The most entertaining videos combine visual and audio elements to grab viewers' attention. However, effectively adding music to your TikTok videos online takes practice and reasonable attention to copyright concerns. Continue reading to learn how to add music to your videos and how to choose the right tracks.
How Do You Know What Music Is Okay To Use?
Adding popular songs to your video may seem like a simple solution to attract viewer attention. However, while this strategy works for most personal TikTok videos, using your favorite music on a business account or another platform could get your video removed and land you in legal trouble.
Thanks to TikTok's built-in library, personal accounts can access countless audio tracks and songs. However, business accounts are much more limited and cannot access most copyrighted content. Additionally, any copyrighted audio in the base video you upload (such as a song playing on a radio) could get your video automatically flagged.
All streaming platforms are different and have distinct rules about music and copyright, which is important to consider when sharing your videos outside of TikTok. Therefore, the safest solution for your video is to stick exclusively to copyright-free, royalty-free, and licensed tracks. To help with this, many audio libraries, such as StockMusic.net, offer thousands of audio clips and songs for you to use, each compliant with copyright law and specialized for different video genres.
If you've already found a piece of music you like, search the track title, artist, album, and publisher details online to determine if it's safe to use. If you're ever in doubt over a song's legal status and can't find any details online, the best solution is to choose a different track instead.
Avoiding Copyright Infringement
From a legal standpoint, "copyright-free" describes any music or media with no copyright claim, often meaning it's in the public domain. However, copyright is not black and white, especially in the music industry. For instance, while all of Mozart's music is in the public domain, individual recordings and performances often have their own copyrights and royalties to consider.
Avoiding copyright violations is essential for monetization and legality, so you must be careful with any audio you use, including music on TikTok videos. Unfortunately, many platforms and video channels claim to have copyright-free music but are dishonest about the music's attribution and allowed usage. So, you should only use audio from dependable music libraries.
How Do You Add Music To Your Video Content?
TikTok's video creation process has changed in many ways, with more graphics, effects, and audio features than ever before. Follow these steps to discover how to add music to TikTok videos.
Step 1: Tap the plus sign followed by the record button to create a new video
First, open the app and click the plus button at the bottom center of the screen. Then, determine if you're using new footage or something you've already created.
When working with existing media, tap the "upload" square at the bottom right of the screen. From here, TikTok will access your entire photo library. Tap the video you want to use or, when selecting multiple, tap the clear bubble at the top of each image preview before hitting "Next." TikTok lets you use up to 35 photos or clips for every video you create.
When filming new content, select what video length you want to work with before recording, such as 15 seconds or 3 minutes. Then, when you're ready, tap the red record button in the center of the screen to begin filming your video. TikTok lets you stop recording, discard clips, and trim footage, so feel free to get creative.
Step 2: Choose "Add Sound" to go to TikTok's Sound Library
Once you've finished recording and uploading, move on to the "post page," which features several tools for editing footage, creating text, and adding music. Tap "Add Sound" at the top center of the screen to access TikTok's built-in library.
Sound can also be added during the recording process using the same "Add Sound" button from the previous page. This is ideal for videos that integrate audio, such as dance trends and memes. However, if the music you want to add is not in TikTok's library, such as original audio or royalty-free tracks from another library, you will need to edit your video in another app or record the audio as a voiceover.
Step 3: Decide on music for your original video
From the TikTok library, you can choose a recommended song, select something from your favorites, or search for audio content by name. Unfortunately, some popular TikTok songs have obscure names and aren't always recommended. Adding sounds you like to your favorites as you explore the app can simplify the search process.
Once you've selected a song, use the "Original Sound" checkbox at the bottom left of the screen to toggle background audio on or off. You can also adjust the levels of added and original sounds by tapping "Volume" at the bottom right.
Step 4: Edit your video clip and post to the platform
Finally, after you close the TikTok library, juxtapose and embellish your video using the tools on the right side of the screen. Play around with the line-up of your cuts and your selected TikTok music to enhance the overall quality, especially when working with multiple clips. Positioning your music and videos strategically can add dramatic effect, comedic moments, and better synergy to your completed project.
When your video is ready, tap "Next," add a caption, select a catchy cover, and post it!
Additional Options: Downloading Royalty-Free Music
Copyright-free music can often be challenging to find and may not give you enough high-quality options. Fortunately, many music libraries offer royalty-free audio content to boost your creative process.
While most royalty-free songs are copyrighted, audio library licensing keeps you protected, expanding the number of tracks you can choose from without needing to pay copyright owners individually. Additionally, royalty-free tracks are safe for personal and commercial video use, only ever costing you the initial licensing fees.
Stock Music Offers an Excellent Library of Royalty-Free Music
Aspiring content creators and businesses must know how to make a TikTok video with music that's both attention-grabbing and copyright compliant. To help with this, StockMusic.net offers thousands of royalty-free tracks that are safe to use and perfect for every theme, from avant-garde background tracks to suspenseful strings. Check out our royalty-free music library today to start brainstorming your next video content.
