Sure, you might have bought the soundtrack—and that’s great—but the copyright license is still very much attached to the owner of the music. By applying it to your silly TikTok video, it can be taken down or muted. What do you do then? Well, you can still get around it.

Why Is My TikTok Sound Not Working?

If there’s no sound coming from the TikTok videos you’re watching or the videos you record on TikTok, then it could be doesn’t for a few reasons. It’s not common that sound just doesn’t work but if that’s what you’re experiencing with TikTok, then you’ll need to look at the possible fixes to get around this problem.

1. Your Volume Isn’t Turned Up

If your volume isn’t turned up, then of course you’re going to have problems when it comes to sound working whenever you record or play videos on TikTok. You need to make sure that you turn up the volume so that you’re able to hear sounds.

2. You Haven’t Allowed TikTok Access Your Mic

If you’re going to record videos or sounds on TikTok, you need to make sure that the app has access to your mic. If it doesn’t, then whenever you record, no sound is going to come out of your videos. As soon as the give it permission to access your mic by going to Settings > Tap on TikTok > Select Permissions > then choose toggle on Microphone. Once TikTok has access to your mic and you go to record sound, then it’s going to work.

3. Your Speaker is Damaged

If your speaker is damaged, then sounds won’t be able to come out of it, even when you’re trying to use TikTok.

Why is a Sound Not Available on TikTok?

There are a few reasons why your sound isn’t available on TikTok, but it mainly happens when the creator has taken down the video or the sound which is why it’s no longer available. If you’ve favorited a TikTok and you liked it because of the sound, and now you’re seeing that the sound is no longer available, then it’s mainly because of the creator. Other cases include bug or copyright issues.

1. It’s Been Removed Due to Copy Right Reasons

If the sound has violated copyright rules, then TikTok will remove it and any video that contains the sound will be removed. If you’re watching a video right now and it says this sound isn’t available, it potentially means that the sound was taken down by TikTok due to copyright reasons. TikTok doesn’t want sounds on their app violating copyright rules as it makes their app look bad and it’s illegal. That’s why they’re trying to push royalty-free music with their music library. If you have a business account with TikTok and you see the error ‘This Sound Isn’t Licensed for Commercial Use TikTok‘, then it means that the sound you’re trying to use isn’t available due to copyright reasons.

2. Bug

If there’s a bug within TikTok, then it might say that This Sound isn’t available on some videos while you’re scrolling through your FYP. Sometimes there’s a glitch or bug within TikTok that can cause some unexpected problems. These unexpected problems can be frustrating and can definitely cause the error. To fix this sound glitch, you need to get rid of the error within the app and this can be done in your settings. Next, you need to update TikTok. You can do that through the Google Play Store if you’re using Android; the App Store if you’re using an iOS device. This is to ensure a bug isn’t causing the sound to disappear. After all, it might just be a fluke in the system.

  1. After updating TikTok, shut it down if you haven’t already and then boot it back up. Now you’re working with a fresh session of TikTok. Now, you need another app to make this method work. It involves creating a video on a separate application and then uploading it to TikTok. For that, you need something like InShot—a video editing app that can add music to videos you shoot with the camera.
  2. Install InShot (Android | iOS).
  3. Launch InShot and record a video. You are welcome to trim where necessary. When you’re finished trimming, you can mute the volume in the video by using the volume slider.
  4. Next, adding a music track. Tap Music. Choose a sound file.
  5. Save the video, by tapping Save, and upload it to TikTok. That’s all there is to it. This is especially helpful if a sound isn’t available on TikTok, but the price you pay is your video will end up with a short lifespan. To guarantee it stays up for at least a little while, you can also make it a private video.

3. Not Available In Your Region

Another reason why you’re seeing the This sound is not available error is that the sound is no longer available in your region. If the copyright owner has stopped the sound from being available, then it’ll be taken the down video you’re trying to watch or your own video that you’ve uploaded. If you really want the sound to be available, you can find the contact details of the creator or originator of the sound and shoot them an email/message asking if they can make it available in your region. As you’ve guessed, in most cases, they’re going to ignore you because they probably won’t see your message.

4. Country’s Policies

If you’re in a country that has policies that affect the sound that isn’t available on TikTok anymore, then you’re going to receive this error. The country you’re in might have banned the particular music due to inappropriate language or sound. 

5. The Creator Deleted the Video/Sound

If the creator of the sound or the video has deleted it, then it will no longer be available on TikTok and you’re going to receive the error. There isn’t much you can do in this case apart from asking the creator to reupload the sound/video that created the sound so that you can use it again or the videos containing have sounds that work.

Why Can’t I Use Sounds on TikTok?

If you can’t use certain sounds on TikTok, chances are there’s a bug on the app. If not, the sound has either been taken down due to copy-right issues or you’re using a business account that doesn’t allow you to use mainstream music. Only royalty-free music can be used on business accounts.

1. You Have A Business Account

If you have a business account and you try and use certain sounds, you might be stopped. Business accounts can’t use mainstream music or sounds that personal accounts have access to so if you have a business account on TikTok, you’re stuck with mainstream and royalty-free sounds. TikTok has a Commercial Music Library that business accounts can use now that they can’t use popular music and TikTok sounds.

2. Bug

If there’s a bug in the TikTok app that’s preventing you from using sounds for your videos, then you’re not going to be able to. A bug is a failure in the software that causes unexpected problems and if you can’t use sounds when you’re trying to add music to a video, this might be why. To make sure this is not the case, you can try restarting the app as a quick fix. If this doesn’t get rid of the problem, then it looks like you have something deeper on your hands.

3. Sound Isn’t Available

If the sound has been taken down for copyright reasons or the owner of the sound has taken it down, then you won’t be able to use it for your video. Only sounds that are available can be added as music for your TikTok. If you think the creator has taken down the sound or it has violated a copyright law that has forced TikTok to take down the sound, then you won’t be able to use the sound.

Why Are TikTok Favorite/Saved Sounds Not Showing?

If your favorite sounds aren’t showing on TikTok, then the app is experiencing some sort of glitch that’s out of your control. Sometimes the software fails on TikTok and this can cause you to have unexpected problems like your favorite sounds not working. If you’ve spent months or even years collecting some of your favorite sounds for them not to show up, it can be devastating. In most cases, it should be nothing to worry about as they’ll more than likely come back, but you’ll have to wait. Another reason why your favorite or saved sounds on TikTok aren’t showing is that TikTok is down. When TikTok is down, there can be all sorts of problems and this can include you not being able to see your saved sounds. Sometimes TikTok goes through routine maintenance when this happens, you might not be able to see some of your saved or favorite sounds. In this case, you’ll need to wait for the app to start running properly again.

How to Fix TikTok Sound Not Working

If there’s no sound coming out of videos on TikTok, your favorite sounds have disappeared, or you can’t use a sound on TikTok there are a few things that you can do to fix it. When sound isn’t working, it can be down to a bug, no internet, problems with sounds themselves etc. These can all be troubleshot and you’ll be able to get sound to work in no time.

1. Ask the Creator to Put the Sound Back Up

If you can contact the creator, maybe they follow you on TikTok and you follow them back, or you have them on other social media platforms, then you can ask them to put the sound back up. The chances of them doing this are low but if they do put the sound back up, then you’ll be able to see it on your favorite videos again and you’ll be able to use it as a sound.

2. Use Another Sound That’s The Same

If the sound has been used by many creators each time you see a new video on your FYP, the sound is by different creators, then you need just use another version of the sound but uploaded by a different country. If it’s your video that the sound isn’t working on, then using the same version of the sound but by a different creator will be the best option for you. Then from here, you want to reupload the video. Once you reupload the video, because it isn’t using the same sound from before, it will work.

3. Restart the App to See If It Was An Error

If there’s a bug or glitch that’s causing sounds not to work or your saved sounds to disappear from your favorites on TikTok, then you want to restart the app to see if this was just a glitch. If the sound isn’t working when you’re trying to play videos on you’re fyp and you’re getting errors like this sound isn’t available, restart the app and see if you get the same message when trying to add music. To restart the app, close it and give it a few minutes before opening it again. If it were an error, you would be able to hear music when scrolling through your FYP or the specific video that was having problems.

4. Choose A Different Song

If you can’t use a sound on TikTok for your videos, then you need to choose a different sound from the one that’s not working on TikTok. Since the sound you’re going to choose doesn’t have any issues with it, then it should work when you use it and you shouldn’t get the This sound isn’t available error.

5. Wait For TikTok to Fix It

If you can’t use certain sounds on TikTok, then you need to wait for TikTok to come out with a fix. If this problem randomly started happening, it’s probably a site-wide thing that a lot of people will be experiencing on TikTok so you should wait for them to fix the problem.

6. Restart TikTok App

If sound still isn’t working and or your favorite sounds are not showing, then you should restart the app. When you restart the app, it refreshes the page and this gets rid of any glitches that are causing the sound not to work on the app. Once you’ve restarted the app, you go back to the fyp or your video and check if the sound is working on the app.

7. Log Out Then Back In

Since TikTok probably has a bug that’s causing sound not to work when scrolling through your FYP or looking at your liked/favorited songs, then you can log out and then back in to fix the problem. Logging out then in usually fixes glitches and if this is what’s causing this sound isn’t available error, then it’ll get rid of it.

8. Update TikTok App

The last step to take if the methods above haven’t worked is to update TikTok since it looks like there’s a bug on the app. To update TikTok, you need to go to the App Store or Play Store and check if TikTok has an update. The point of an update is to fix bugs and add new features to the app so if they have one, click update.

9. Stop Using The Song You’re Getting The Error With

If the sound isn’t working on your videos and you’re getting the error that says the sound isn’t available, then don’t use it again and this will cause the error to appear on any videos that you use with it. Usually, when a sound isn’t available to use again, you’re not able to add it to a new video you want to upload.

10. Use Commercial Music Library

If you’re unable to use sounds on your TikToks, then you should use the TikTok Commercial Music Library. This is available to any account that uses TikTok, especially for marketing. It contains budding artists and top-tier music. It also includes royalty-free tunes that have been preapproved by the company that owns them. This means that there’s no way for the sound to be taken down because of laws or copyright issues.  increasing daily.

11. Check Your Internet Connection

If your saved sounds aren’t showing, you need to make sure that your internet connection is working properly. If your wifi data is experiencing poor speeds, then it can affect the way your sounds appear in your favorite sounds. If you know your internet is working, restart the app and it should fix the problem.

Bottom Line

When a sound isn’t available on TikTok, you can get around the limited library by simply creating your own video with a secondary editing app like InShot or something similar. But again, you need to remember that the music still isn’t yours and you’re violating copyright laws. TikTok won’t hesitate to delete your video. If you want to avoid that, stick to creating your own music or use the sounds available on TikTok.