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.
Why not just book creators one by one?
For one or two hand-picked creators, booking directly is fine. For dozens of videos it doesn't scale, because every deal carries the same hidden work: finding the creator, messaging, negotiating a rate, agreeing a brief, chasing the post and checking it stayed up. Commonly cited one-by-one rates also add up fast: $25–150 per video for nano creators and $150–500 for micro creators (creator rates in 2026).
A budget-based campaign flips that. You set the terms once and creators who like the brief apply. Their pay depends on the views each approved video gets in its first 72 hours, so the budget flows to the videos that travel.
What does a brand campaign on Sound.me look like?
- Pick the platform and the sound. Each campaign runs on one platform: TikTok, Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts. Every campaign is built around a sound: paste a TikTok, Instagram or YouTube link to your brand's own sound, a jingle or voice clip you posted, or a track already on that platform that fits your videos.
- Write your brief. Choose Your own brief and say what creators should show: the product, the message, what to say on screen and what to avoid.
- Set budget, run time and targeting. Runs last 72 hours, 7 days or 14 days. Target by age, gender, language, creator size (from 100 followers to over 50 million) and location (worldwide, one of 24 countries, or a region). Add up to 3 example creators so Sound.me finds similar ones.
- Pay and go live. Pay by card at secure checkout (Stripe). The campaign goes live right after and the first creator posts usually land the same day.
- Creators post, the team checks. Sound.me's team matches and approves creators; on TikTok campaigns of $1,000 or more you can also approve creators yourself. 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.
Which products work best?
Products creators can show without anything being shipped to them:
- Apps creators can download and use on camera.
- Websites and online services, from tools to subscriptions.
- Shops and products already sold in the creators' country, so they can buy or use them.
- Your brand's own sound, such as a jingle or a catchphrase, for awareness.
Sound.me doesn't ship products. If your campaign needs products sent, email promote@sound.me before launching. Campaigns must follow TikTok, Instagram and YouTube rules, and some categories aren't allowed; creator videos for brands lists them.
How do you write a brief creators follow?
- One message. What should a viewer remember? Say it in one sentence.
- What to show. The screen, the product or the moment of use. Creators only show your product when your brief asks for it.
- What to put on screen. Give the exact words if they matter, such as the app name.
- What to avoid. Competitors, claims you can't make, anything off-brand.
- Leave room for the creator. Creators know what works on their own account. The tighter the script, the longer creators can take to post: creative freedom fills fastest.
Every creator also follows Sound.me's own rules: the sound fully audible with no voice-over, at least 10 seconds long, original content, and nothing dangerous or illegal. Videos that break the brief or the rules are declined and not paid.
What does it cost and what should you expect?
A worldwide, 7-day $1,000 campaign is projected at about 524,000 views from about 151 creator videos, measured on TikTok campaigns (worldwide, 7 days; average of real completed Sound.me campaigns created since January 1, 2026):
| Budget | Projected views | Projected creator videos |
|---|---|---|
| $250 | ~211K | ~38 |
| $500 | ~332K | ~75 |
| $1,000 | ~524K | ~151 |
| $1,500 | ~685K | ~226 |
Results on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts may differ, and a detailed product brief can take creators longer than creative freedom. On 7-day campaigns, 45% of videos are live within 24 hours. Sound.me doesn't guarantee views, clicks or sales. A live dashboard shows every video with views, likes, comments, shares and a country breakdown, updated every hour, and creators keep their posts up for at least 45 days.
How should you use small and large creators?
Small creators make many videos per dollar, which gives your product many chances to be seen in many different contexts; larger creators give fewer videos with bigger audiences each. Micro-influencers vs big creators shows real campaign data on both. If you sell in specific markets, target those countries: targeting by country lists the 24 countries and 6 regions.
When does another option fit better?
- You need one specific, named creator. Hire them directly or through a marketplace where you book creators one by one. Direct contact with creators isn't permitted through Sound.me.
- You need videos to run as ads on your own account. That needs usage rights agreed with each creator; a UGC production service or direct deals fit better. Sound.me campaigns are organic posts on creators' own accounts.
- You need guaranteed sales or installs. No honest creator platform guarantees them. Sound.me shows projected views before you pay.
Ready to try it? Start with one clear brief at a budget you could repeat, read the dashboard after a few days and rerun what worked. Creator videos for brands has the full rules and FAQs.