Step 1
Pick one part of the song
Choose a short clip that works on its own: the hook, the drop or a line people will repeat. Use that same clip for your sound, your posts and your ads.
TikTok Ads for Music
Promote your song on TikTok with ads that look like posts
TikTok ads for music work best when they look like any other video in the feed. Here you'll see how songs get found on TikTok, which ads an artist can buy there, and which videos to make. Escalium makes the vertical videos and the smart link for your bio.
- Vertical lyric videos
- TikTok preview in the editor
- Smart link for your bio
How music is found on TikTok
On TikTok, a song grows through other people's videos
On Instagram or Facebook, an ad mostly sends someone to your music. On TikTok, the best result is different: someone else makes a video with your song. Keep that in mind before you spend anything.
Your song becomes a sound
When your distributor sends the song to TikTok, it gets a sound page. That page shows your artist name and every video made with the song. Each of those videos is free promotion, and each one links back to you. Many distributors let you pick which part of the song TikTok uses. Pick the line people will want to sing, act out or write over a video.
The For You feed doesn't need followers
TikTok shows videos to people who don't know you yet. It keeps showing the ones people watch to the end, watch again, share or save. So an artist with few followers can reach a lot of people in one day. It also works the other way: if the first seconds don't hold people, the video stops, paid or not.
Creators turn a song into a trend
Songs usually take off on TikTok because people attach something to them: a dance, a joke, a transition, a mood. You can't buy that. But you can make it easier. Post videos that show what to do with your sound, and give creators a clip that fits the videos they already make.
Ads buy the first viewers
A paid TikTok ad shows your best video to the right people sooner than waiting. If they like it, free views follow. If they don't, you've learned for little money that the video or the part of the song needs to change.
TikTok ad types
Spark Ads, In-Feed ads or Promote?
An independent artist can pay for TikTok views in three ways. TikTok also sells TopView and Brand Takeover, the full-screen ads that open the app. Those are booked in advance for big brand budgets, so you can ignore them.
| Spark Ads | In-Feed ads | Promote | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | One of your posts, or a creator's post, used as the ad | A video made only to be an ad, shown in the For You feed | A paid push for a post you already published |
| Likes, comments, follows | Stay on the original post | Stay on the ad | Stay on the original post |
| Where you set it up | TikTok Ads Manager | TikTok Ads Manager | The TikTok app |
| What you choose | Goal, audience, budget and dates | Goal, audience, budget and dates | A simple goal: views, followers or website visits |
| Best for | Pushing a video that already works, or a creator's video with your song | Trying many videos without posting them on your profile | A first small test from your phone |
Want to use a creator's video as a Spark Ad? The creator makes an authorisation code for that post in TikTok and sends it to you. You paste the code in Ads Manager. The views and likes stay on their video.
Step by step
Test for free, then pay for the best video
On TikTok you can find your best ad without paying. Post first, see what people watch, then put money behind the winner.
Budgets, the Meta pixel and the numbers every music ad shares are explained once, here: Meta ads for musicians
Step 2
Make three to five videos in Escalium
Upload the song once. Escalium writes and syncs the lyrics for you. Then make a few versions: a lyric video, a clip of you singing, a behind-the-scenes edit. Switch the preview to TikTok to check that no lyric hides under the buttons.
See the Advanced Video Editor
Step 3
Post them on your profile first
Post the videos with your sound over a few days. Look at which ones people watch to the end, watch again and share. This costs nothing. The best one becomes your ad.
Step 4
Turn the best one into a Spark Ad
In TikTok Ads Manager, create a campaign and use that post as a Spark Ad. Pick the goal: video views, followers and profile visits (TikTok calls it community interaction), or clicks (traffic). Target your genre and music interests in the countries you want.
Step 5
Put your smart link in your bio
People who like the ad go to your profile. Your bio link should open a smart link with Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube buttons. Add UTM tags to it: short labels at the end of a link that say where a visit came from. Then you see TikTok visits on their own in Escalium.
Create a smart link
The video
What a good TikTok music video looks like
On TikTok, a good ad is a video that would also work as a normal post. Here are six kinds of video artists use, and how to make each one in Escalium.
Word-by-word lyric video
The lyrics appear as they're sung, big and in the middle. People read along with the sound off, and watch again to catch a line.
You singing the hook
You sing or play the hook to the camera, filmed on your phone. Send the clip to your computer over WiFi with Escalium Transfer. Then cut it on the beat in the Advanced Video Editor.
The story behind the song
Text on screen over a simple shot: why you wrote it, or who it's about. Add the words with the editor's text animations. End on the lyric that answers it.
A clip from a longer video
Turn a live show, a session or a stream into short vertical clips with Long to Short. It finds the best moments and adds captions for you.
A montage cut on the beat
Your own footage, or clips from the 300+ Escalium Clips library, cut on the beat. Speed presets like flash or jump cut make the cuts hit harder.
An idea for creators to copy
Show the dance, joke or transition you'd like people to copy, with a caption that invites them to join. This is the video that gets people posting with your sound.
300+
Escalium Clips for your montages
99
languages for automatic lyrics
4K
top export quality with Video Editor Pro
Start on the hook in the first second: no logo, no intro, no silence. Keep lyrics away from the buttons on the right and the caption at the bottom. Every video exports vertical (9:16), and you can set the audio to the volume social apps use.
Measure
What to measure on TikTok and where
TikTok shows what happens inside the app. Your smart link shows what happens after people leave it. You need both to know if an ad brought you listeners.
| Number | What it tells you | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| How long people watch | Whether the first seconds hold people | TikTok Ads Manager |
| Follows and profile visits | Whether people want more of you, not just this video | TikTok Ads Manager |
| Videos made with your sound | Whether the song is starting to spread on its own | Your sound page in TikTok |
| Visits from TikTok | How many people left TikTok to find your music | Escalium smart link analytics |
| Clicks per platform | Whether they listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube | Escalium smart link analytics |
Escalium knows when a visit was opened inside the TikTok app, and it reads UTM tags. Smart links carry the Meta pixel, not the TikTok pixel, so check the ad's own results in TikTok Ads Manager. Sources, UTM tags and countries come with full analytics, from the Creator plan.
FAQ
TikTok ads for music: your questions
They work when the video would also work as a normal post. The ad gets your song to the first viewers faster. Whether it spreads depends on those people: do they watch to the end, follow you and use your sound? Test a few videos and push the one people watch most.
A Spark Ad uses a real post, yours or a creator's. The likes, comments and follows stay on that post, and the ad looks like any other video. An In-Feed ad is a video made only to be an ad. Most artists start with Spark Ads, because the likes and follows build their profile.
Start with a test you can afford to lose, and judge it after a few days, not a few hours. TikTok Ads Manager has a minimum daily budget per campaign and per ad group, and it depends on your country and currency. Check it before you plan. Promote in the app is an easier way to try a small push first.
Yes, if you own the rights to the recording and the song, or you have permission from whoever does, like your label. You can't use another artist's song, or a trending sound you have no rights to, in a paid ad.
Escalium shows the visits to your smart link and the clicks on each streaming platform. It knows which visits came from the TikTok app, and it reads UTM tags if you add them to the link. It doesn't carry the TikTok pixel, so the ad's own results stay in TikTok Ads Manager.
Short enough that people watch it to the end. Most music ads use one clip of the song, start on the hook and skip the intro. If you're not sure, make two lengths of the same idea and keep the one people watch longer.
Yes. A vertical video from Escalium works on Reels and Shorts too. Check the preview for each app in the Advanced Video Editor first, because the buttons and the caption sit in slightly different places.
No. You run the ads in TikTok Ads Manager or the TikTok app. Escalium makes the videos, the smart link for your bio and the stats that show what happened after people left TikTok.
Keep reading
More on music ads
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- TikTok preview before you export
- Clicks per streaming platform
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