How to Legally Use Copyrighted Music: Licenses, Covers, and Fair Use

To legally use copyrighted music, you need the specific license that matches how you’re using the song, granted by the party that actually controls that right. There is no single “music license.” A song placed in a video, a cover recording sold on Bandcamp, and a playlist streamed through the speakers of a coffee shop all require different permissions from different parties, and most uses require more than one license at once. The infrastructure to get cleared exists for nearly every situation, and a small number of uses need no license at all.

Every Song Has Two Copyrights

Before you can ask for the right permission, you have to know who owns what. Every commercially released song contains two separate copyrights: one in the musical composition (the melody, chords, and lyrics) and one in the sound recording (the specific captured performance).¹ The composition is usually controlled by the songwriter and their publisher. The recording is usually controlled by the performing artist, the record label, or both.

This split drives everything that follows. Using an existing recording of a popular song in your project generally means clearing rights with two owners. Recording your own version of that song means clearing rights with just one. Federal law gives each owner exclusive control over reproducing, distributing, publicly performing, and creating new works based on their material.²

Match Your Use to the Right License

Four license types cover almost every situation.

Sync License (Music in Video)

A synchronization license is what you need whenever music is timed to visuals: a film, a TV show, a commercial, a wedding video you’re selling, a branded social post. You get it from the publisher that controls the composition. There’s no compulsory version. The publisher can say no, and the price is negotiated based on the type of media, how long the music plays, distribution scope, and whether you want exclusive use.

Master Use License (Using the Original Recording)

If your video project uses the actual commercial recording rather than a re-recorded version, you also need a master use license from the recording’s owner, usually the label. Sync plus master is the standard combination for placing an existing track in visual content. Hire a session musician to re-record the song and you skip the master use license entirely; you only need the sync.

Mechanical License (Audio Reproductions)

A mechanical license covers reproducing and distributing a composition in audio-only formats: CDs, vinyl, downloads, and interactive streams.³ The most common trigger is recording a cover. If the original has been commercially released, federal law grants you a compulsory mechanical license, meaning the owner cannot refuse as long as you follow the statutory process and pay the required royalties.

For digital streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) administers a blanket license covering permanent downloads, limited downloads, and interactive streams.⁴ For physical copies or downloads outside those platforms, most people obtain a mechanical license through the Harry Fox Agency’s Songfile tool or negotiate directly with the publisher.

Public Performance License (Music Played to the Public)

Whenever copyrighted music is played where the public can hear it, a public performance license is required. That covers broadcasts, internet streams, live performances, and background music in a store or restaurant.⁵ Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) issue these licenses. In the United States, the three major PROs are ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC, and each represents a different catalog.⁶ A license from one only covers that PRO’s songs, so venues playing a mix of music typically need all three.

Releasing a Cover Song

Cover songs are one of the most straightforward licensing situations. Because federal law gives you a compulsory mechanical license, you don’t need the songwriter’s personal approval to record and distribute your version, as long as the original has been commercially released.³

Most independent artists and small labels use a licensing service instead of running the statutory process themselves. Harry Fox Agency’s Songfile lets you search for a song, pay the fee, and get cleared for downloads, physical copies, or interactive streams. If you’re releasing to streaming platforms through a distributor, the streaming service itself handles mechanical royalties under the MLC’s blanket license, so a separate license may not be needed for the streaming portion.⁴ You’ll still need a mechanical license for any downloads or physical copies you sell.

Two limits to know. The compulsory license only lets you arrange the song to fit your performance style; you cannot fundamentally change the melody or lyrics. And because you’re making your own recording, you don’t need a master use license from the original label. If the song is in the public domain, no mechanical license is needed either.

Music in Videos, TikTok, and Podcasts

Platforms have their own licensing systems layered on top of copyright law, and each platform handles things differently.

YouTube

YouTube’s Content ID system scans every upload against a database of copyrighted audio. When it finds a match, the rights holder’s preset policy applies: monetize the video (ads run and the revenue goes to the rights holder), track it, or block it.⁷ A Content ID claim isn’t a copyright strike, but you usually lose the ad revenue.

Creator Music offers a cleaner path. Some tracks are available for upfront licensing at a set price, letting you monetize normally. Others use revenue sharing, splitting ad income with the rights holder. Restrictions vary: some tracks are capped at 30 seconds in videos of at least three minutes, others have no limit.⁸ Creator Music is currently available to U.S.-based members of the YouTube Partner Program.

TikTok

TikTok’s general music library is licensed only for personal, non-commercial use. Business accounts and any promotional content have to draw from TikTok’s separate Commercial Music Library, which contains pre-cleared tracks for organic business posts, ads, and branded content.⁹ Using a mainstream track in a commercial post can trigger a takedown or claim even though the app made the song trivial to add.

Podcasts

Podcasts sit in a hard licensing gap. Playing copyrighted music in a podcast requires both a public performance license (the podcast is transmitted to the public) and a sync license (the music is combined with other content in a fixed recording).⁵ A PRO license alone isn’t enough, and most major labels don’t offer podcast sync licenses at rates independent creators can afford. That’s why most podcasts use royalty-free or original music.

Playing Music in a Business

If your business plays music for customers, you generally need public performance licenses from ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. “Public performance” is defined broadly: background music in a lobby, music from a TV or radio, a DJ at a bar, and songs streamed through your shop speakers all count.⁶

Federal law exempts smaller businesses from needing a performance license, but only for music received from a licensed radio or TV broadcast.¹⁰ The thresholds:

Restaurants, bars, and other food or drink establishments are exempt if under 3,750 square feet (excluding parking). Larger ones still qualify if they use no more than 6 loudspeakers, with no more than 4 in any one room, and if using TVs, no more than 4 screens with none larger than 55 inches diagonal.
All other businesses (retail, offices, and the like) are exempt under 2,000 square feet, with the same speaker and screen limits for larger spaces.

These exemptions only apply to broadcast radio or TV. They do not cover Spotify, CDs, curated playlists, or any other source. And the business can’t charge admission to hear the music. Play Spotify through your shop speakers and you need PRO licenses no matter how small the store is.

When You Don’t Need a License

Public Domain

Music in the public domain is free to use, copy, perform, or adapt. For works published or registered before 1978, copyright generally lasts 95 years. Works created after January 1, 1978 are protected for the author’s life plus 70 years, or 95 years from publication for works made for hire.¹¹

As of January 1, 2026, musical compositions published or registered in 1930 and sound recordings from 1925 have entered the public domain. Watch the trap: a composition in the public domain doesn’t make every recording of it free. A 2024 recording of a Beethoven sonata is still a copyrighted sound recording even though the composition has been public domain for over a century. You’d need a public domain recording or one you make yourself.

Creative Commons

Some musicians release work under Creative Commons licenses, letting you use the music under set conditions without negotiating. The six CC license types range from permissive to restrictive. CC BY allows commercial use and modifications if you credit the creator. Others add conditions like non-commercial use only, no modifications, or share-alike (anything you build with the music must carry the same license).¹² Read the specific terms before using any CC track. Violating the conditions strips the license and turns your use into infringement.

Royalty-Free Libraries

Royalty-free doesn’t mean free. It means you pay once, per track or through a subscription, and owe no per-play royalties afterward. Services like Artlist, Epidemic Sound, and Soundstripe sell libraries of pre-cleared tracks with commercial licenses. Confirm your plan covers the platforms and project types you actually need, since some subscriptions carve out ads, broadcast, or client work.

Fair Use Is Narrower Than People Think

Fair use is a legal defense that allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission for purposes like criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, and research.¹³ It is the most misunderstood corner of music copyright, and the misunderstanding almost always runs the same direction: people assume it covers far more than it does.

Fair use is not a permission or an automatic right. It’s a defense you raise after being accused of infringement, and courts weigh four factors together: the purpose and character of your use (was it transformative? commercial?), the nature of the original work (creative works get stronger protection than factual ones), how much you took and whether it was the heart of the work, and the effect on the market for the original. No factor is decisive on its own, and outcomes are hard to predict. If you’re deciding whether to use a song based on fair use, get a lawyer’s opinion first.

Parody has stronger fair use footing than satire. A parody comments on the original work itself, which is why it needs to borrow from it. The Supreme Court recognized this in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., upholding a fair use claim for 2 Live Crew’s parody of Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman” despite the parody being commercial.¹⁴ Satire uses a copyrighted work to comment on something else, and because the satirist doesn’t need any particular song to make the point, courts are far less receptive.

What Happens If You Skip the License

In practice, most enforcement doesn’t come as a lawsuit. It comes as an automated Content ID claim or a DMCA takedown notice. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act gives copyright owners a streamlined process to demand removal of infringing content from platforms.¹⁵ If you receive a takedown and believe the claim is wrong, you can file a counter-notification. The platform must restore your content between 10 and 14 business days after receiving it, unless the copyright owner files a lawsuit against you in that window. A counter-notice requires your real name, address, and phone number, and your consent to federal court jurisdiction. If the rights holder sues, you’ve already agreed to appear.

When infringement does go to court, exposure is real. A copyright owner can sue for actual damages plus your profits, or for statutory damages of $750 to $30,000 per work, rising to $150,000 per work if the infringement was willful.¹⁶ Courts can also order you to stop using the music.¹⁷ Attorney’s fees and court costs can be added on top.¹⁸ There is one narrow break: a copyright owner can only recover statutory damages and attorney’s fees if the work was registered before the infringement began, or within three months of first publication.¹⁹ Most commercially released music is registered, so treat this as trivia, not a plan.

Criminal prosecution is rare for casual infringement but real for commercial-scale piracy. Willful infringement for commercial advantage or financial gain is a federal crime.²⁰ Reproducing or distributing at least 10 copies with a total retail value over $2,500 within a 180-day period can mean up to five years in prison for a first offense and up to ten for a second.²¹ Distributing a work before its commercial release carries up to three years for a first offense and five if done for financial gain.

1
United States Copyright Office. Musical Works, Sound Recordings – Copyright
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S.C. 106 – Exclusive Rights in Copyrighted Works
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S. Code 115 – Scope of Exclusive Rights in Nondramatic Musical Works: Compulsory License for Making and Distributing Phonorecords
4
U.S. Copyright Office. Frequently Asked Questions on the Designation of the Mechanical Licensing Collective
5
ASCAP. ASCAP Music Licensing FAQs
6
SESAC. Why You Need a Public Performance License
7
YouTube Help. Learn About Content ID Claims
8
YouTube Help. Share Revenue in Creator Music as a Rights Holder
9
TikTok For Business. About the Commercial Music Library
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S. Code 110 – Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Exemption of Certain Performances and Displays
11
U.S. Copyright Office. How Long Does Copyright Protection Last? (FAQ)
12
Creative Commons. About CC Licenses
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S.C. 107 – Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Fair Use
14
Justia Law. Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994)
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S. Code 512 – Limitations on Liability Relating to Material Online
16
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S.C. 504 – Remedies for Infringement: Damages and Profits
17
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S. Code 502 – Remedies for Infringement: Injunctions
18
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S.C. 505 – Remedies for Infringement: Costs and Attorneys Fees
19
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S. Code 412 – Registration as Prerequisite to Certain Remedies for Infringement
20
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 U.S. Code 506 – Criminal Offenses
21
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2319 – Criminal Infringement of a Copyright