How to Get Your Music on TikTok and Instagram

When people ask how to get their music on TikTok and Instagram, they usually mean one of two things. The first is making sure that the finished release appears as a proper sound in each app, credited to the right artist, so that other people can use it. The second is making videos yourself. This guide is about the first, and about the parts of it you can check or ask us to fix. It is not a growth formula, because nobody has one that works every time.

It explains how a release reaches the two apps through distribution, what the Release Wizard asks you, how TikTok and Instagram treat music, how to request correct attribution on Instagram, what a preview start time does, which rights checks to make first and what you cannot control. For the wider launch plan, read the pre-save and release-day guide.

How a release reaches TikTok and Instagram

You do not upload to either app in this route. You deliver a release through the Release Wizard, and our delivery directory lists TikTok, CapCut, Facebook and Instagram among the social and creation services it covers. Whether any one of them takes a given release depends on rights, territory and your account.

TikTok and Meta are not in the store list. They are two tick boxes in the box on the Stores step headed Content ID and monetisation. The box has three choices, and all of them start unticked:

• YouTube Content ID. A separate request, shown on the pricing page from the Basic plan upwards. The Content ID guide explains it.
• TikTok Creator Earnings. The wizard describes it as earning from TikTok videos that use your sound.
• Meta (Facebook + Instagram). The wizard describes it as earning from Facebook and Instagram stories, reels and content.

Ticking a box is a request, not a result. The release still has to pass our review, be delivered and then be processed by each service, and our FAQ is clear that delivered does not mean live. Allow the lead time the FAQ gives for a planned campaign, which is at least two weeks and more for specialist delivery, and the Free plan needs a release date at least 14 days after you submit.

TikTok keeps music in two libraries

TikTok’s Music Terms, in the version for the European Economic Area that took effect in July 2025, separate two kinds of sound. General Sounds come from the standard library and are meant for individual users’ personal videos. Commercial Sounds come from a separate Commercial Music Library for brands, businesses, advertisers and other commercial users, under their own terms. The terms prohibit using General Sounds to promote a brand, product or service without separate permissions and rights. They also bar using either kind of sound in live streams.

The terms are written for brands and say nothing about an artist promoting their own record, so do not guess how yours is classed. If you run your TikTok account as a business or you plan paid ads around the track, open the app, search for your sound and check that your account can use it before you plan the video. Read the terms for your own region too, because the version we cite is the European one.

How Instagram credits music

Instagram’s help centre sets out the rules that matter to a release:

• Original audio is sound a person creates or takes from another creator in Instagram or an uploaded video. Licensed audio is copyright-protected sound from Instagram’s audio library, such as music.
• Licensed audio must be attributed to the artist and show the track name.
• If licensed music is found in a reel that was posted as original audio, Instagram changes the label to the artist and song title and adds the reel to that song’s audio page.
• Audio can be muted if Instagram’s agreements with rights holders change. The post stays viewable.
• If the match is wrong, the person who posted can remove the reel from the audio page, and the audio goes back to being labelled as original audio.

For music that is not in the public domain or in Meta’s Sound Collection, Meta tells creators to obtain licences directly from the rights holders and to ask them to add their pages and accounts to the allowlist in Rights Manager. The final decision on an allowlist rests with the rights holder. The practical lesson is that credit on Instagram follows the metadata and the rights record behind the track, not the caption of one video.

Requesting correct artist attribution

After your release is live, search for the song in the audio picker of Instagram on a phone, using the account type you actually post from. Check that the artist name is right and links to your profile. If it does not, ask us for Instagram artist mapping. Our FAQ and our Instagram music profile service page say what to send:

1. The release UPC or the ISRC of the track.
2. The URL of your Instagram profile.
3. A screenshot of the incorrect or missing attribution, if there is one.

Use the same artist spelling on every release, because a name that differs by one character can split a profile. Mapping and library access depend on Meta’s rules, your account type and your territory, so we can ask but we cannot guarantee the result. The service page adds two cautions worth repeating: a release on streaming services does not guarantee availability for every social account or commercial use, and a track being searchable does not authorise every advertising use. Check your rights and the platform’s commercial music rules before you run a paid campaign around it.

Choosing where the preview starts

Each track in the Release Wizard has a Preview Start Time field, written as minutes and seconds. Leave it empty and the preview starts at the beginning. The wizard refuses a start after the end of the track and tells you to choose a time between 0:00 and the track length, or to leave it empty. Choose the moment you would want a stranger to hear first, which is often the hook or the first drop rather than the intro.

Stores and social platforms decide whether they use that time and how long the excerpt is, so it does not guarantee an identical excerpt everywhere. After release you can ask support whether the destination supports a clip-start request. Send the track identifier and the time you want.

Rights checks before you tick the boxes

Ordinary distribution and automated rights matching are different permissions. Before you ask for TikTok or Meta monetisation, answer these questions:

• Is the beat exclusive to you? A non-exclusive beat can limit claiming even though you may release the song. The leased beat guide covers the licence terms.
• Does the track contain a sample or a cover? You need permission for the recording and the composition. See the guide to cover song licensing and the rights checklist.
• Do the credits match the rights? A producer, writer or featured artist who is missing from the credits is a problem later. The metadata and artwork checklist lists the wizard’s checks.

If the answer to any of them is unclear, leave the boxes unticked and ask support before you submit. A box can be ticked later more easily than a wrong claim can be explained.

What you, WBBT and the platforms each control

Question	You	WBBT	The platform decides
Does the song appear as a sound?	Deliver a clean release and tick the box.	Review, deliver and answer questions.	Whether, when and where it is available.
Is the artist credited correctly?	Keep names identical and share your profile link.	Send an attribution or mapping request.	Whether it accepts the mapping.
Which part do people hear first?	Set the Preview Start Time.	Pass on a clip-start request.	Whether and how it uses the time.
How many videos use the sound?	Make and share your own videos.	Nothing.	What its feed shows.
Is some audio muted or blocked?	Hold the rights you claim.	Nothing.	Its agreements with rights holders.

Seven steps in order

1. Clear the rights. Settle the beat licence, samples and credits first.
2. Fix the names. Use one artist spelling everywhere. If your artist already exists on Spotify or Apple Music, add the existing profile in the Add Artist form.
3. Set the preview. On the track details, enter the Preview Start Time you want.
4. Choose the boxes. On the Stores step, tick TikTok Creator Earnings or Meta (Facebook + Instagram) only for the services you want and have the rights for.
5. Submit early. Three to four weeks before the date is a safer plan than the minimum.
6. Check after delivery. Search the song in each app on a phone. Take dated screenshots of the sound page and the artist credit.
7. Ask if it is wrong. Send the identifiers, your profile link and the screenshots. Then announce the sound once it is there.

If you prepare your draft in a chat, an assistant connected through WBBT MCP can create and check it, but it never submits the release, so you review the Stores step yourself before you press Distribute.

One short way to measure it

Pick three numbers and keep the date range the same each time. Take profile visits from the platform’s own insights. Take saves and listeners for the song from Spotify for Artists; how Spotify recommends music shows how to read its Source of Streams report. Keep reported earnings out of the same table, because royalties follow monthly reporting cycles after the stores’ reports are processed. A video with many views can send few people to your profile and a small one can send more, so write down what happened rather than what you hoped for.

Frequently asked questions

Why can I not find my song in TikTok or Instagram on release day?

Delivered does not mean live. A store or platform processes a release on its own schedule, and availability can depend on territory and account type. Check the status in your WBBT account first, then search on a phone in the app itself. If it is still missing, send support the UPC or ISRC, your profile link and a dated screenshot. The WBBT FAQ lists what to include. Do not upload the song again.

Can WBBT make my song trend or appear on a For You page?

No. WBBT delivers the release and can help with attribution and mapping. What a platform recommends, and what other people do with your sound, is outside our control and outside yours. Be wary of anyone who sells a trend.

Can I choose which part of the song people hear first?

You can set a Preview Start Time for each track in the Release Wizard. Stores and social platforms decide whether and how they use it and how long the excerpt is, so treat it as a request. If you need to change it after release, ask support whether the destination supports a clip-start request and send the track identifier and the time you want.

Should I upload my own song to Instagram as original audio?

Prefer the song’s own entry in the audio library once it appears. Instagram’s help says that licensed music uploaded as original audio can be relabelled with the artist and song title and the reel added to that song’s audio page, and that you can remove a reel from the audio page if the match is wrong. Using the library entry avoids both surprises.

Will the TikTok or Meta box pay me?

The boxes ask for your release to be set up for earnings from videos that use your sound, as their labels in the wizard say. Whether anything is earned depends on the platform’s rules, the rights you hold and what people do with the sound, and nobody can promise an amount. Any earnings reach you through the monthly reporting cycle, not as a live figure. See how royalty payouts work.

I use a leased beat. Should I tick the boxes?

Check the licence first. A non-exclusive beat or a shared sample can restrict automated claiming even when ordinary distribution is allowed, as the WBBT FAQ explains. The leased beat guide shows what to look for in the licence.

Sources and next steps

These are the platforms’ own pages behind the points above. They change, so check the current wording before you rely on a detail.

• Music Terms (European Economic Area version, effective July 2025), TikTok (accessed 25 October 2026).
• What audio you can use in your reel on Instagram, Instagram Help Centre (accessed 25 October 2026).
• Adding music to videos on Facebook and Instagram, Meta for Government and Nonprofits, 15 July 2025 (accessed 25 October 2026).
• Source of streams, Spotify Support (accessed 25 October 2026).

To go further, read the pillar guide on pre-save links and release-day promotion and the guide to setting up Spotify for Artists. For the route to a live release, see the seven-step distribution guide. Compare plans on the pricing page, read the WBBT FAQ and submit your music when you are ready.