by Ethan Carter | December 31, 2025 | Music AI Tips
When elaborate edited videos are muted or taken down by Instagram, you may feel frustrated and confused. Why did this happen?
No use of royalty-free music for Instagram is being blamed for that. Royalty-free is not free, which means you pay once to get the right to permanently use the music. However, you are even unclear about how to judge if a song is royalty-free. This post will share with you the best music resource to avoid copyright on Instagram, and help you understand the restrictions for personal use and commercial use.
Instagram Help Center introduces 3 reasons for muted audio on your content:
Once you use non-copyrighted music for Instagram, the automatic copyright detection of Instagram will identify your infringement and mute your video. So, how does it work? The uploaded video and audio are accurately extracted and matched with the copyrighted works in the database, and the system will analyse sound waves and spectrograms. Even if the audio is adjusted or mixed, it will be detected strictly.
Please note that the permission between the personal account and business account is obviously different. Individual accounts have access to the full Instagram music library with popular songs for non-sponsored content. Unlike with it, for-profit business accounts have a higher restriction on using royalty-free music for Instagram. Commercial use without authorization is against intellectual property rights, so the platform sets firm limits on business accounts from using this type of music.
In addition, if you don’t use royalty-free music for Instagram videos, the cost is far more than just being muted. Illegal usage many times always leads to limited views, content removal, and even permanent restriction of your account. Worse, music content creators have the right to ask to hold you liable for all losses and legal obligations.
How to avoid copyright on Instagram when adding popular music to video content? The answer is using Instagram royalty-free music. You can find the songs via various reliable paid platforms, making sure the creation is legal.
Suitable for: Users who need a high-quality, one-stop royalty-free music solution with flexible audio editing.
Subscription:
(Each plan has a 30-day free trial.)
Epidemic Sound is the leading royalty-free audio platform, focusing on providing high-quality music and sound effects for content creators. It owns full rights to all music tracks in its library to eliminate copyright infringement or platform muting risks. The platform supports 40,000+ high-quality tracks and 90,000+ sound effects. And the highlight is that you can download drum beats, bass, melody, or vocals from one song separately, meeting various needs for Instagram business accounts to use copyrighted music across advertising, film, and other scenarios.
Features
Even if you cancel your subscription in the future, videos published during your subscription remain covered forever!
Suitable for: Digital creators looking for high-quality assets and AI-powered creative tools.
Subscription: (Creators)
Artlist is a comprehensive creative platform for commercial production with top AI models. The music licensing solves the cross-border copyright issues, covering 200+ countries and regions around the world. You can apply royalty-free music for Instagram videos without hassle. It uploads royalty-free music, SFX, footage, templates, and other sound effects daily. The music library is based on over 20 million resources, covering Classical, Hip Hop, Electronic, and more styles. Which is accurate to match your creative needs.
Features
Suitable for: Creators who need an unlimited, cost-effective library of royalty-free music and video assets.
Subscription:
Envato provides a large-scale creative resource and makes it easy to license your assets. You can use all of the items on your projects with a simple license. But you have to register for a single permit every time you download a song or other items. You can select non-copyrighted music for Instagram by Genre, Mood, Instrument, BPM, etc., or create your own audio with the built-in MusicGen tool.
Features
Suitable for: Users who do not pursue the popularity of music to find the most compliant and cost-effective music sources.
The music in the YouTube Audio Library is totally royalty-free, even if you add the music to your video for sponsorship. However, all of the music is stock music instead of hot singles. To some extent, it’s not creative to apply to these songs that have been used repeatedly by millions of creators around the world. Most importantly, some music is under Creative Commons Attribution, which means you must label music for content creators in the video description to avoid copyright issues.
Suitable for: Users who need zero-risk, high-quality audio for commercial videos within the Meta ecosystem.
Using Facebook Sound Collection, you can use massive royalty-free audio tracks and sound effects in your Instagram videos for brand promotion or advertising. There’s no need to worry that your content will be muted or taken down. You can search and download any tracks and mix them into your videos using other editing tools.
Suitable for: Social media creators who need quick access to high-quality transitions and background music.
Mixkit, an affiliated platform of Envato, supports large amounts of royalty-free stock music, sound effects, video templates, and stock videos. You can directly use them without registering and launching, with no attribution required. Its free license covers most of the social media, like Instagram.
Suitable for: Use a Creator Account to get the most access to popular music.
You can find royalty-free music for Instagram Stories and Reels creation in its built-in music library for in-app use. But note that you should carefully pick what you can use because not all of them are royalty-free. Meanwhile, only music labeled as royalty-free can be used on other platforms like TikTok.
How to find royalty-free music for Instagram videos?
Step 1. Go to Instagram on your phone and create a new reel or story.
Step 2. Click the sticker icon and choose Music.
Step 3. In the music library, you can search for the tracks you want to add.
Check License Types
Distinguish between Creative Commons (CC) and Royalty-Free (RF). Royalty-free often means you pay once to use it without ongoing fees, while Creative Commons is usually free but comes with specific usage conditions (like non-commercial use only).
Give Proper Attribution
When downloading royalty-free music from many music platforms, the premise is that you have to always credit the artist and the music. Follow the TASL formats, including Title, Author, Source, and License.
Save Your Free License
When you pay for royalty-free music for Instagram videos from third-party sites, always remember to save the license. This is your primary evidence to prove your usage right away from a copyright.
Special Rules for Sponsored Posts
Standard personal use music licenses (including many popular songs in the library) do not cover commercial or branded content. For royalty-free music for Instagram ads, you have to get properly licensed music resources following the way in Part 3 or by purchasing a specific Commercial License.
Looking for the trending audio on Instagram
A small upward arrow next to the audio name in Reels is an official signal that a track is getting hot trends. Using these sounds helps your content reach a wider audience significantly.
Edit your music on the beat
When your video transitions match the music rhythm, the audience will have an intuitive visual sense and strong artistic appeal. You can use the Beat Markers function in editors or the Templates feature on Instagram to create a satisfying flow.
Match Mood to Your Brand
Music is a powerful emotional trigger. Picking a track aligns with your brand’s personality and ideal audience for a better viewing experience.
Q1: Can I use popular music on an Instagram business account?
A: No. You’re only allowed to use popular music for uncommercial content. If you apply copyrighted music in videos, it will lead to muted audio, content removal, or retroactive fees and lawsuits.
Q2: Is music marked “No Copyright” always safe?
A: No. The music with the No Copyright label means it is still copyrighted, but you can freely use it under specific rules. So, it is necessary to frequently check the license terms to avoid legal issues.
Q3: How can I appeal for my video being misjudged for infringement?
A: Go to Settings > Account Status to find the deleted content and request a review. You can provide a license as the evidence, or click the appeal link in the notification to explain why the video is misjudged to speed up the resolution process.
Q4: What’s the difference between royalty-free and copyright-free?
A: Royalty-free typically signifies that a one-time payment is made to the rights holder, whereas copyright-free means that the music, sound, or track holds no copyright.
Although it is strict to use royalty-free Music for Instagram, which aims to protect social media creators and music content creators from trouble with the law and ensure the content quality. We hope that the methods and tips on how to find and use non-copyrighted Instagram music in this article can be of service to you. If you don’t want to spend money and time on determining whether music is copyrighted, we recommend that you try free online sources to enhance the video effects.
Ethan Carter creates in-depth content, timely news, and practical guides on AI audio, helping readers understand AI audio tools, making them accessible to non-experts. He specializes in reviewing top AI tools, explaining the ethics of AI music, and covering regulations. He uses data-driven insights and analysis, making his work trusted.
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