How to add music to Instagram videos: The complete guide

Instagram stories music sticker

If you’re wondering how to add music to Instagram videos, we’ve got you covered in this walk-through guide. Music is an easy way to breathe life into your Instagram story or timeline post: it’s a powerful driver of emotions, which helps you to connect with your audience – and gives your content a winning edge. Keep reading for some top tips on how to add music to Instagram videos.

How to Add Music to Your Instagram Story

The simplest way to add music to your Instagram stories is with a Music Sticker – an in-app feature that allows you to browse Spotify’s music library and add your favorite tunes to your story. 

Available on iOs and Android devices open up the app, go to create a story, and tap on the sticker icon. A menu will appear with a series of icons to pick from. Here you can select ‘Music’. Now you can search for a song you’d like, or see recommendations via the tabs ‘For You’ and ‘Browse’. 

Instagram stories music sticker

 

‘For You’ provides a list of songs the app reckons you’ll love, and the ‘Browse’ section offers a list of curated playlists, moods, and genres you can choose your track from.

The algorithm is far from perfect, so it’s a good idea to do a manual search if you’ve got a particular song in mind. To do this, tap the search bar at the top and enter the name of the track you’re looking for. 

Here, you’re limited to what’s available on Spotify’s library in your country – if your heart is set on a rare release or an obscure B-side, think about editing the video in a third-party app or software instead. 

Decide the Song Length

When you’ve chosen your perfect track, use the slider to select the portion of the track you want to appear on your story. If you’re uploading a video or Boomerang, the maximum limit is 15 seconds.

Instagram story music length

Choose the Look

The app has a series of features that allow you to add song lyrics or album artwork to your Instagram story. Once you’ve chosen the track length, you’ll be taken to the following screen where you can pick your desired overlay.

Music lyrics on Instagram stories

 

The first four icons represent different text effects – click on one to visualize how it’ll appear on your story. You can also edit the size of the text, and it’s color to match your style or branding.

The last two options are based on the track’s metadata – one is a thumbnail tag with the artist’s name and song; the other shows this alongside the album artwork.

Instagram music artwork

 

When you’re ready to post, click ‘Send to’ and select the followers you want to share your story with.

Sharing from Spotify

If you’ve discovered a banging track you need to share with your fans, there’s an easy way to add it to your story from Spotify.

Hit the menu screen on the song you’re listening to, and select the ellipsis icon in the top-right corner. Then, tap ‘Share’ and navigate to ‘Instagram Stories.’ 

Things to remember

Now you know how to add music to an Instagram story, there are a few things to be aware of. Firstly, your selected track may not be licensed in the region where your followers are based, meaning the audio of your story will be muted – and the song tag removed.

Also, Instagram Stories with a Music sticker can’t be automatically cross-posted to your Facebook account due to copyright restrictions. If you want to post your content on Facebook too, check out our guide on how to use copyrighted music on Facebook legally.

How to add music to an Instagram post 

Editing your audio in a third-party app or software is a more professional way to add copyrighted music to an Instagram story, post or IGTV content. Check out our guide to the best audio editors for online video content to help you if you’re just getting started. 

Instagram doesn’t offer the same Music Sticker functionality for timeline posts, so if you’re looking to spice up your timeline video with popular music, you’ll have to license it first or risk copyright infringement. 

To use copyrighted music on Instagram safely, check out Lickd. The Lickd music library offers over 1 million mainstream tracks from real labels – all cleared with copyright owners, so you don’t need to worry about contacting them directly. Find your perfect track by browsing the playlist carousels which provide a variety of top-quality music sorted by genre, artist and more. 

mainstream music for YouTube

 

Once you’ve chosen your track and added it to your video, post the video to your story or timeline as usual – there’s no need to tag it with a music sticker. As long as you follow the instructions in Lickd’s End User License Agreement (EULA) you can enjoy popular music in your videos without any copyright claims. Plus, if you sign up today, you get 25% off your first track!

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