If your release is live on most stores but missing from Snapchat (Sound), Facebook, or Instagram, this is almost always intentional. It means our audio fingerprint scanner flagged the release as containing unlicensed samples or third-party copyrighted material, and the user-generated content (UGC) platforms were excluded from delivery for that reason.
Why this happens
Every release delivered through InterSpace is run through an automated audio fingerprint scan before it goes out to stores. This scan compares your audio against a global database of registered recordings and compositions.
When the scan detects audio that matches existing copyrighted material — a sample, an interpolation, a loop, an acapella, or any portion of another recording — and we have no licensing documentation on file for it, the release is treated as containing unlicensed content.
Why UGC platforms specifically are affected
Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram are user-generated content (UGC) platforms. On these services, your music can be added by millions of users to their own videos, stories, and reels. Because of this, these platforms apply a much stricter copyright standard than normal streaming stores.
A UGC platform will not accept a recording that contains material it cannot verify you have the right to license out to its users. If they delivered a track with an uncleared sample, every video made with that track would also be infringing. To avoid this, the platforms reject — or we proactively withhold — any release flagged for unlicensed content.
"But I have a license / clearance"
Even when a valid license or sample clearance is provided, please be aware of the following:
- A license that covers distribution to streaming stores does not automatically cover UGC use. UGC rights (the right for the public to reuse your audio in their own content) are a separate, higher tier of clearance and are frequently excluded from sample licenses.
- Many sample owners and labels do not grant UGC rights at all, regardless of fee.
- For this reason, in most cases a release flagged for samples will remain ineligible for Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram even after a license is supplied, and it will not be delivered to those platforms.
This is not a decision InterSpace makes arbitrarily — it reflects the licensing terms attached to the sampled material and the UGC platforms' own content policies.
What you can do
- Confirm whether the release genuinely contains a sample. If you believe the flag is a false match (for example, the audio is 100% original or royalty-free), reply to this article or open a ticket and our team will request a manual review of the scan result.
- If a sample is present and you hold a license, submit your licensing documentation to our team. We will assess it, but please understand that the documentation must explicitly grant UGC / social-platform rights for delivery to those platforms to be possible — and even then, the platforms retain final say.
- If you cannot obtain UGC clearance, your release will still be delivered and remain available on all standard streaming and download stores. Only the UGC platforms (Snap, Facebook, Instagram) are affected.
- To make the release fully UGC-eligible, the simplest path is to re-upload a version with the sampled material removed or replaced with original/cleared audio.
In short
A release missing from Snapchat, Facebook, or Instagram has been flagged by our fingerprint scanner for unlicensed samples. UGC platforms do not permit such content without full UGC licensing, and in most cases the release will remain ineligible for those platforms even when a license is provided. The release stays live everywhere else.
If you have questions about a specific release, please open a support ticket with your release title and UPC and our team will look into it.