Greetings from the transitional space between TikTok existing and TikTok being banned in the US. Right now, TikTok is available, which means we’re analyzing Sound IDs on the platform to help rightsholders get paid. If you missed our last Sound ID piece where we showed how uploaders avoid copyright claims, you can catch up here. In this installment, we’ll be showing how Sound IDs with a viral number of creations, as well as videos with a viral amount of views, are not being properly credited to rightsholders. Both of these matter immensely as TikTok currently pays royalties based on the number of views on creations (videos) using a sound. So, the higher the number of creations, and the higher the views on those creations, the more royalties a rightsholder is owed from TikTok. 

Wouldn’t it be great if rightsholders could easily find their music on TikTok, verify the Sound ID is correct or claim the sound, and get paid more? We think so and that’s why we offer Sound ID reports showing rightsholders uses of their catalog on TikTok, and highlights claimable videos with high creations or views. We’ve found some significant instances where viral videos and Sound IDs are not properly attributed to rightsholders. Here’s what we’ve discovered on TikTok recently. 

Key takeaways

TikTok Sound IDs with hundreds of thousands of creations and improper attribution 

We identified this sound on TikTok that uses an edited version of Beyonce’s “16 Carriages”. The sound was edited by and is attributed to the uploader “JAYBeatz”, making them the person who receives royalties for uses of this sound. The sound is used on more than 97k videos, and Beyonce is not getting credit or revenue for any of them. 

We also identified this sped up version of “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan, shared by an uploader named Sara, who will receive any payments for use of this sound. Our audio identification technology easily finds sped up versions like this sound, which has been used on 142k videos so far. 

Lastly, we found this sped up version of the KPop girl group NewJeans’ song “OMG”. The sound is attributed to an uploader who uses an emoji instead of their name. The sound has been added to more than 187k videos on TikTok already. 

Creations with millions of views and inaccurate credits  

With TikTok’s recent shift to a view-based compensation model, let’s take a look at posts with high views.  We identified this video, which uses Kendrick Lamar’s song “Not Like Us”, but the Sound ID links to a sound called “snowfall” attributed to the uploaders “Øneheart” and “discord.gg/parazit”. The video has 21 million views. According to what TikTok pays creators for views ($20 for 1 million views), this video is worth at least $420. That may not seem like a lot for an artist as big as Kendrick Lamar, but there are hundreds of thousands of videos on TikTok that aren’t credited back to artists, and that money adds up fast. 

This video using the same sped up version of NewJeans’ song “OMG” we mentioned above, has 3.8 million views, and we found multiple other unattributed NewJeans videos, including this one with 2.5 million views. 

No amount of music royalties should be going to uploaders who unlawfully manipulate an artist’s recording and then distribute it online. It’s music fraud and it’s rampant on TikTok. 

Sound IDs with high views that rightsholders are shut out of claiming 

Finding unauthorized uses of music like these is valuable for claiming and earning revenue, but what happens when you can’t claim a Sound ID because someone else already has? Unfortunately, TikTok’s system currently only allows one rightsholder to claim a Sound ID and one Sound ID per video. If a Sound ID is linked incorrectly, the correct rightsholder has three options: 1) Issue a DMCA takedown notice for the video 2) Report the use to TikTok directly so that hopefully claiming rules can be updated, and 3) Reach out to the video creator or misattributed rightsholder to try and resolve the issue. Here are some examples of viral videos that are claimed by a rightsholder where either multiple rightsholders need to be credited, or the wrong rightsholder is credited. 

This video with over 10 million views contains a Kendrick Lamar’s song “Meet the Grahams”, but the Sound ID links to “Redrum” by 21 Savage, which is not audible in the video. Uploaders often turn the volume down on TikTok library tracks and then add additional audio to avoid copyright claims or trendjack. It looks like that’s what’s happening here. 

Another example is this video with 7.6 million views, where the Sound ID links to the song “Masterpiece” by Rak-Su, but the video is playing Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us”. Maybe Kendrick should write a diss track about music fraud on TikTok. 

We also identified two videos using Beyonce’s music that both have millions of views but are not credited to Beyonce. The first has 5.2M views and is credited to the uploader we mentioned above,  “JAYBeatz”. The second video has 1.3M views and is credited to “DJ KINGSZN” who mixed Beyonce’s song “II HANDS II HEAVEN” with the Destiny’s Child song  “Cater 2 U”. Beyonce is missing out in two ways with this video since she is also part of Destiny’s Child and is being credited for neither song here. 

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