Propoer music license for a TikTok challenge

Envato Authors AudioJungle
#1

Hi all, a client asked me which music license they would need if they want to use a song for a TikTok challenge. In the challenge they want to provide 2-3 songs on their TikTok profile and then subscribers are engaged to do a short clip (e.g. dancing) on that song. Of course the client cannot purchase a single license for each participant because the number of participants is unknown before the challenge.

In a strict sense I guess they should tell each participant to purchase a license, but of course this is not practical. In a lose interpretation one could say the contest entries are like a “series” of web videos, so the basic web license covers 52 entries (according to the Envato FAQ).

Anyways TikTok has become such an important media and it would be nice if AudioJungle songs could be used for this and licensing would be clear.

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#2

The series interpretation would be too far fetched.

This Tik Tok conundrum is very similar to what gamers encounter with live-streaming their gameplay with the game’s music on for which they don’t have a license.

At the end of the day, our music requires a license to be used in any media. Why should it be different for some people?

A new type of license that includes the possibility of redistribution could help in such cases. But allowing redistribution really would open a can of worms.

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#4

In other words an exclusive or non-exclusive buyout is the only reasonable way of dealing with it.

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#5

Since the author did not respond we could not clear the license, so we had to compose a new song in a similar style. :-/ Not ideal but the saver solution.

#6

I would assume that game music contracts usually cover the use in promotions and videos and gameplay videos can be considered a promotional video for the game itself.

#7

Well, it would depend on the contract, I guess.

This is not how it works on Audiojungle, though. The license is good for one end-product and one end-user. Gameplay videos from other users certainly do not fit this definition, and of course are not covered by a same license. As again, this would be redistribution.

#8

My instinct would be the Mass Reproduction license, but of course that doesn’t account for sublicensed end products. The question is, are derivative TikTok ‘clips’ considered new end products?

#9

since they are published by unlicensed third parties, I don’t see how they could be considered to be the same end-product.

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#10

Agree.

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