Can you use music in Meta and TikTok ads? What each platform allows

Yes, if the track comes from the right library. On Meta that's the Sound Collection, which Meta licenses "for commercial or non-commercial purposes" in content on its products. On TikTok it's the Commercial Music Library, because "Businesses cannot use the general music library for commercial usage." A hit song from either app's regular picker isn't cleared for your ad. Neither license reaches the other platform, so one cut of an ad with one free track can't run on both.

Can you use music in Meta ads?

You can, and Ads Manager has a built-in way to do it. Meta's page on how to add music to ads says:

Meta Ads Manager provides access to music for ad campaigns across all objectives. The music currently consists of royalty-free audio from the Meta Sound Collection.

There are two routes. Apply music manually and "you'll select up to 5 songs and we'll use a song from one of your selections at delivery." Apply it automatically and "you'll let us select a song to accompany your ad based on the content of your ad." You find the option in the ad creative section, as an Add music checkbox, or as a Music toggle under Advantage+ creative.

The feature is narrower than that first sentence sounds. Meta lists three places it works, and all three are single image ads:

• Instagram Reels
• Instagram Stories
• Instagram Feed

It isn't available for Instagram ads using existing posts or posts using Meta Creative Hub. Video formats aren't on the list, so for a video ad, plan on the track being in the file you upload.

Music is one of the Advantage+ creative enhancements, and those have a reporting catch. Meta says you'll see "aggregate performance metrics of all the delivered variations in Ads Manager, but there will not be a breakdown by format or ad creative variation." To choose the track yourself, use the checkbox and pick Manually apply music.

Can I use copyrighted music in Facebook ads?

Only with a license you hold yourself. Meta's Music Guidelines, effective March 26, 2024, apply "if you post, share, or promote any videos or other content containing music" on Meta's products, and they're blunt about commercial use:

Use of music for commercial or non-personal purposes in particular is prohibited unless you have obtained appropriate licenses.

The responsibility sits with you: "you remain solely responsible for the content that you post or promote, including any music that is featured in that content." The same page says that nothing in it "constitutes any authorization by us with respect to any use of music on any of our Products." If the rights owner objects, content "may be blocked, muted or removed if your use of that music is not properly authorized."

Boosting runs into the same wall. Instagram's page on how to boost a Reel says: "Reels can't use licensed music. Instead, we recommend using royalty-free music, like what's available in our Sound Collection, or original audio." The ads guide says much the same for Reels ads. So a Reel with a song from Instagram's music picker may post fine and still fail as an ad.

Is Meta Sound Collection free for commercial use?

Yes, on Meta's products. The Sound Collection page says "Free to use in any videos you create and share on Facebook and Instagram." The Sound Collection Terms, last modified March 16, 2022, are the part that matters for an advertiser:

Meta hereby grants you a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use the SC Audio Content for commercial or non-commercial purposes in content you create, upload, and distribute on the Meta Company Products (including through links to the Meta Company Products embedded in third party sites) only.

That line also settles any doubt raised by the Music Guidelines. Where the two conflict, the terms say they "will govern solely with respect to your use of Sound Collection."

The word to watch is "only." The next sentence reads: "You may not perform, distribute, make available or otherwise use the SC Audio Content separately from the Meta Company Products." The page offers tracks to download, but the download doesn't widen the license. Using one in a TikTok, YouTube or TV spot falls outside it, and Meta "reserves all rights and remedies" for that.

What is TikTok's Commercial Music Library?

It's the one source of sound TikTok clears for business use. TikTok's help page calls it "a pre-cleared global music library of 1 million songs" and lists what it's for: organic content, video ads and branded content. The Commercial Music Library terms are firmer: "Commercial Sounds are the only sounds made available on TikTok for Commercial Uses." Those uses include advertising a product or service, and tying a sound to a brand, logo or trademark.

What you see in the app depends on your account, according to TikTok's page on how to use the library:

The personal account is the risky one, since every trending song is right there. TikTok says plainly on its blog that if you use the general library this way to promote a business, "you are at risk of copyright infringement."

To search the library, you choose the region your campaign will run in first, because availability follows the region. Then you can filter "by usable placements, themes, genre, mood, and duration." Only part of it shows at once: "Up to 10,000 Commercial Sounds can be displayed at a time."

How many songs are in the Commercial Music Library?

TikTok gives two numbers. Its help pages, last updated July 2025 and July 2026, say 1 million. Its business blog says "More than 600,000 tracks" and describes adding "more than 350,000 new tracks" from Anthem Production Group to reach that total. The blog post carries no date. A guide on page 1 of Google, published in August 2025, still has 600K in its title, and that matches TikTok's blog. Only the help pages show an update date, so 1 million is the figure to use.

What do the Commercial Music Library terms restrict?

"Free" and "pre-cleared" hide more conditions than the help page lets on. These are the ones an advertiser is most likely to hit, all from the terms:

• Use outside TikTok isn't covered: "Commercial Uses outside of TikTok are not permitted and no rights are granted by TikTok for such uses." The terms name third-party digital platforms, television, radio and theatrical media.
• Sounds marked Premium "may be subject to an additional fee", shown "at the time you purchase the applicable ad inventory."
• If you pick a sound in Creative Center on the web, you must follow its "Usable Placements" designation. Any platform not listed "should be considered not permitted."
• If TikTok loses the rights to a sound, it "may take down any videos" using it "or mute the audio", with no liability to you. A running ad can go silent this way.
• TikTok may report data to rights holders, including views, likes, your account name, your campaign names and your targeted audience data.
• You're responsible for claims over unauthorized use, including use of sounds from the general library, and you agree to indemnify TikTok.

For anything outside the library, such as another user's original sound, TikTok's advice is to "consult your legal team to ensure you have obtained a proper license."

Can the same music run on Meta and TikTok?

Not under either free license. Each one stops at its own platform, so a single master with a single library track breaks one set of terms the moment it runs on the other.

So there are two workable setups for an ad going to both. Export one version per platform, each with a track from that platform's library. Or license one track directly for both and keep the agreement on file. Before you pay for that second option, check that the license names paid ads on both platforms.

Sources

• How to add music to ads using Ads Manager — Meta Business Help Center (accessed November 4, 2026)
• Music Guidelines — Meta, effective March 26, 2024 (accessed November 4, 2026)
• Meta Sound Collection — Meta (accessed November 4, 2026)
• Sound Collection Terms — Meta, last modified March 16, 2022 (accessed November 4, 2026)
• Boost an Instagram Reel — Instagram Help Center (accessed November 4, 2026)
• About the Commercial Music Library — TikTok Business Help Center, last updated July 2025 (accessed November 4, 2026)
• How to use the Commercial Music Library — TikTok Business Help Center, last updated July 2026 (accessed November 4, 2026)
• Commercial Music Library – User Terms — TikTok (accessed November 4, 2026)
• Explore Royalty-Free Music in the Commercial Music Library — TikTok for Business Blog (accessed November 4, 2026)

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These are platform terms, and both companies can change them. For a campaign that matters, have someone qualified read the current version.

Terrads can leave the music out of a video ad, so the track you add afterward is one you know you're allowed to run on that platform.