Want to Add Music to Your Instagram Story? Here’s How!

Many social media innovations are geared toward improving user experience. Enhanced interactivity, in particular, definitely encourages increased user engagement. On Instagram, the option to add music to a story has leveled up the fun factor for both story creators and viewers. There’s no doubt that “engaging” as many of the senses as possible makes for a more realistic and enjoyable experience on the platform. 

Have you tried out this feature yet? Adding music to your Story is simple, and it’s also an easy way to create content that will appeal to more people and help you earn more followers. Keep reading to find out how you can start creating stories that are aesthetically pleasing to both the eyes and ears!   

How to Add Music to an Instagram Story

Adding music to your Instagram Story is easy peasy! Instagram gives you access to thousands of music for free. You’ll be able to find the right tune for whatever type of content you create for your Stories and to appeal to the right audience. Here’s how!

1. Start creating a story. Capture a new photo or video to feature in your Stories, or select one from your camera roll. 
2. Edit your image/video to your liking with filters, stickers, GIFs, and other elements.  
3. To add music to your Instagram story, tap on the sticker icon at the top of the screen and then select the music sticker. 
4. You’ll be taken to the music screen where you can search for a song by title, artist, or album. Alternatively, you can choose a song from various categories or genres, such as Popular, Jazz, Rock, etc. You’ll be able to hear a short clip of the song before adding to your story. 
5. When you’ve decided on a tune, tap on the add option. If you’re adding music to a picture story, it will play for 15 seconds; if you have a video story, it will play for the entire length of the video. 
6. You can select which portion of the song you want to play in your story by using the slider bar, which will appear after you’ve selected the tune. 
7. With some songs, you can also change the album image or replace the thumbnail with lyrics. 
8. The tune you’ve selected will appear as a sticker on your picture/video story; you can move it around to position it where it will best fit into your content. You can also resize the music sticker to make it more or less prominent. 
9. If you’re adding music to a video story, you can pin the music sticker to an object or person in the video so that the sticker will move as the object/person also moves. 
10. When you’re satisfied with your story’s visuals and audio, press “Done” and publish your story for everyone’s enjoyment. 

How to Add Music From Other Platforms

But, wait! There’s more! You can also add music to your Instagram Story from other platforms and music apps. This means you have more music choices. You can add music from Apple Music, Spotify, or SoundCloud! Just follow these steps:

1. Open your music source of choice and find the song you want to use. 
2. Tap on the “Play” button and then go to the Options button. Select the “Share” option.
3. Choose “Instagram Story” to upload the song to your story. From there, get creative with your music story by adding the elements you like. 
4. Tap on “Done” when you’re satisfied and ready to publish it to your Instagram Stories. 

Take note that adding music to your story from other platforms means posting a tune you like as the story itself. You can’t use songs from your music app to add to a picture or video story. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you also add music to an Instagram post?

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to do this as easily as with IG stories; the option is not available within the app. Additionally, you can only add a song to a video post; this is not possible with a photo. You can either record a video with the song you like playing in the background or use a video editing tool to add music to your video. But take note of Instagram’s Guidelines for Including Music in Videos to make sure that you won’t be in violation of any music copyright.  

Is Instagram’s music option for Stories available everywhere? 

Due to licensing restrictions, the music sticker for Instagram is only available in select countries. Currently, only users with an IP address in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, France, Canada, Germany, and Indonesia have access to the music feature in their IG Stories. 

Final Thoughts

With the right tune added to a photo or video, you’ll be able to better set the right mood for your story. If you’re in one of the countries where adding music to an Instagram story is available, make sure to use this feature to your full advantage. For brands, especially, creating an enticing audio-visual experience for your followers through your IG stories can pave the way for higher engagement and earn you a lot of new followers!

If you’re looking for another way to grow your brand on Instagram, check out Path Social! Sign up for an account to enjoy real and lasting growth – with organic followers who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer and will deliver quality engagement to your profile. Path Social does not make use of bots or automation to deliver results, so you can rest assured that you will only get authentic followers. Get started today!