Music sets the pace of a Reel and tells viewers what kind of video they’re watching before anyone says a word, which is why it’s so frustrating to open the audio library on a business account and find out that all the songs are missing.
You can’t use all of Instagram’s music on a business account because the songs in its library are licensed for personal, non-commercial use only, to keep that music out of advertising. Instagram removes huge chunks of the library from certain business accounts and certain types of posts, and offers them Meta’s Sound Collection instead, a library of more than 14,000 royalty-free songs and sounds that are cleared for commercial use.
This guide covers why your account sees fewer songs, how big the risk of using popular music actually is, what a business account can use instead, whether switching to a creator account helps, and when a Reel works better without music. It’s part of our guide on how to make Reels for your business.
Why Your Business Account Has Less Music
Instagram’s music library comes from licensing deals with record labels and music publishers, and those deals cover people posting for themselves. In Meta’s own words, “the music available in our library is intended for personal, non-commercial use”, so to keep it out of advertising, “certain business accounts and certain types of posts do not have access to the library.”
The word “certain” explains most of the confusion. In reality, Instagram doesn’t restrict every business account in the same way, which is why two businesses in the same city can see different songs, and why a sound that is available on your personal profile is missing the moment you switch to your business account on the same phone.
The business limit is the most common reason a song is missing, but there are three others. Licensed music isn’t available in every country, so the library you see depends on where your account is. Instagram’s agreements with rights holders change, so a song you used last month can disappear from the library and even go silent on Reels you’ve already posted. And a rights holder can block a specific Reel that uses their music. Messages like “This song is currently unavailable” or “Audio unavailable” on an older Reel come from one of these four.
How Big Is the Risk of Using Popular Music?
Meta’s Music Guidelines say that using music “for commercial or non-personal purposes in particular is prohibited unless you have obtained appropriate licenses”, and that content using music without permission “may be blocked, muted or removed”. A Reel that promotes a product or a service counts as commercial use under that rule, whichever type of account posts it.
In practice, the usual consequence for an organic Reel is muted audio. The Reel stays up and keeps its views, and Instagram lets you replace the muted track once with another song from the library your account has.
The risk grows in three situations:
- Ads and boosted Reels. Ads can’t use licensed songs, so when you boost a Reel that has one, Instagram asks you to pick a new track from the Sound Collection for the ad version. The organic Reel keeps its original song.
- Reels where the music is the content. Meta says the more full-length recorded tracks a video contains, the more likely it is to be muted or blocked, and that recorded music shouldn’t be the main purpose of a video. A few seconds of a song under a voice or a product shot is treated very differently from a Reel that plays someone’s track from start to finish.
- Bigger brands. A local café and a national chain are under the same rule, but a chain running a campaign has far more to lose if a label objects, which is why we’d keep campaign Reels for larger brands to cleared music.
What Music Can a Business Account Use?
These are the sources of music a business account can use, starting with the safest:
- Meta’s Sound Collection. This sound collection contains more than 14,000 royalty-free songs and sound effects that Meta clears for commercial purposes, ads included. You’ll find them by tapping Audio in the Reels camera on a business account. The catch is that they can only be used on Meta’s own apps, so a Reel with Sound Collection music can’t go to TikTok or YouTube Shorts as it is.
- Your own audio. A voice explaining the product, the hiss of the espresso machine or the crowd at an event. Instagram labels it Original Audio under your username, and it’s the only audio that belongs entirely to you.
- A paid music library. Services like Epidemic Sound and Artlist sell licences for commercial use on social media, so you add the track while editing and can post the same Reel on every platform. Check that your plan covers a business’s channels, because the cheapest plans are usually meant for individual creators posting for themselves.
- Other creators’ original audio. Instagram lets you record a Reel with the original audio of any public Reel, which covers many of the meme sounds and voiceovers that go around. If that “original audio” is actually a song someone uploaded, Instagram relabels it with the artist’s name once it detects it, and from then on it behaves like any other licensed track.
- Free music from other sites. This is another option. However, “free” usually means free to download, while the licence often covers personal videos only or asks for a credit in the caption, so read the terms of each track before you put it in a business Reel.
Should You Switch to a Creator Account?
Switching from a business account to a creator account usually brings the full music library back, because Instagram’s restriction applies to certain business accounts and creator accounts get the same library as personal ones. Both are professional accounts, and Meta lists the same core tools for both: the professional dashboard, insights, ads, a contact button and a category label under the profile picture. Before you switch, check that your scheduling tool, your shop and anything else connected to the account still work with a creator account.
What switching doesn’t change is the licence. The songs are still licensed for personal use and a business promoting itself is still commercial use, so a creator account gives you the same risk we described above. Plenty of small businesses accept that trade, and for organic Reels it rarely leads to more than the occasional muted track, but for anything you plan to boost, use cleared music whichever account you’re on.
How to Use Trending Audio on a Business Account
To use a trending sound, tap the audio name at the bottom of a Reel to open its audio page, then tap Use audio, which opens the Reels camera with the sound already added. If the sound is a licensed song your account doesn’t have, Instagram won’t add it and will usually tell you the song is unavailable, which is the moment most business owners find out about the limit.
Instagram’s list of trending audio in the professional dashboard is only available in the US, so in Europe you find trends in the Reels feed itself, where sounds that are currently trending show a small arrow next to the audio name. Because Instagram lets anyone record with a public Reel’s original audio, meme sounds and voiceovers are usually available to business accounts even when chart songs aren’t, which makes them the easiest way for a business to join a trend.
When a Reel Works Better Without Music
For lawyers, doctors, accountants and other clients whose work depends on being taken seriously (what we call “authoritative content”), we mostly make Reels with voice only, since most people choosing a lawyer or a clinic want a calm, clear explanation from the person they’d be dealing with. These Reels need clean sound and good captions more than anything, since many viewers watch with the sound off.
For restaurants, shops and most other businesses, music does a lot of the work, setting the pace of the cuts and the mood of the place. When someone is talking, keep the music low under the voice, at the levels we give in our guide to editing Reels, and pick a track whose pace matches the Reel.
Adding Music in CapCut or Another Editor
Adding a song while you edit doesn’t get around Instagram’s limits. When Instagram detects licensed music in a Reel you upload, it changes the audio label from Original Audio to the artist and song title and adds the Reel to that song’s audio page, so the Reel is treated the same as if you’d picked the song inside Instagram, muting included.
Editing apps have rules of their own, too. CapCut’s music library is licensed for personal videos only and its Commercial Sounds can only be posted on TikTok, so neither is a safe source for a business Reel on Instagram. If you post the same Reel on several platforms, the simplest way is to export it without music and add a track inside each app, as we explain in our guide to editing Reels.
When to Hand It Off
Keeping track of which songs your account can use, which sounds are still trending and which Reels need different music before they’re boosted takes time most business owners would rather spend on the business. In our social media and video packages, we choose the music for every Reel based on your industry and your account, use cleared tracks for anything that will be boosted, and keep Reels for serious niches voice-led. Packages start at €500 a month, and if you only need the Reels, a filmed and edited Reel costs €110.