How to Add Music to an Instagram Story

Created on 10 May, 2024 • How To? • 212 views • 3 minutes read

You can add music directly from Instagram or grab tunes from your favorite music streaming services, like Spotify, SoundCloud, and Shazam. Just follow these simple steps.

Instagram Stories are easy to create, but they can require a lot of thought if you want to make them truly entertaining. Thankfully, Meta offers a number of tools to help make your stories as fun as possible, including filters and stickers. However, your story may still be missing one important element: Music.

Instagram lets you add a song from its own library or your favorite music streaming services, like Spotify, SoundCloud, and Shazam. Here's everything you need to know about adding music to your Instagram stories.

Add Music in Instagram

You can add music directly to your story using Instagram’s library. Open the app on your mobile device. From the main feed, tap the plus (+) icon at the bottom of the app and then select Story at the bottom of the screen. You can also long-press Your Story and tap Add to Your Story or just tap Your Story and then tap the Camera icon.

At the camera screen, you can snap a photo or video or swipe up to see your photo library and select an image that you wish to add. Apply whatever filters or special effects you want. When you're ready to add a tune to your story, tap the Music icon or choose Sticker icon and tap the Music sticker.

At the Music screen, browse through the different sections and genres to find a song. You can also use the search field at the top of the screen to look for particular music by song, artist, or album. Spot a tune you might like? Tap the Play button to hear a short clip.

After you’ve selected a song, tap its name to add it to your story. You’ll have the opportunity to scroll through the song and decide which clip of the music (up to 15 seconds) will play over your story. Move the slider bar until you find the section you want added.

Some songs offer multiple images from which you can choose. Tap the music thumbnail to change the image. Some even offer lyrics that appear on the screen as the music plays. When you're happy with the image you've chosen, tap Done and the song is added to your story in the form of a sticker.

You can choose where the sticker will be placed in your story by moving it around the screen with your finger. Change the size of the sticker by pinching or expanding two fingers. Use two fingers and twist to change the orientation of the sticker. Don’t like the look of your sticker? Double tap it to change its appearance. Tap Done to return to your story.

If you’ve recorded a video, you can do even more with your sticker before you post the story. Hold down on it, and you’ll be able to pin the sticker to a specific person or object in the video. This means the sticker will move along with the object as it moves in the video.

When you're done tweaking the music, tap the Your Story icon to publish your story with music. Alternatively, if you want only specific people to see it, tap the More icon at the bottom. From the menu, select Send to select which people should receive it. You can also tweak other settings for your story.

To view your story, tap the Your Story icon. Your story appears with the music automatically playing. Tapping the song label pauses the music and brings up a window at the bottom through which you can send the music track to another person on Instagram. Your followers can view your story and play the music in the same way.

Add Music From the Spotify App

You can add external music to your Instagram story by grabbing it from certain apps, such as Spotify. With a song playing in Spotify, tap the Share icon and choose Stories, and you're taken to your Instagram story, where your selected song appears with its cover art. You can add text, stickers, and other effects. 

Tap Your Story to post it with the song you selected. After your story has been posted, it will display a Play on Spotify link. Anyone viewing your story can then tap the link and tap Open Spotify to hear the song in the Spotify app.