In brief
Sound.me is a two-sided creator marketplace: artists, record labels and brands pay creators to make short videos with their sound or product on TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, and creators use the Sound.me app to apply to daily paid campaigns and cash out via PayPal. It has 3M+ registered creators in 61 countries, who have made 90M+ videos with 181B+ organic views for 20K+ advertisers.
Sound.me publishes this guide and runs one of the options in it.
The options, cheapest first
| Option | Money | Your time | How many videos | Control over the video |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ask fans and friends | $0 | Low | A few | Little |
| Message small creators yourself | $0 | High | A few, if they say yes | Some |
| Gift merch or tickets | The cost of the gift | Medium | A few | Some |
| Hire creators one by one | Each creator's own price, plus any platform fee | Medium to high | As many as you pay for | High |
| Budget-based creator campaign | From $100 on Sound.me (first campaign, flash sale) | Low | Many, from one budget | Directions, targeting and approval |
Free: fans, friends and small creators
Post the sound, ask your followers to use it, and message small creators who already make videos in your genre. It costs nothing, and a real fan's video can be the best one you get. The limits: most people won't answer, you can't choose when they post, and it rarely adds up to more than a few videos. Do it anyway; it gives a creator campaign something to build on.
Cheap: gifting
Some creators will make a video for merch, signed vinyl or concert tickets. It works best with fans who already follow you. It is hard to scale, and shipping gifts takes time.
Paid, one at a time
Marketplaces such as Collabstr list creators with their own prices; you pick each one and pay per order, with a platform fee on top (Collabstr: 10% per order, 5% on its Premium plan; checked September 2026). You choose every creator, but each video is a separate deal, so the number of videos stays small unless the budget is large. How much do TikTok creators charge per video? shows typical rates.
Paid, many at once: a creator campaign
With a budget-based campaign you set the budget and the rules once, and creators who fit apply and post with your sound. On Sound.me:
- Budget. $250, $1,000, $1,500 or your own amount; $100 for a first campaign during the flash sale in the 48 hours after sign-up. No subscription.
- What creators earn. Creators are paid for each approved video based on the views it gets in its first 72 hours, so the budget follows the videos that get watched.
- What you control. Platform (TikTok, Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts), run time (72 hours, 7 days or 14 days), targeting and directions.
- What you don't pay for. Our team watches every video and makes sure creators follow your directions. If they don't, they don't get paid, and that part of your budget goes back into your campaign for other creators.
For what a budget usually buys, see pricing and cost per 1,000 views.
How to make a small budget go further
- Use small creators. Many smaller creators usually give more videos for the same money than one big one. Micro-influencers vs big creators.
- Target wider. A worldwide or regional campaign lets more creators join than a single country.
- Keep directions simple. One clear idea means fewer videos that miss the brief.
- Run 7 days, not 72 hours. Longer campaigns give more creators time to join. 72 hours, 7 days or 14 days?
- Repeat what worked. Put the next budget behind the video styles and countries that got the most views.