every use can earn — but it means anything you send must be audio you control outright. Leave TikTok unticked for:

• Covers of other people's recordings
• Tracks built on samples you have not cleared
• Beats you licensed non-exclusively, which other artists are releasing too
• Recordings in the public domain

Ticking it anyway does not earn you more. It puts claims on other people's videos, and on yours, and those can end in disputes. New accounts get TikTok and the other rights tools once their first release has been approved.

Getting your song on TikTok, step by step

1. Apply and set up your artistAccounts are opened by application — tell us about your music and we usually have you ready within one working day.
2. Add the release, artwork and audioTitle, artists, genre and release date; square artwork of at least 2400 × 2400 px; lossless audio. Everything is checked on upload, so problems surface before delivery.
3. Tick TikTok and the streaming services togetherA viewer who likes your sound goes looking for the full song. Send TikTok, Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music on the same release so the song is there when they search.
4. Set the date two to three weeks aheadHow fast TikTok publishes is up to TikTok; most stores have releases live within a few days. A date a few weeks out lets everything go live together.
5. Use the sound yourselfOnce it is live, post your own videos with it, and put your release's landing page — one link to every store it is on — in your bio.

Your Artist Account and TikTok for Artists

TikTok has two tools for musicians. Both depend on your music already being on TikTok, which is what delivery takes care of.

Artist Account

Any artist who has released music can apply to turn their TikTok profile into an Artist Account, from inside the TikTok app. TikTok describes it as a set of promotional tools, including:

• Artist tag under your name, so people know you make music — TikTok asks for four songs on the platform before it shows the tag
• Music tab on your profile, collecting your catalogue and adding new releases automatically
• New Release label to highlight a track from up to 14 days before release until 30 days after

TikTok for Artists

TikTok for Artists is TikTok's music insights platform, launched in June 2025 for artists with a certified Artist Account and rolling out country by country. It shows the views, posts and creator engagements for each track, how your own posts perform, and who your followers are. You can give your team and your label access, and it has a pre-release tool that lets fans pre-save an upcoming album to Spotify or Apple Music.

TikTok changes these features and their requirements from time to time; its own help pages have the current rules.

How TikTok pays

TikTok licenses music for use in videos and pays rights holders for the uses of their recordings that it matches. There is no fixed amount per video or per view, and we do not quote one. What counts is how often your sound is used.

TikTok money comes to you like every other store's: reported in arrears — most stores report about two months after the month of use — and paid into your TempoDigital wallet in US dollars. On the Artist and Label plans you keep 100%; on the Release plan we keep 10%. See pricing.

For many artists the larger effect is indirect: people hear a sound, look up the full song, and stream it. That only works if the song is on the streaming services too, which is why TikTok belongs on the same release as Spotify and YouTube Music.

Mistakes that cost TikTok artists

• Ticking TikTok for audio you do not control. Covers, uncleared samples and leased beats belong on the streaming services only.
• Releasing on TikTok alone. A sound that catches on with nowhere to stream the full song sends listeners away empty-handed.
• A new ISRC on a re-release. Every store, TikTok included, identifies a recording by its ISRC. Keep the same code when you re-release a track or move distributor.
• An inconsistent artist name. Spell it the same way on every release, or your sounds are split across several artists.
• Paying for fake engagement. Bought views and bot accounts are not listeners, and no legitimate promotion sells them.