TikTok has become the premier video-sharing platform over the last couple of years, often featuring videos with no audio other than music. However, this music mostly comes from TikTok’s audio library, and it can get tiring listening to the same songs repeatedly. So can you add your music to your TikTok videos to add variety to the platform?
To add your music to any TikTok video, you can either use the voiceover option to record the song on your phone, or you can record and edit the video on a third-party video editor and then upload the video to TikTok. Be careful, as uploading copyrighted music could get your account banned.
Knowing these methods exist is a good step, but what if you don’t know how to do these things? Let’s go into these methods in more detail and what to avoid when adding songs to your TikToks to help you upload videos that let you express yourself properly.
How to Add Music Using TikTok’s Voiceover Feature
The first way to add your own music to your TikTok videos is the simplest, but it may not be the solution for everyone. Using TikTok’s voiceover feature, you can record whatever song you want using your phone’s microphone and then insert it into your TikTok video.
To do this:
- First, begin by opening the TikTok app. You then need to hit the + icon at the bottom of the home page and record your video like normal.
- Once you’re done, you can click the red checkmark in the bottom right and move on to the next step.
- Next, select the Voiceover option in the top right corner. (The icon should look like a microphone).
- Now, all you have to do is play the song out loud and record the song using your phone’s microphone.
- Once you’re done, change the audio settings based on what you want and then hit Save in the top right corner.
- From here, add captions and post the TikTok video as you would normally.
The main reason someone would want to avoid using this method is that it will result in worse audio quality than if you had used a built-in song for your TikTok. This is because you are recording the song with your microphone. However, for some people, this isn’t an issue that will bother them.
What Happened to the “My Sounds” Button?
Many recent TikTok users may not know this, but when TikTok initially launched, it had a feature called the My Sounds button. Back when this feature existed, when you uploaded a video on TikTok, you could add any sound you wanted. So naturally, this included any music that you had on your phone.
However, if there’s one thing the music industry is known for, it’s copyright issues. When it became possible to make money through TikTok videos, TikTok was forced to remove this feature.
This is because it could be argued that TikTok, the company, was making money off of other artists’ works. This could force TikTok to share their revenue with the artists behind those songs, so they chose to remove the My Sounds feature.
This means that TikTok has created a backlog of music approved for use on TikTok. This way, you can avoid copyright issues when you upload videos on the platform.
Can You Add Any Music on TikTok?
Unfortunately, as we have discussed, TikTok has a history of copyright issues, so it has limited some of the songs you can add to your TikTok videos. Specifically, TikTok prefers you use royalty-free songs available in the TikTok library.
However, as we’ve gone over, it is possible to put your own music on TikTok by recording the sound using your phone’s microphone. So how does TikTok protect itself from copyright issues with these videos?
The Algorithm
TikTok has an algorithm built into their app that combs through the sound on videos you upload to determine whether or not you have used any unwanted audio. Of course, this algorithm is not perfect, but it is mainly successful in its attempt to determine whether or not you have used any copyrighted material in your TikToks.
This is why when you browse popular TikToks, you will only really see music from the TikTok library of approved songs being used. Many creators would rather comply with the algorithm’s demands than face the consequences.
If the algorithm finds your TikToks to use unprotected music, your TikTok will be taken down, and you will likely be issued a warning for breaking TikTok’s community guidelines. Furthermore, if you get caught breaking TikTok’s community guidelines again after being issued a warning, it is a possibility your account will be banned.
For this reason, popular creators on TikTok don’t want to risk having their whole account banned and choose to use music from the TikTok library.
Another Way to Upload Music to TikTok
We’ve already gone over that you can get your own music on TikTok by physically recording the song using TikTok’s voiceover feature. However, as we also mentioned, this results in the song having worse audio quality because it was recorded using your phone’s microphone.
What if you want to get custom music on your TikToks without this poor audio quality? Is this possible?
Thankfully, there is another way to get custom music on your TikTok videos. To do this, you need to make the video outside of TikTok and then upload the already-created video to the platform.
To do this:
- Record the video and edit it to feature whatever song you want using your phone’s built-in editing software or another. (If you edit the video using your computer, you will need to transfer the finished product to your phone.)
- Once you have the completed video on your phone, begin by opening the TikTok app.
- Once it’s open, tap the plus icon at the bottom of the home screen and select Upload.
- From here, you should be able to select the video from your phone’s files and upload it unchanged, featuring the music you added.
Beware that uploading any copyrighted music could get the video taken down due to breaking TikTok’s community guidelines. If you violate the community guidelines more than once, you risk getting banned and having your whole account taken down.