For influencer marketing managers
Your creators pick the songs. Your brand carries the risk.
Influencer and creator managers juggle dozens of creators, contracts and whitelisted ads. Two things slip through: songs that aren't cleared for brand marketing, and creator videos still running after the rights ran out. We check both.
✓ Music and usage rights in one check✓ Organic, reposts and paid ads✓ Every flag confirmed by a person
The two risks nobody owns
A creator program has a lot of moving parts: briefs, product seeding, contracts, approvals, payments, whitelisting codes. Music and usage rights tend to fall between them. The creator assumes trending audio is fine because the app offered it. The brand assumes the creator knows what they're doing. Legal reviewed the contract template two years ago. Nobody actually checks the finished video.
That gap is exactly where the lawsuits land. Kroger's complaint cites a creator's Home Chef video tagged #ad with a discount code. Quince's cites a creator's paid partnership video the brand reposted after swapping in a hit song. In Sony's case against Bang Energy, the court held the brand vicariously liable for its influencers' videos because it paid them and could control what they posted.
Risk one: the music
Most creators make content on personal or creator accounts, where the full music library is available. That library is licensed for personal videos, not for advertising a product. When a creator puts a chart song in a sponsored post, the platform license doesn't cover the brand. When you repost that video on your brand account, or turn it into a Spark Ad or a partnership ad, the use is now plainly your marketing.
The workarounds don't help. A sped-up version is still the same song. A cover still uses the songwriter's work. "Original sound" often has a hit underneath. We check what's actually playing, not what the label says.
Risk two: the usage rights
The other risk is in the contract. You paid for 60 days of paid use, or organic use on two platforms, or six months of whitelisting. Then the video performs, the media buyer scales it, and nobody remembers the end date. Creators and their managers do remember. Running content past its term can mean an invoice at the creator's rate for the extra period, or a claim under right of publicity laws if their face and voice keep selling your product.
A scenario that happens every quarter
Jordan manages creators for a supplement brand: 30 creators a month, about eight of them whitelisted as partnership ads. In April a fitness creator delivers a workout video set to a trending track from a major label. It's approved in a rush because the launch is Friday. It becomes the brand's top ad.
In July the creator's manager emails: the 60-day paid term ended in June and the ad is still live. They want a year's fee. A week later the brand's lawyer gets a demand letter from the label listing that ad and nine other creator videos. Jordan has to rebuild the history of each video from Slack threads and spreadsheets.
A check before boosting would have flagged the song. The tracker would have sent a reminder 30 days and 7 days before the rights ended. Two avoidable problems, one quarter.
What we check
- Creator videos about your brand, on their accounts and yours.
- Reposts, stitches and duets your brand made from creator content.
- Whitelisted and boosted posts: Spark Ads, partnership ads and creator ads that are running now.
- Usage rights against the terms you share with us: end dates, platforms, paid or organic use.
You get a list of every video marked green, yellow or red, with the reason and the fix: swap the track, pause the ad, renew the rights or take it down. A trained reviewer confirms every flag.
Build it into your program
- Add a music line to every brief. Licensed library tracks, the Commercial Music Library or original audio only. We have a creator brief template you can copy.
- Put music in the contract. A short warranty that the creator only uses cleared audio. See our influencer contract music clause.
- Check before boosting. The moment a creator video becomes an ad is the moment it matters most.
- Track the end dates. Use our free license tracker to get reminders before rights expire.
Price. First check from $500 for up to 100 posts, and free if there's nothing to fix.
Why an outside check helps you internally
Influencer managers are often asked to move fast and then blamed when something goes wrong. An independent, dated report changes that. It shows that the program was checked, what was found and what was fixed. It's also the easiest way to get budget for better processes: it's hard to argue with a list of red posts.
It helps with creators too. A clear, consistent rule, applied by an outside reviewer, is easier to hold creators to than a manager's judgment call on a Friday afternoon. Most creators are happy to use cleared audio once they know it's required; they just need to be told before they shoot, not after the video is live.
Get your creator content checked
Common questions
Is the brand really responsible for a creator's song choice?
It can be. In Sony's case against Bang Energy, the court held the brand vicariously liable for influencer videos because it benefited and could control them. Several recent complaints include paid creator posts.
What if the creator posted it on their own account?
If it's a sponsored post promoting your product, it's still marketing. The risk grows if you repost it, boost it or run it as a partnership ad.
Can you check whitelisted ads?
Yes. We check ads that are publicly visible in the platforms' ad libraries, plus any links you send us.
Do you need our creator contracts?
Only the key terms: end date, platforms, paid or organic. You can add them yourself in our free license tracker.
What's a quick win for our creator brief?
Tell creators which audio is allowed: licensed library tracks, the platform's commercial library, or original audio. And ask them to say which track they used when they deliver.
Related
General information, not legal advice. Platform rules and licenses change; check the current terms or ask your lawyer about your situation. Lawsuit figures are as reported and represent claims, not findings, unless noted.