TikTok Removed The Sound From My Video. Why?

One of the coolest features of TikTok’s video creation tool is the ability to quickly add music to your production. The social media platform lets you choose from a library of more than a million songs (the app calls them “Sounds”), most of them clips from popular music supplied by major record labels. A much smaller number of Sounds have been created by other users.

The system usually suggests a Sound that it thinks would work well with your TikTok video, but you can always search the vast library for one that you believe matches your content perfectly. (Those with business TikTok accounts have a different but somewhat similar library available to them.)

Occasionally, though, TikTok users find that their video has been altered after it’s been uploaded. The app’s algorithms have the ability to remove Sounds from TikTok content, and you don’t receive any notification before it happens.

Why would that happen? There are two possibilities.

Why Did TikTok Remove My Sound?

Here’s the short answer: you did something wrong. 

The longer answer requires two separate explanations.

You May Have Violated Copyright Rules

When someone writes a song, they own the rights to it (unless they’ve signed those rights over to a third party, like a music publisher). Those rights are generally described as “copyrights.” Anyone performing the song or using it in public must first obtain permission, usually by paying a fee. If they don’t, the use is illegal because they’re violating the owner’s copyright.

The songs in TikTok’s library have all been cleared for private, non-commercial use (and the ones available to business users have been cleared for commercial use). The blanket permissions obtained by the app allow individual users to use small sections of the Sounds in their videos.

Some people, though, are determined to use a specific song that isn’t available in the app. They upload it to TikTok on their own or insert it into their video with a third-party editor, create their TikTok post — and then find that the app has deleted the video’s soundtrack or taken the post down completely.

That’s the price users may pay for using unapproved, copyrighted music. The TikTok algorithms know which songs the platform has the rights to publish, so they’re always searching for Sound use that might violate copyright law and put the app in legal jeopardy. Instead of asking if the content creator has privately obtained permission to use a song, they simply remove the music.

This doesn’t mean you can’t use Sounds that aren’t in the TikTok library, but you have to jump through hoops to do it.

The app has a “Video sound copyright check” tool in the “Creator tools” section of the TikTok Studio. Turn it on, and if you’re told the music is copyrighted and can’t be used, you can file a “Copyright Infringement Counter-Notification” to prove that you’re the copyright owner or have permission to use it. You can also file that form if you find your Sound has been removed.

Another option is to use copyright-free music that’s widely available online. Those songs won’t trigger a copyright infringement notification on TikTok.

What can you do if your Sound disappears from your video? Look for and click on the “view details” link on your post; you’ll see why the music was removed, and you’ll have the option to appeal or replace the song.

You May Have Violated Community Standards

Most users know that the app has rules governing content and behavior on the platform. They probably don’t realize, though, that the TikTok terms and conditions and Community Standards apply to music as well as video content.

For example, the app may remove the soundtrack from a TikTok post if the music’s lyrics include hate speech, promote the use of weapons or drugs, or describe explicit sexual activity. This type of Sound deletion is rare, particularly since many of the approved and popular songs in TikTok’s library come awfully close to violating those Standards — but it can happen.

Again, check the link on your penalized video to see why the Sound was removed, and you’ll have the opportunity to add a different song or appeal.

Why fight, though? TikTok has so many Sounds, in every genre, that it makes little sense to fight to include a song that will raise red flags. Use the app’s library and the copyright checker, and you won’t have to spend time worrying about whether a Sound will be removed from your video.