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.
What counts as nano, micro, mid-tier and macro?
The labels are loose, but these ranges are the ones most often used:
| Tier | Followers | Commonly cited rate per video (negotiated) |
|---|---|---|
| Nano | 1K–10K | $25–150 |
| Micro | 10K–100K | $150–500 |
| Mid-tier | 100K–500K | $500–3,000 |
| Macro+ | 500K+ | $3,000–20,000+ |
Those rates are for one-by-one deals and move a lot with engagement, niche, country and usage rights (creator rates in 2026). On a budget-based campaign the numbers look very different, because creators opt in to your budget instead of quoting a price. In the 90 days to September 16, 2026, creators under 10,000 followers cost advertisers $3.21–3.55 per video on average on Sound.me, and creators with 1M+ followers averaged $194.52 (the cheapest ways to get creator videos).
What does real campaign data show?
Two completed Sound.me TikTok campaigns, both worldwide and both about $10,000, differ mainly in creator size:
| Creators under 20K followers | Creators with 50K+ followers | |
|---|---|---|
| Spend | $9,973 | $10,589 |
| Creator videos | 1,184 | 85 |
| Views | 8.69M | 6.53M |
| Per 1,000 views | $1.15 | $1.62 |
| Best video's share of views | 7% | 37% |
| Videos past 10,000 views | 113 | 25 |
| Videos past 1 million views | none | 3 |
| Time to first live video | ~4 hours | ~1 hour |
| Engagement rate | 3.8% | 2.3% |
The small-creator campaign was cheaper per view and much less dependent on any single video: its best video carried 7% of the views, against 37% for the larger-creator campaign. The larger creators produced the only million-view videos and went live faster. Full details: creators under 20K followers and creators with 50K+ followers.
One more data point shows how wide the range is: a major-label imprint's $6,518 worldwide campaign with creators from 1,000 followers up made 379 videos and 38.2M views, $0.17 per 1,000 views, with six videos past 1 million. Case studies are strong results picked to show what is possible, not averages.
Why do small creators do so well on creator campaigns?
- More videos per dollar. A budget that buys one mid-tier post can pay for dozens of small-creator videos.
- More chances to take off. Most views on creator campaigns come from a few videos, and you can't know in advance which. Many videos spread the chances.
- Followers aren't the ceiling. A video's reach depends on how viewers respond, not only on who posted it. Among Sound.me creator payouts in the 90 days to September 16, 2026, a video from an account with 1,000–10,000 followers earned $289, more than the average paid to accounts with 250K–1M followers ($26.20) or over 1 million ($113.67), because it travelled.
- They are most of the supply. Three quarters of the videos paid on Sound.me in that period came from creators under 10,000 followers.
When do big creators make sense?
- A flagship moment. One recognisable creator can give a release a centrepiece video.
- A trend template. A creator known for dances or transitions can set the format others copy.
- Speed at the top. In the comparison above, the larger-creator campaign had its first video live in about an hour.
If you need one specific, named creator, book them directly or through a marketplace where you hire creators one by one. Direct contact with creators isn't permitted through Sound.me, where Sound.me's team matches and approves creators (on TikTok campaigns of $1,000 or more you can also approve creators yourself).
How do you set creator size on Sound.me?
At checkout you target creators by age, gender, language, creator size (from 100 followers to over 50 million) and location (worldwide, one of 24 countries, or a region). "Volume" gets more creators and wider reach; "Larger creators" gets bigger audiences per video; or set your own range. Add up to 3 example creators whose style you like and Sound.me finds similar ones.
A practical mix for a new release:
- Start broad. Run a first campaign across all sizes to see which videos and countries respond.
- Lean small for volume. Use a small-creator range when you want many videos behind the sound.
- Add larger creators on top. Run a separate campaign with a higher follower range, or book one flagship creator elsewhere, once you know the concept works.
What does it cost?
Budgets are $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. A worldwide, 7-day $1,000 campaign across creator sizes 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). Our team watches every video: creators who don't follow your directions don't get paid, and that part of your budget goes back into your campaign. Sound.me doesn't guarantee views, streams or sales. See Sound.me pricing and TikTok sound seeding for how to plan the first run.