What is TikTok?
TikTok is a video-sharing app that allows users to upload short-form video clips up to 60 seconds long, available worldwide. Our deliveries to TikTok make AWAL content available on TikTok and its Chinese counterpart, Douyin. TikTok will pay participating partners, like AWAL, a flat fee while they build out their reporting and monetization capabilities.
How are labels getting paid by AWAL?
As of May 2021, a payment will be released to labels that will cover the activity period of November 2019 - April 2020, and is based on actual reporting from TikTok. We expect to process payments more frequently in the near future.
Audio Clips
Will be as long as 60 seconds. If that’s not possible due to length of track or how late the preview start time is, it will be shorter. You can’t have a shorter preview clip without literally delivering a shortened clip as a standalone single.
How can we ensure a label’s catalog is delivered to TikTok?
We deliver all eligible content to TikTok. We can check on the backend that your content has been delivered by looking for a delivery under the DMS “TikTok”.
What music is eligible for delivery to TikTok?
It’s the same catalog of content we send to other fingerprinting/UGC services like YouTube Content ID, SoundCloud, Facebook, etc. That means we don’t deliver non-exclusive content and content that is prone to creating false fingerprint matches, like karaoke, classical recordings, new age, nature sounds, etc.
What happens with the content we deliver to TikTok?
Deliveries to TikTok make our sound recordings available in TikTok’s Audio Library for users to add to their creations.
Where can a user access music on TikTok?
A user can find music by searching in the “Discover” tab, or clicking on the “Sounds” section of TikTok when uploading a video. Music is categorized by playlists and genres, along with a search feature.
Is the entire sound recording made available on TikTok?
No. A 60-second preview is made available. If a label has selected a preview start time in Workstation, that preview will be sent to TikTok and made available on TikTok. If a label has not selected a preview start time, we will default to sending the first 60 seconds of the sound recording.
What happens to user creations containing our sound recordings if we take down the sound recording from the platform?
The user creations will still exist on the platform with our audio even once the sound recording has been removed from the audio library. The song credit will be impacted:
- On mobile, AWAL’s song credit will be removed, and will say “Original Sound.”
- On desktop, AWAL’s song credit will still appear, but clicking on the song credit will show that the sound recording is not available in TikTok's audio library.
NOTE: even if we have the ISRC live via another UPC, user creations that were uploaded with the taken down ISRC will behave as written above. TikTok does not have the ability to remap creations from a taken down ISRC to an ISRC that is live in their audio library.
Is TikTok fingerprinting Recordings delivered by AWAL as sound recordings to claim user uploads?
Yes, TikTok uses a fingerprinting system to automatically claim and credit user uploads. By “claiming” a TikTok sound, a “Contains music from…” credit will display under the sound in the mobile app.
I found a user upload containing an AWAL sound recording but the song credit says “Original Sound” - what does that mean?
When a user uploads a video without inserting a rightsholder sound recording from the Sound library, the resulting audio is considered an “original sound”. If we find an AWAL recordings credited as an “original sound,” this means the user uploaded their video with the AWAL song already attached. There nothing we can do about this.
Can I tell if an original sound is claimed by AWAL?
Yes. On the mobile app, you will be able to see “Contains music from: AWAL Track - AWAL Artist” under the original sound. Note: The credit will not display on desktop.
A product has been delivered to TikTok but isn’t live in search - why is this?
Below are a few reasons as to why a label may not be able to find their content in search results even with a successful delivery and no territory restrictions. If you or your label can’t find a product on TikTok after delivery, please reach out to the Artist Support Team through Workstation.
- TikTok is experiencing issues with releases not indexing in their search. To fix this, we can contact TikTok to optimize search/resolve indexing issues for a particular product.
- TikTok requires publishing clearance in order for content to go live in the US, so if a publisher has not signed a deal with TikTok, the product will not go live in the US. We can contact TikTok to find out if US publishing has not been cleared.
Why are there multiple versions of an AWAL sound recording in TikTok's Audio Library?
There are a few reasons why this may occur:
- An original sound was attributed to AWAL, so now the Audio Library has the 60 second snippet we delivered through the feed and any original sounds attributed to that sound recording.
- AWAL delivered the sound recording under different ISRCs/UPCs.
- A 3rd party delivered that sound recording to TikTok under different ISRCs/UPCs.
Why is an artist or brand account getting an error message when attempting to upload a video containing AWAL-distributed audio or choosing a track to upload via the Sound Library?
This could be due to a few different reasons. These are the most common ones we’ve seen:
-
Your video has been muted because it contains music that is not permitted for this use. → TikTok’s licenses for copyrighted music are capped at 1 minute, so if a user posts an original sound containing over 1 minute of AWAL-distributed audio, the sound and all videos using it will automatically be blocked. The artist can either re-upload the video using less than 1 minute of music or choose the track from the Sound library.
- This will also happen if the user's video was created with a UGC sound that's over 1 minute and later matched a fingerprint we delivered to the platform. Even if the video contains under 1 minute of the track, it will still get muted because the UGC sound it stems from is considered a 1+ minute clip. As long as the video is under 1 minute, reposting should fix the mute issue.
- Your video has been muted because the copyright holder hasn't made the sound available in your country/region → Another partner may have distributed the same track to TikTok and hasn’t made it available worldwide, AWAL’s delivery is not available worldwide, or the video is longer than one minute (per the reasoning in #1 above).
- This sound isn't licensed for commercial use. → The account is a brand or business account. AWAL can “safelist” the track against the account to make the track available for use for that account for a period of time. Note, we can only safelist a track after it’s been released and only for the territories in which we have rights.
- Can't Promote due to audio copyright issue. → The artist is trying to use the Promote feature, which is generally not available for videos that contain copyrighted music, i.e. audio delivered by a rightsholder to the platform. Promoting a post using an official sound can only be done via a TikTok Business Manager account.
Can I take down a TikTok video using my sound recording content?
Yes. Please submit the link, matching ISRC, and a note that the video needs to be taken down from the platform in to the Artist Support Team.
How do I find revenue associated with TikTok?
Revenue associated with the service will show up as “TikTok”, which can be found under “Source” in Workstation Accounting.
NOTE: The payment issued to labels in the May 2019 accounting statement was issued under the “Retailer” name “Musical.ly”; for future payments, the “Retailer” name in statements will be “TikTok”.
Does TikTok serve ads on user uploads?
TikTok serves ads in their app and feed, but ads are not served alongside individual videos like other ad-supported video services (e.g. YouTube).
Are there opportunities for labels to advertise on TikTok?
Not as part of the standard AWAL agreement
Can we activate artist accounts with Music Tabs on TikTok?
We are unable to activate music tabs on TikTok. You are able to activate your music tab by using this link on your mobile device.
How do I link a sound out to a full song on Apple Music?
Once a sound reaches 500k video views, TikTok will add it to a queue where a team will eventually create a link out to the full song on Apple Music. Note, a sound will not receive a link immediately after meeting the 500k view threshold.
Why might there be a discrepancy between the creation count total on the Sound page on TikTok and the actual number of creations under the Sound?
Creation count total may differ from the actual number of creations listed because the numbers fluctuate based on the status of the creations, i.e. private or deleted, and processing delays in updating the creation count. The source of truth for the number of creations should be our reporting from TikTok.
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If you'd benefit from a concise overview of TikTok, do dive into the Q&A with Daphne Poon from the Audience Development team. She's an expert on using these platform to help creators better engage with their growing fan base. |