What music can you legally use in business videos and reels?

Why personal music doesn't carry over to business accounts

When someone films a video with a chart song playing over it, the platform has usually done a licensing deal with music labels that covers personal, non-commercial content. A business account posting the same audio isn't automatically covered by that same deal, even if the trending sound button lets you add it. This is why some business posts get their sound muted or removed after being live for a while, the coverage was never really there. Rules and enforcement vary by platform and change often, so treat this as general guidance and check the platform's current terms rather than assuming a workaround will hold.

Platform commercial music libraries

Instagram, TikTok and others generally offer a separate music library specifically for business accounts, sometimes badged as a commercial or business library inside the app. It's smaller than the personal trending sounds list and leans towards production-style tracks rather than chart hits, but it's built to be usable by a business account without the same risk. Check inside your business account's audio picker, the option is often easy to miss because it isn't the default.

Licensed music libraries for promo films and ads

For a promo film, an advert, or anything you'll want to use across multiple platforms and paid campaigns, a proper licensed music library is the more reliable option. These are subscription services built for exactly this purpose, with tracks cleared for commercial use across social media, websites and paid advertising. The terms differ between libraries, some cover unlimited use once you've paid, others limit it by audience size or by where the video is shown, so read what's actually included before you rely on a track for a big campaign.

What happens if you get it wrong

The consequences are usually more annoying than serious: the audio gets muted on the platform, the post is taken down, or a claim hands any ad revenue to the rights holder instead of you. For a business video used in paid advertising, a music claim can also stop the ad running altogether until it's resolved. None of this tends to result in anything worse than a wasted post or a delay, but it's avoidable with a track you know is properly licensed from the start.

What if the music is your own

None of this applies if the music is genuinely yours to use, a track you or someone in your business wrote and recorded, or live music at an event you're hosting where you already hold the rights to film and publish it. It's still worth confirming who owns what if a band, DJ or performer is involved, since a live performance of someone else's song, even played by a different musician, usually still needs the same kind of clearance as the recorded original.

What to ask your videographer about music

A few questions worth asking before a shoot, not after the video is delivered:

• Is the music included in the price, and is it from a licensed library?
• Does the cover extend to social media, your website and paid advertising, or only some of those?
• Is it a one-off payment, or does it need renewing?
• If you want to reuse the video for a new campaign next year, is the music still covered?

If you're not sure, there's always a safe option

When in doubt, natural sound and voice carry a video perfectly well on their own, a testimonial, an interview or a behind-the-scenes clip often works better without music competing for attention anyway. If you do want music and aren't certain a track is cleared, a subscription-based licensed library aimed at commercial use is the lowest-risk route, since the cover is built into what you're paying for rather than something you have to work out afterwards.

It's also worth checking the terms cover the length of use you actually need. Some licences are for a single video, others for ongoing use across a channel, so if you plan to reuse footage in future edits, check that's included rather than assuming.

Getting music right from the start

Choosing music a business can actually use is part of every edit I deliver, whether it's a promo film or a set of reels. I use licensed libraries built for commercial use, so you're not left guessing whether a track will get muted after the video goes live. If you're also sorting out a contract for the shoot, who owns your video footage is worth reading alongside this.