"Can we use our song in the growth video?" is often the first request we hear. It's understandable, but music is copyrighted, and what happens depends on where the video is used. We're not lawyers; this page only describes what commonly happens in practice, so you can choose with your eyes open.
Where the video is used decides the risk
- Played only at the reception, shared only with family: not public, and in practice few people run into trouble. Strictly speaking, it's still using copyrighted music.
- Uploaded to YouTube, Facebook or Instagram: platforms match music automatically. Common outcomes: the video is muted, blocked in some regions, has ads added, or is taken down. Sometimes nothing happens at upload and it's dealt with months later.
- Commercial use: for example a wedding planner or photographer using it to promote their business. That's commercial use and needs a licence.
The safer options
- Use licensed music. Licensed music libraries have plenty of wedding-style tracks: piano, strings, light guitar. The result isn't worse than a pop song. Videos we deliver use this kind of music by default.
- Separate the venue version from the online version. If you really want your song at the reception, we can make one version for the venue and another with licensed music for uploading and sharing. This needs to be agreed when you commission the video.
- A cover or instrumental version doesn't remove the copyright. The song itself (lyrics and melody) is still protected; only the performer changed.
What to tell us when commissioning
Tell us where the video will mainly be played, whether it will be posted publicly, and whether there's a song you insist on. If you decide to use a pop song, we'll explain the possible outcomes and you decide; the risk of the platform acting on the upload is yours, and we state that in the quote.
Frequently asked questions
I bought the song digitally. Can I use it in the video?
No. Buying a song gives you the right to listen to it, not to use it in a video.
Will thirty seconds of a song still get flagged?
Yes. Matching doesn't depend on length; a few seconds can be recognised.
YouTube muted our video. Can Chipscat swap the music?
Yes. We replace it with licensed music and re-export. It counts as additional revision work, which we'll explain first.
