How Music Compliance and AudioVerify Work in Cohley
Why platform music gets muted on brand content, how to find licensed tracks with Finn, what AudioVerify checks on upload, and where the rights boundary sits.
Music is the most common avoidable problem in paid creator work. The song in your editing app is licensed for your personal posts, and brand content is a commercial use, so the two do not line up no matter whose account posts it.
Cohley handles this in three parts.
You find a track from a licensed catalog inside the platform, with Finn able to help you search it.
You edit and upload your finished content.
AudioVerify then analyzes the audio on supported assets and Cohley shows you a status and what to do next.
Worth being precise about what that is: it is analysis that catches problems early, not legal clearance, and it does not grant you rights to audio you brought from somewhere else.
TL;DR
- 🎵 Every song carries two separate copyrights. A musical work and a sound recording are distinct works, owned and licensed separately.
- 📱 Platform catalogs are split by use. TikTok recommends its Commercial Music Library for content promoting a brand, product, or service, because licenses for music outside it do not cover commercial use.
- 🔍 Finn can help you search Cohley's licensed catalog while you are working a Brief.
- 🧪 AudioVerify analyzes audio on supported assets and returns a status.
- ⚖️ Analysis is not clearance. Even YouTube's Content ID is a tool the platform built, not something defined by law. The same distinction applies here.
- ⏱️ Sort audio out before you edit. Fixing it afterward means rebuilding a finished video.
The mistake almost every creator makes once
You pick a song in your editing app. It is right there, you have used it before, it fits. You cut the video around it. You upload, or you post, and the audio goes silent.
Nothing about that was careless. The song was available to you, in a tool you were using legitimately, and nothing warned you. The rule that caught you is not visible at the moment you need it.
It comes down to one distinction, and once you have it, most of the confusion goes away.
Licensing follows how the content is used, not who posts it. Content made for a brand is a commercial use. Posting it from your personal account does not make it personal.
Every song is actually two copyrights
This is the part that explains why music licensing is more complicated than it seems it should be.
When a song is recorded, two protected works exist: a musical work and a sound recording. The musical work is the composition and lyrics. The sound recording is the specific recorded performance. These are treated as separate works, subject to different rules, and they are commonly owned and licensed separately.
The US Copyright Office uses a clean example: the song "Rolling in the Deep" and a recording of Aretha Franklin performing it are two distinct works. One is the composition. The other is that performance of it. Copyright in a sound recording covers the recording itself and does not cover the underlying music or lyrics.
Two practical consequences for you.
Buying a song does not license it for commercial use. You bought a copy for personal listening, which is a different thing entirely from the right to synchronize it with brand content.
And permission from one rights holder is not permission from both. Musical works and sound recordings are separate for copyright purposes and generally require separate treatment, which is why licensing a popular track for commercial use is expensive and slow rather than a checkbox.
This is not a Cohley rule. It is the structure of US copyright law, and every platform is working around the same constraint.
Why the library in your app is not the answer
Platforms solved this by splitting their catalogs. What you can reach depends on your account type and on how the content will be used.
TikTok runs a separate commercial catalog. The Commercial Music Library is a pre-cleared global library of around one million songs, and TikTok's own guidance recommends it for content promoting a brand, product, or service, because its licenses for music outside the CML do not cover commercial use. TikTok's Creator Academy describes it as a subset of the general library containing only tracks pre-cleared for commercial use, and what you see when adding sound depends on your account type.
TikTok has been expanding it: a web version launched with filters for region, placement, theme, genre, mood, and duration, and the Artist Impact Program brought independent artists and labels in.
Meta works the same way with different furniture. Access to Instagram's licensed music library varies, and Meta documents its Sound Collection separately for business use. Instagram's own help centre carries the same guidance.
YouTube approaches it from the enforcement side. Content ID scans uploads against a database of files submitted by copyright owners, and a match produces a claim. Depending on the owner's settings, that can block the video, monetize it on their behalf, or track it, and any of those can be geography-specific. A Content ID claim is not a copyright strike and usually does not affect your channel, which is worth knowing, but it can still take your video down in some countries or send the revenue elsewhere.
Three platforms, three mechanisms, one shared assumption: commercial content needs commercially cleared audio.
Two pieces of folklore to drop while we are here. There is no ten second rule. There is no thirty second rule. Duration does not change whether a use is licensed.
Who does what
Four pieces, four different jobs. Keeping them straight makes the statuses later much easier to read.
Who does what
- FinnHelps you search the licensed catalog and understand what a Brief asks for around audioChoose a track for you, or tell you a track is legally safe for a given use
- SlipstreamSupplies the licensed music catalog, and the applicable rights come from that agreementCover audio you sourced anywhere else
- AudioVerifyAnalyzes the audio on supported assets and matches it against known sourcesDetermine infringement, grant rights, or act as legal clearance
- CohleyShows you the resulting status and the next action on your BriefReplace the platform's own rules where you post
The one to sit with is AudioVerify. It tells you what your audio appears to be. It does not tell you whether you are allowed to use it. Those are different questions, and only the first one can be answered by software.
The workflow, end to end
- You are accepted to a Brief and start planning content.
- You search the licensed catalog inside Cohley, with Finn able to help you narrow it down.
- You choose an available track.
- You edit your content using that track and upload the finished asset.
- AudioVerify analyzes the audio on supported assets.
- Cohley shows a status and the next action.
- You post where the Brief requires, subject to that platform's own rules.
The order matters more than it looks. Steps 2 and 3 belong before step 4. Choosing audio after the edit is finished means rebuilding a video around a different track, and that is the single most common piece of avoidable rework in creator content.
Finding music with Finn
The catalog is searchable inside the platform. Finn can help you work it, which is useful mostly because describing what you want is faster than filtering for it.
Some prompts that get you somewhere:
- I need something upbeat and warm for a thirty second skincare video.
- What is in the catalog that works for a calm voiceover with no vocals?
- This Brief mentions a tone in the style guide. What fits that?
- Is there anything similar to what I used on my last Brief?
Two things worth knowing before you start.
Search by feel, not by title. You are looking for something that fits a mood and a runtime, not a specific commercial track. Asking for a named popular song will not produce it, because the whole point of a licensed catalog is that it contains music cleared for this use.
Pick before you cut. Choosing a track first and editing to it is faster than editing to a temp track and swapping later, because the swap almost never fits the cuts you already made.
Who this is for: every creator on a video Brief. This step takes ten minutes and saves entire re-edits.
What happens when you upload
When you submit a finished asset, AudioVerify analyzes the audio on supported assets and matches it against known sources. Cohley then shows a status and the next action on your Brief.
Two boundaries on that, both important.
It applies to supported assets and Brief types, not to everything, everywhere.
And it is a matching process, not a legal determination. The closest widely understood comparison is YouTube's Content ID, which matches uploads against a database of reference files submitted by rights holders. YouTube is explicit that Content ID is a tool it created, unlike copyright removal requests, which are defined by law. Analysis and legal status are separate things on every platform that does this, and they are separate things here.
Statuses and what to do
- Matched to a catalog trackThe audio matches a track from the licensed catalog
- Outside the catalogThe audio did not come from the licensed catalog
- UnmatchedThe analysis could not match the audio to a known source
- UnresolvedThe analysis did not reach a conclusion
- UnsupportedThis asset or Brief type is not covered by the analysis
- ErrorThe analysis failed for a technical reason
Two things hold true across all of them.
A status is not the brand's decision on your content. Those are separate steps.
And if a status does not make sense against what you actually submitted, ask before you re-edit. Rebuilding a video around a misread status is expensive, and it is avoidable with one question. The Creator Help Center is the route when something looks wrong rather than unclear.
Where the boundary is
Being direct about what this system does not do, because knowing the edges is what keeps you safe.
It is not legal clearance. Analysis tells you what your audio appears to be. Whether a particular use is licensed is a legal question, and no automated check answers it.
It does not grant rights to outside audio. Running your own track through the analysis does not license it. If you brought audio from somewhere else, its terms are whatever its own license says, and Cohley is not a party to that.
The catalog's rights come from the agreement behind it. What is permitted, on which channels, for how long, and in which territories comes from that agreement and from your Brief. If a Brief has specific audio requirements, the Brief governs.
Platform rules still apply where you post. Clearing analysis in Cohley does not override TikTok's, Meta's, or YouTube's own systems. Those platforms run their own checks against their own catalogs, on their own terms.
And this article is not legal advice. It is an explanation of how the workflow fits together and why the underlying rules exist. For anything specific to your situation, talk to someone qualified.
FAQ
Why did my audio get muted when I used a song from my own app?
Platform music libraries are split by use. The broad catalog is licensed for personal posts, and brand content is a commercial use. Posting from a personal account does not change that, because licensing follows how the content is used rather than which account publishes it.
I paid for the song. Does that not cover me?
No. Buying a copy licenses personal listening, not commercial synchronization with brand content. Every song also carries two separate copyrights, a musical work and a sound recording, which are commonly owned and licensed separately. Permission from one does not give you permission from both.
Is there a length of clip that is safe to use?
No. There is no ten second rule and no thirty second rule. Duration does not determine whether a use is licensed. Those are widely repeated and simply wrong, and acting on them is how creators end up with muted or blocked videos.
Does AudioVerify mean my content is legally cleared?
No. AudioVerify analyzes audio on supported assets and matches it against known sources. That catches problems early. It does not determine infringement, grant rights, or serve as legal clearance, and it does not license audio you brought in from elsewhere.
Can I use music from Cohley's catalog anywhere I want?
Not automatically. The rights come from the agreement behind the catalog and from what your Brief specifies, including which channels, territories, and time periods are covered. Check the Brief first, and where a Brief sets its own audio requirements, the Brief governs over anything general.
Does clearing in Cohley mean TikTok or Instagram will not flag it?
Not necessarily. Those platforms run their own systems against their own catalogs, on their own terms. Clearing analysis in Cohley concerns your Brief and the asset you submitted to it. Wherever you post afterward, that platform's rules still apply independently.
What do I do if a status does not match what I submitted?
Ask before you re-edit. Read the status against the track you actually used, and if the two do not reconcile, contact Support through the Creator Help Center. Rebuilding a video around a misread status is expensive and usually avoidable with one question.
Sort your audio out before you edit
The whole point of this page is a sequencing change. Pick your track before you cut, not after, and the entire category of problem mostly disappears.
Open Finn with your Brief in front of you and ask it what is in the catalog for what you are making.