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This post is written by Samantha Sawyer, General Manager, Licensing and Technology Solutions, at B2B music company MassiveMusic.
Music is the emotional heartbeat of a brand’s advertising, the unseen force that can make or break a campaign. It sets the mood, reinforces the message, and forges an instant, emotional connection with the audience. But leveraging that power is a complicated art. The business of licensing music is an intricate negotiation with multiple stakeholders and competing interests, including artists, publishers, and record labels. Securing the rights to a song isn’t a simple transaction; it can be a complex and often protracted process that demands considered navigation.
In today’s fragmented media landscape, licensing rules vary depending on the platform, format, and even the type of creator involved. That complexity often leaves brand teams unsure of what permissions they actually need. Brands need to license music for everything from television commercials to social media videos, each with their own set of rights, restrictions and licensing norms. The blurring of lines between brand and influencers on social media, coupled with a trend toward multi-party co-written songs, has resulted in a licensing quagmire that slows creativity and exposes brands to unnecessary risk.
The result of an opaque, complicated licensing regime is often litigation, as evidenced by recent high profile legal battles. The headlines tell a stark story, from the Beastie Boys’ legal action against Chili’s for unauthorised use of their music or Warner Music Group’s suing of retail giant DSW over infringement of 200+ works in TikTok and Instagram posts . These cases highlight a need for greater awareness of music rights together with a requirement for a simplified, transparent system of licensing which makes access to quality repertoire quick and easy.
A system stuck in the past
There is a fundamental disconnect. The needs of digital-first, always-on modern marketing are in stark contrast with a music licensing framework built for a different era. The process is a labyrinth of rights and clearances, requiring separate licenses for the musical composition (the song itself) and the master recording (the specific recorded version of the song). A brand might need to negotiate with multiple publishers (it is extremely common for there to be more than one writer of a song, and for each writer to have a different publisher), and a record label – a slow, expensive, and often confusing process that few marketing teams are equipped to handle.
The complexity manifests in two ways. The first, and most common, is a lack of awareness: a social media manager sees a popular audio clip, uses it without thinking, and opens the door to copyright infringement. Others knowingly take the risk—an act of intellectual property infringement that can result in significant damages and reputational harm.
The second manifestation is the increasing use of AI-generated music. With no established licensing system to govern AI model training or music outputs, brands face uncertain legal ground. Numerous lawsuits are already challenging the legitimacy of AI models trained on vast databases of unlicensed works, with damages reaching into the billions. For brands, the risk is twofold: AI-generated music may lack copyright protection, and the outputs themselves may infringe on the very works used to train them.
While campaign licensing will remain complex by nature, the industry has an opportunity to reduce friction in other areas, particularly high-volume social content. Streamlined, tech-enabled solutions could help automate elements of social licensing, offering brands faster, safer access to music while ensuring artists and rights holders are fairly compensated.
Tech to the rescue
The good news is that technology holds the key to this future. While AI has created new challenges, it can also be part of the answer. The way forward for brands lies in exploring and embracing new solutions that respect creators’ rights while streamlining the creative process.
This includes the rise of sync specific licensing platforms – including our own MassiveMusic Studio. These services act as a bridge between brands and a vast catalog of music ranging from pre-cleared production libraries to cleared or clearable commercial tracks. They simplify the process to a subscription or a one-time fee, providing legal, rapid access to music while ensuring artists are fairly compensated.
We also need to see the development of more advanced AI-assisted search tools. These tools are already emerging and go beyond simple genre tagging, but identify the right content at the right time for a brand’s specific audience and campaign goals. This also benefits artists, ensuring their work is surfaced more accurately and matched with the right opportunities, rather than being lost in generic categories. This isn’t about replacing human creativity, but about using technology to make the discovery and licensing process more efficient and legally sound.
Finally, a more collaborative approach is needed to create transparent pricing and defined “repertoire pools” for specific use cases. For example, a brand could have faster access to trending music for its in-house, “hygiene” social content without the lengthy negotiation for every single post.
The current licensing landscape does little to maximise the potential for brands and artists. Brands have music budgets, but often have short windows to decide on the repertoire for placement. Artists are looking for the exposure and reach (and the fees) that brands can offer. The outcomes should be mutually beneficial if a framework for easy discovery and licensing can be established. By embracing new technology and a more integrated approach, brands will be able to finally leverage the power of music without the fear of a legal strike, creating campaigns that resonate with audiences and respect and promote the artists within them.
