Partner Content FromThis advertising content was produced in collaboration between Vox Creative and our sponsor, without involvement from Vox Media editorial staff.Music has never been more essential for brand success — or more legally complex to use.by Alasdair LaneSep 15, 2025, 2:19 PM UTC Photo-Illustration by Rebecca Hoskins Photo-Illustration by Rebecca HoskinsStrip the audio from a viral TikTok clip and watch it again. The familiar hook that made you stop scrolling, the beat drop, the gripping crescendo — all gone. Leaving what? A piece of media that moments ago felt electric, but is now oddly hollow.This simple experiment reveals a fundamental truth of content creation: music doesn’t just enhance the videos we watch, it transforms them.The reason for this is rooted in neuroscience. Researchers found that viewers of a commercial with background music show increased brain activity in the frontal lobe — the region associated with emotional arousal. Those who heard music were 20 percent more likely to purchase the advertised product. This effect appears even stronger in social media, with research from Epidemic Sound showing that 94 percent of content creators credit music as crucial to their success.For brands and influencers, the challenge isn’t whether to use music — it’s essential for reach, impact, and repeat viewing. The question is how to use it responsibly, with many brands turning to specialized music licensing and soundtracking platforms like Epidemic Sound to ensure the soundtrack that elevates their content doesn’t instigate a legal case that sinks it.The accessibility-legality divideIt’s never been easier to add music to content. Platform libraries put thousands of tracks at creators’ fingertips, editing apps come preloaded with soundtracks, and new AI tools can generate music on demand. But this accessibility masks a legal reality — having access to music doesn’t mean having the right to use it commercially.The confusion starts with platform rules. That trending audio on TikTok, or the public music library on Facebook and Instagram? It’s only cleared for personal use. When an influencer uses it in branded content, or when a business reposts it across platforms, they’ve potentially crossed into copyright infringement territory. TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube do have separate music libraries that are pre-cleared for commercial use, but those tracks vary by social platform, and the rights aren’t always renewed, meaning there’s no guarantee for brands that their content will remain safe over time. Many creators don’t realize that music rights on one platform rarely transfer to another, or that personal account permissions don’t extend to business use — leaving the brands that hire them exposed to legal risks.This disconnect has caught major brands off guard. A major music label’s recent lawsuit against a popular cookie chain illustrates the scale of potential damages — more than 150 allegedly unlicensed songs used across social media posts, with penalties potentially reaching $23.85 million. Individual creators aren’t immune either. A TikTok rapper who sampled a 1986 Japanese instrumental learned this lesson the hard way when a label won a judgment exceeding $800,000 against him.These aren’t isolated incidents. Across the industry, rights holders are ramping up enforcement, aided by increasingly sophisticated detection tools. Machine learning algorithms now scan millions of posts daily, identifying unlicensed music with unprecedented accuracy. What once required teams of lawyers reviewing content manually now happens automatically, at scale, in real-time.According to Epidemic Sound’s The Future of the Creator Economy Report 2025Navigating the new landscapeFor enterprises working with multiple creators across various platforms and markets, the licensing conundrum multiplies exponentially. A brand might commission content from dozens of influencers, each using different music, posting across different platforms, reaching audiences in different territories.Ensuring every piece of audio is properly cleared becomes a major logistical challenge — and the stakes extend beyond financial penalties. Content takedowns can derail carefully orchestrated campaigns, copyright disputes can damage brand reputation, and in an era where authenticity matters, legal troubles can erode consumer trust.Proactive businesses are adapting by making music licensing a strategic priority rather than an afterthought. They’re educating their teams and partners about the distinction between cleared and uncleared audio. They’re building music selection into early campaign planning rather than treating it as a last-minute addition. And perhaps most importantly, they’re seeking scalable solutions that provide certainty in an uncertain landscape.This shift reflects a broader recognition. Respecting copyright isn’t about avoiding creativity or compromising on quality — it’s about finding sustainable ways to use music’s power while supporting the artists who create it.A model for the futureEpidemic Sound is building on this vision, reimagining how music licensing works in the age of online virality. Rather than navigating the traditional maze of rights holders, publishers, and performing rights organizations, it offers a fundamentally different approach: a catalog of fully owned music, where all rights — including those tricky public performance rights — come included in a single license.The model works by maintaining direct relationships with a curated roster of world-class artists who create top-quality music specifically for commercial use. Artists receive upfront payments, ongoing revenue sharing through a 50/50 split on all music streaming royalties and a soundtrack bonus based on the popularity of the track among Epidemic Sound users, along with huge distribution through content. Meanwhile, users get global licenses that work across all platforms and territories, and a dedicated team ensures you’re up-to-date on the legal landscape and your content is safe, however your publishing needs might change.For businesses operating at scale, this approach offers several advantages. A single agreement can cover all creators working with a brand, eliminating the need to track multiple licenses across campaigns. And with over 50,000 tracks and 200,000 sound effects in Epidemic Sound’s catalog, creative options aren’t limited. It can even help with music selection: Paste a Spotify link into its search bar, and and it will recommend similar-sounding tracks from its catalog. By partnering with Epidemic Sound, clients get a dedicated soundtracking partner who not only keeps them updated on legal developments and considerations, but also shares insights on trending genres, moods, and tracks across platforms so that content can stay both safe and relevant.Crucially, this model demonstrates that respecting copyright and accessing quality music aren’t mutually exclusive. By creating a system where artists are fairly compensated and users have legal certainty, it points toward a more secure future for music in commercial content.The path forwardAs social media evolves and new platforms emerge, the relationship between music and content will only deepen. For brands and creators who grasp this, the opportunity to forge stronger connections with audiences is huge — as long as they treat music as a strategic asset worth investing in properly.This means securing comprehensive licenses before campaigns launch, choosing solutions that work across all platforms and territories, and partnering with providers who can handle both the creative and legal complexities of modern content distribution.Because, when a video can go viral in minutes and spread globally in hours, there’s no room for uncertainty about music rights. The companies that find the right balance — respecting copyright while embracing music’s engagement potential — will be the ones building lasting success, one perfectly soundtracked post at a time.