What content is eligible for Social Video Monetization?

Summary

Not all music qualifies for Social Video Monetization. To participate, your content must meet strict originality and exclusivity requirements set by CD Baby's platform partners (YouTube, Meta, and TikTok). These requirements exist to prevent incorrect or false claims being placed on other people's videos. This article also explains what happens if your content is rejected or removed from SVM.

Core eligibility requirements

To be eligible for any SVM platform, your content must:

• Be 100% original — you must own or exclusively control all elements of the recording
• Be exclusively controlled by you — the same recording cannot be simultaneously delivered to Content ID or another platform's rights management system by another distributor or administrator
• Contain no unlicensed samples — all samples must be fully owned or cleared by you
• Contain no royalty-free loops, beats, or production kits, even if you purchased a license to use them (non-exclusive licenses are not sufficient)
• Contain no content from audio libraries, stock sound effects, or DAW-included loops (such as GarageBand loops)
• Not be a cover song — recordings of compositions written by someone else are not eligible, even if the performance is original
• Not be a public domain composition — a new recording of a composition in the public domain is not eligible
• Not be a soundalike or karaoke version of another song
• Not contain multiple separate recordings within a single track
• Not include generic sound beds or ambient recordings

Even if your content meets these requirements, it may still be deemed unsuitable for fingerprint matching if it is insufficiently distinct, overly repetitive, or proves problematic within a platform's matching system.

What happens if a release contains a mix of eligible and ineligible tracks

If your release contains both original songs and covers or public domain recordings, the release may still participate in SVM. Only the eligible original tracks will be delivered to SVM platforms. Ineligible tracks will not be included.

Why these rules exist

SVM platforms use audio fingerprinting to automatically detect your music in millions of videos. If ineligible content is delivered — for example, a track built from a royalty-free loop — the system can incorrectly place claims on videos that legitimately used that same loop. This harms other creators and violates platform policies. CD Baby's SVM team regularly audits delivered content and will remove tracks that violate these guidelines, even if a track was initially accepted.

What happens if content is removed

If your content is removed from SVM for eligibility reasons, that decision is final and the content will not be redelivered.