For TikTok Shop sellers
Your affiliates pick the songs. You carry the risk.
We check your affiliate videos, Spark Ads and shop content for music that isn't cleared for selling. You get a green, yellow and red list with a fix for every flag. Know every post is safe before your boss or a record label asks.
✓ No logins, just your shop and handles✓ Results in 5 business days✓ Every flag confirmed by a person
The problem nobody warns you about
TikTok Shop runs on affiliates. You send samples, creators post, the videos sell. It works because creators move fast and use whatever is trending that week, and that usually means a popular song.
Here's the catch. Most of those songs come from TikTok's general music library, which is licensed for people making personal videos. A video that sells your product with a shop link isn't personal. It's marketing. And when a song is used to sell something without a commercial license, the brand being promoted is the obvious party for a label to go after.
You didn't pick the song. You may never have watched the video. That doesn't help much. In Sony's case against Bang Energy, the court found the brand liable for videos its paid influencers posted. Labels have since sued Kroger, Quince and DSW, and each of those complaints includes posts by creators the brand paid.
Boosting is where it gets expensive
An affiliate's organic post is one thing. When you turn it into a Spark Ad, or feed it into GMV Max, you're putting money behind it. The video is now plainly your advertising, served to people who don't follow the creator, often for weeks.
A post existing organically doesn't make the paid version safe. If the audio wasn't cleared for paid commercial use, boosting it can create a licensing problem on its own. And in a lawsuit, damages are counted per song, not per video. US law allows up to $150,000 per work if the use is found to be willful. A shop with a few hundred affiliates can rack up dozens of different songs without anyone noticing.
A week in the life of a shop
Say you sell a skincare serum. Last month 140 affiliates posted about it. Your team picked the 30 best performers and ran them as Spark Ads. Sales were great.
Now someone in finance forwards a letter. A label says 11 of its songs appear in videos promoting your product, lists the URLs, and asks you to pay. Four of those videos were your Spark Ads. Two were deleted months ago, but the label has screen recordings. Your team spends the next two weeks digging through creator DMs trying to work out who used what.
That's the scenario we're built to prevent. Not by banning trending sounds, but by telling you which videos are fine, which need a fix, and which to stop running today.
What we check
- Affiliate videos about your products. We find them by shop, product name and hashtag, the same way a label's monitoring team would.
- Your Spark Ads and boosted posts. The highest-risk group, because you paid to spread them.
- Your own shop and brand account videos. Including the ones someone on the team made with a trending sound "just this once."
- Creator usage rights. If you have a deal with a creator that ends on a date, we flag content still running after it.
Every song is matched against the recording, then checked against the songs we track from real music claims and other chart hits labels watch closely. A trained reviewer confirms every flag before it reaches you. Software alone gets fooled by sped-up versions, covers and "original sound" uploads of real songs, so we don't rely on it alone.
What you get back
A simple list, sorted by risk:
Green: OK to run
Commercial Music Library tracks, original audio, voiceover, or music you've licensed. Keep boosting.
Yellow: check soon
Something needs a look, like an unclear track, a creator license ending next month, or an organic post with a risky song you might boost later.
Red: fix now
A major-label song in a video you're paying to promote, or creator content running after its rights ended.
Each red and yellow item comes with a specific fix: pause the ad, ask the affiliate to swap the track, license the song, or take the video down. You can hand the list straight to whoever manages your affiliates.
How it works
- Send your shop name and TikTok handle. No logins, no passwords, no seller center access.
- We collect the videos. Your account, your Spark Ads and the affiliate videos promoting your products, from the last 90 days.
- We identify every song and check it against what's cleared for brand use.
- A reviewer confirms each flag and writes the fix in plain English.
- You get your list in 5 business days. We re-check later to confirm fixes stuck.
Pricing
Starting at $500 for up to 100 videos, and free if we find nothing that needs fixing. Bigger shops get a quote upfront, before we start. Most sellers start with their Spark Ads and top affiliates, since that's where the money and the risk sit.
Today we check music and creator rights. Stock footage, images and AI likeness checks are coming soon.
Cheaper than one letter. A single song claim usually costs more to settle than a full check of your shop. And you'll know which affiliates to brief before your next campaign.
What to tell your affiliates
The easiest long-term fix is in your affiliate brief. Ask creators to use sounds from TikTok's Commercial Music Library, their own voiceover, or original audio for anything promoting your shop. Say it plainly, and say why: if a video uses an uncleared song, you can't boost it. Most creators will switch once they know that's what stands between them and paid amplification. We'll send you a short brief template with your results.
Check your affiliate videos
Common questions
Am I really responsible for songs my affiliates chose?
You can be. In Sony v. Bang Energy, the court held the brand liable for its influencers' videos, and recent label lawsuits against Kroger, Quince and DSW include posts by paid creators. When a video promotes your product, you're the party a label is most likely to contact.
Do you need access to my TikTok Shop seller center?
No. We only need your shop name and handles. We find your affiliate videos and ads the way a label's monitoring team would, from public content.
Can I boost an affiliate video that uses a trending song?
Only if the song is cleared for paid commercial use, for example a Commercial Music Library track or one you've licensed. A post running fine organically doesn't make the boosted version safe.
What if TikTok never muted the video?
That doesn't mean it's licensed. Labels monitor brand activity directly and can make claims over posts that were never muted, including deleted ones.
How many videos should I check first?
Start with everything you've boosted plus your top-selling affiliate videos. That's usually where most of the risk sits, and it often fits in the $500 tier.
Is this legal advice?
No. We tell you what's in your content and how to fix it. For a specific claim or letter, talk to a lawyer.
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.