Can you use popular music in a listing video?
Short answer
Not on your website, a portal, an emailed video, or a paid ad — those are commercial uses that need a licence you almost certainly do not have. Inside Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, the platform licences let personal accounts use popular tracks, but business accounts get a much smaller catalogue.
This is the most commonly ignored rule in real estate marketing, mostly because the enforcement is invisible until it is not. Music rights are simpler than they look once you separate where the video is playing.
Inside the social apps
Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook hold licences that cover music added through their own in-app library. That is why a track added inside the Reels editor is fine and the same track dragged into an editing app and uploaded as part of the file is not. The catch is that business and professional accounts get a reduced catalogue, because the licences distinguish personal from commercial use — and a real estate account is commercial.
Everywhere else
Your website, the MLS, a portal, a YouTube upload, an emailed tour, and any paid ad are all commercial uses outside the platform licence. Popular music there needs a sync licence negotiated with the rights holders, which is expensive and slow enough that it is effectively unavailable for a listing video.
What actually happens if you ignore it
- The platform mutes the audio or removes the video
- The video is blocked in some countries and you never find out why reach collapsed
- Repeat strikes put the account itself at risk
- A rights holder issues a takedown against your website
The most common outcome is not a lawsuit. It is a video that quietly stops being distributed, which costs you the entire point of making it.
What to use instead
Royalty-free libraries — Epidemic Sound, Artlist, Musicbed and similar — licence music specifically for commercial use, including ads and client work, for a flat subscription. YouTube has a free audio library that covers basic needs. Read the licence terms for paid advertising specifically, because some tiers exclude it.
The alternative nobody considers
No music at all. Ambient room sound with clean on-screen captions performs surprisingly well, because the majority of feed video is watched muted anyway. If the captions carry the message, the soundtrack is decoration — and decoration is not worth a takedown.
Common questions
Can I use trending audio on a real estate Reel?
If your account is a business or professional account, your in-app library is smaller and many trending tracks will be unavailable. What is available in the app is licensed for use in the app. Do not export that video and reuse it elsewhere.
Is it fair use if the video is short or promotional?
No. Fair use is a narrow legal doctrine around commentary, criticism, and transformation. Using a song as a soundtrack for a commercial listing video is the ordinary use the licence exists to cover.
What music can I use in a paid ad?
Only music explicitly licensed for paid advertising. Several royalty-free subscriptions restrict ad use to a higher tier, so check the specific terms rather than assuming a subscription covers everything.
PropWalk builds the walkthrough from your listing photos — then add music through the platform’s own library and you stay on the right side of all of this.
Make the video first →