A Business Used My Music Without Permission — What to Do

When a business uses your song without permission, the first hour after you find out matters more than most rights holders realize. Screens change. Posts get deleted. Accounts get renamed. This guide walks through exactly what to do — in order — so you preserve evidence, understand your options, and know when to escalate to a copyright attorney or the Copyright Claims Board.

Step 1 — Preserve the evidence immediately

Before you comment, message the business, or send a takedown, capture what exists right now. Once a company realizes they were caught, posts often disappear within hours.

• Screen-record the full post, story, or video with the audio playing.
• Screenshot the URL, timestamp, follower count, and any product tags.
• Save the business's profile page, website, and any related campaign links.
• Note the exact seconds of your song that appear and the total duration.

A short screen recording with sound is worth far more than a screenshot without. Store everything in a single dated folder — a copyright attorney will thank you.

Step 2 — Identify how the music was used

Different uses trigger different rights. Note whether the audio is the full recording, a re-recording (a "sound-alike" cover), a sample, or a snippet under a few seconds. Note whether it appears in a paid ad, an organic post, a product page, an in-store video, or a physical storefront playlist. The specifics decide whether your matter is best handled by a takedown, a Copyright Claims Board (CCB) case, or a federal lawsuit.

Step 3 — Check your copyright registration status

You own the copyright the moment you create the work, but registration controls remedies. Registering the song with the U.S. Copyright Office — especially before the infringement — unlocks statutory damages and attorney's fees in federal court. If you haven't registered yet, register now; you may still pursue actual damages and, in many cases, a CCB claim.

Step 4 — Pick the right enforcement pathway

1. 1
   DMCA takedown

   Fastest way to remove the post. Free, informal, and enforceable through platform copyright forms.
2. 2
   Copyright Claims Board (CCB)

   A small-claims-style tribunal capped at $30,000 in damages. Lower cost, Lawyers optional, but suggested, and the business can opt out.
3. 3
   Federal lawsuit

   The right forum for larger commercial uses, statutory damages, injunctions, and cases the business will not settle.
4. 4
   Direct license or settlement

   Sometimes the business will pay a licensing fee once they know they were caught. An attorney can negotiate on your behalf.

Step 5 — Organize everything for review

The single fastest way to get in front of a copyright attorney is to hand them a clean, complete file. That is exactly what GeeseTrace Intake is built for: guided questions, evidence uploads, and structured metadata that a lawyer can evaluate quickly.