Instagram makes pieces of music available in its music library, which users can then pack under reels and in stories. But be careful: A new music guideline has been in force since October 19, 2022 – and it has a nasty surprise in store for companies in particular.
Music library may only be used privately
According to the new music directive, the tracks made available by Instagram may only be used for private purposes. If you want to use them for commercial purposes, you should acquire your own license for this use.
This not only affects the use of music by craft companies, online shops and service providers who operate an Instagram account. Basically, the rule applies to every account that earns money through advertising cooperation with companies, including influencers. In addition to influencers, accounts are also affected that sell their own merch, for example, in order to finance their rather non-commercial project.
How can a commercial license be purchased?
This means that every account that is not purely private requires a license to use music from the Instagram library. But: Where do you get such a license from? You can of course contact the rights holder directly and purchase licenses for individual pieces of music. However, there are also providers, such as Universal Production Music, who maintain their own music library and sell licenses for commercial use. With such collecting societies, however, strict attention must be paid to ensuring that the license also applies to use on Instagram. Gema, for example, offers various tariffs for music use on the Internet; However, the standard tariffs do not seem to include use for reels and stories on Instagram.
In addition to music that has to be licensed, pieces with Creative Common Licenses (CC licenses) can also be used in a targeted manner. While such pieces are provided free of charge, the rules must still be followed. Not every piece of music is released for commercial use. In addition, the authors often insist on being named.
Even short pieces have to be licensed
Reels and stories are characterized by their brevity. Here some people might get the idea that no license is required for short pieces of music. The idea comes from the EU copyright directive that came into force in 2017, which is particularly known for the introduction of upload filters.
However, the directive provides for a number of cases in which copyright-protected works can also be used without a license. License-free use is possible if the scope does not exceed a de minimis limit. This is 15 seconds for pieces of music. There are also other conditions that are irrelevant to the question of commercial use. The 15-second rule only applies to non-commercial use and therefore does not help companies on Instagram.
Using it without a license can be expensive
The simple use of music titles from the Instagram library is thus practically impossible for a company account. Although it is basically possible to purchase licenses for individual songs, it is not always easy to obtain licenses and the bottom line is that it is not always worthwhile, especially for small companies. However, it becomes even more expensive if pieces of music are used for commercial purposes without permission. In such a case, rights holders can issue a copyright warning. The lawyer’s fees alone for such a warning are usually over 1,000 euros. In addition, there are claims for damages, such as the fictitious license fee.
