How Creators Sell Their TikTok Sound Design as Brand Assets

Lucas: There's a creator I've been watching — goes by SoundBySage on TikTok — who makes a living licensing sound effects to brands. Not songs, not voiceovers. I'm talking about a three-second 'thwip' sound he recorded with a spring and a cardboard box. He licensed that exact sound to a fitness apparel brand for their Instagram Stories transition. They paid him fifteen hundred dollars for two years of non-exclusive use. Luna: Wait — a spring and a cardboard box? And he's getting paid for that? I love this. But how big is this actually? Like, can a creator build a real business around sound design, or is it more of a fun side hustle? Lucas: It's growing fast. There's a 2025 report from the Creator Economy Observatory — they tracked audio licensing revenue across platforms, and TikTok-specific sound licensing was up a hundred and forty percent year-over-year. Not huge in absolute dollars yet — we're talking maybe fifty million dollars total in 2025 — but the growth rate is what catches your attention. Luna: Fifty million is small compared to, say, sponsored content. But I guess if you're one of the early creators building a library, you could capture a decent slice. Lucas: Exactly. And the structural shift is that brands are desperate for distinct audio identities. Every major brand wants a 'sonic logo' — think of the Intel chime or the Netflix 'ta-dum.' But smaller brands can't afford a custom composition from a professional studio. So they're turning to TikTok creators who already have a following and a recognizable sound palette. Luna: So it's like stock photography for audio. Early 2000s, photographers uploaded their leftover shots to iStock. Now creators upload their leftover sound effects to licensing platforms. Lucas: Exactly the parallel I was going to draw. The platforms are still fragmented — there's Artlist, Epidemic Sound, Soundstripe, and then TikTok's own commercial sound library. But the creator-friendly ones let you set your own license terms. SoundBySage told me he has about two hundred sounds in his library, and about thirty of them are licensed out at any given time. He makes around forty thousand dollars a year from that alone. Luna: Forty thousand from sound effects. That's real money. What's the legal side look like? Because I imagine brands want to own the sound outright, but creators probably want to keep licensing it. Lucas: That's the negotiation. Most creators I've seen offer two tiers: non-exclusive, which is cheaper and lets them license the same sound to multiple brands, and exclusive, which costs three to five times more. SoundBySage does non-exclusive by default. He says the key is having a simple one-page contract that specifies usage type — social media, broadcast, in-store, app notification — and duration. He uses a template from Creative Commons but modifies it. Luna: What about trademark or copyright? If a brand uses a sound enough, couldn't they argue it becomes their intellectual property? Lucas: That's a real risk. In fact, there's a case from 2024 — a creator named Jessamyn — she licensed a bell sound to a coffee chain. The chain used it in every in-store video for a year. When she tried to license it to another brand, the coffee chain's lawyers sent a cease and desist claiming 'trademark by use.' She backed down because she couldn't afford to fight. So now, smart creators include a clause that says the sound remains the creator's property and the license can be revoked if the brand tries to trademark it. Luna: That's brutal. So contracts really matter here. How does a creator even start? I have zero sound design skills. Lucas: You don't need a studio. SoundBySage started with household objects — a whisk hitting a counter, a zipper, a vacuum cleaner. The key is recording clean audio with minimal background noise. Use your phone's voice memo app in a quiet room. Then you can layer sounds in a free tool like Audacity. The barrier to entry is almost zero. Luna: Okay, but is TikTok the right platform to build an audience for sound design? Or should creators go somewhere else? Lucas: TikTok is perfect for discovery because the platform is so audio-forward. You can post a video that's just you creating the sound — show the process — and then offer the sound for licensing. The algorithm loves that kind of niche behind the scenes content. Plus, TikTok's commercial sound library lets brands browse and license directly. The creator gets a split — I think it's seventy-thirty in the creator's favor. Luna: Seventy-thirty is better than most platform deals. But I wonder — is there a ceiling? How many sounds can a brand really need? Lucas: More than you'd think. Think about how many touchpoints a brand has: social media videos, podcast ads, app notifications, in-store audio, hold music, event soundscapes. Each one could use a custom sound. I spoke with a brand manager at a DTC skincare company — she said they budget about ten thousand dollars a quarter for audio assets. That's forty thousand a year, just for sounds. Luna: And that goes to creators instead of a production agency. That's a real shift. Lucas: Right. And the creator economy is all about unbundling traditional agency services. Sound design is one of those pieces that used to be bundled into a big production budget. Now brands can go directly to a creator with a specific sound aesthetic. Luna: Let's talk about the process from the brand side. How do they find these creators? Just scrolling TikTok? Lucas: Some do. But more often, brands use platforms like Soundstripe or Artlist that have searchable libraries. Or they work with creator marketplaces like Billo or Mavrck, where they can filter by audio style. There's also a growing role for 'audio scouts' — people who curate sound libraries for brands, similar to how photo editors curate image banks. Luna: So it's becoming a mini-industry. I'm curious about the numbers: what's the typical price range for a sound effect license? Lucas: From what I've seen, a non-exclusive license for a single sound effect used in social media video — one year — goes for about two hundred to five hundred dollars. For exclusive use across all channels, including broadcast, you're looking at one thousand to five thousand dollars. And for a full soundscape — like a thirty-second ambient track for a retail store — creators can charge five to ten thousand dollars. Luna: That's serious. If a creator builds a library of a hundred sounds and licenses even ten percent of them per year, they could make a decent full-time income. Lucas: And that's exactly what's happening. I follow a creator named AuraSound — she quit her job as a sound engineer last year. She now licenses sounds and also offers a subscription where brands get ten new sounds per month for five hundred dollars. She has fifteen brand subscribers. That's ninety thousand a year in recurring revenue. Luna: Subscription model for sounds. That's clever. It's like a software as a service approach to audio. Lucas: Exactly. And it solves the predictability problem for creators. Instead of hunting for one-off deals, they have steady income. Brands like it because they always have fresh audio without negotiating each time. Luna: What about the quality? I imagine brands want professional-grade audio. Can a creator with just a phone really compete? Lucas: For social media, phone-recorded audio is often fine. But for higher-end uses, creators are investing in decent microphones — a Blue Yeti or a Shure MV7 costs about a hundred fifty dollars. And they're learning basic mixing in Audacity or GarageBand. The quality gap is narrowing fast. Plus, some brands actually prefer a slightly raw, authentic sound — it feels more TikTok-native. Luna: That makes sense. The platform aesthetic matters. So if a creator wants to start today, what's the first step? Lucas: Record five distinct sounds today. Anything — a door creak, a spoon in a glass, a zipper, a laugh, a keyboard click. Upload them to a platform like Soundstripe or TikTok's commercial library. And then start posting behind the scenes videos showing how you made them. That builds an audience and attracts brands. Luna: I like that. Low barrier, high potential upside. And you're building an asset that can generate passive income for years. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the core of what we talk about on this show — turning creative output into something that works for you over time. If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used — maybe a new way to think about your content or a tactic you tried — that's the whole point. We deliberately don't run ads on these episodes. If you want to support that choice and help us keep the podcast ad-free, there's a link: buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just an option for anyone who finds real value here. Luna: Yeah, it's a simple way to keep the show exactly as it is — no sponsors, no interruptions. We appreciate everyone who's ever thrown a virtual coffee our way. Lucas: Back to sound design — one thing I want to emphasize is that this is not just for audio specialists. Any creator with an ear can do this. And the market is only going to grow as more brands realize they need distinct audio identities. Luna: What's the biggest mistake you see creators make when they start licensing sounds? Lucas: Not having a contract. I've heard of creators sending a sound file over a DM and getting paid via Venmo with no written agreement. Then the brand uses it forever, and the creator has no recourse. Always use a contract, even for a fifty-dollar license. It protects both sides. Luna: Where can they find a good contract template? Lucas: Creative Commons has a basic license template that's free. There's also a site called CreatorContract.com that has a sound licensing specific template for twenty dollars. It's worth the investment. Luna: And what about copyright infringement? If a brand uses a sound without licensing it, can a creator enforce their rights? Lucas: Yes, but it's hard. The first step is a cease and desist letter. If the brand ignores it, the creator would need to file a DMCA takedown or sue, which is expensive. That's why registering the sound with the U.S. Copyright Office is smart — it costs about fifty-five dollars, but it gives you statutory damages if you win in court. Luna: So treat your sounds like any other product. Protect them before you sell them. Lucas: Exactly. And the creators who do that are the ones building sustainable businesses. They're not just hoping for viral fame — they're building a catalog of intellectual property. Luna: That's a good note to end on. Sound design as intellectual property. It's a whole new asset class for creators. Lucas: And it's one that's just getting started. If you're a creator listening, try recording one sound today. You never know where it might end up.