How often do you come across an Instagram story with an aesthetic image or video and soothing music playing in the background? Sounds like a common occurrence on your Instagram user experience, right? Well, the introduction of music on Instagram stories has transformed people’s user experience, but, how to play music on the Instagram stories?
This is a very common question that most Instagram novices have. And, it is a valid question since the feature is a little complicated to find. The Instagram music sticker allows the users to not just add music to their stories but also introduce the lyrics to a particular song.
Given that we have so many of our readers struggling with this query, we hope this detailed guide gives you a round-up insight about the process and how you can get the same.
How can you add Music to Instagram Stories?
So, you have taken a beautiful and aesthetic or fun video that you want to share with your Instagram audience. But, simply adding the video is taking the life out of it. Enter – Instagram Music. This feature can take your bland Instagram story and give it the best look and feel.
The steps involved in how to play music on the Instagram story are pretty simple. Here’s what you need to do:
- First and foremost, ensure that you have the latest version of the Instagram app downloaded and installed on your smartphone. This is a crucial step.
- Once you are on your app’s homepage, click on the (+) button on the top-left corner of the screen with your profile icon.
- In the Instagram Stories camera, you can take an image or video directly or upload an already captured image or video.
- Once the upload is successful, click on the Stickers button on the top right panel
- Once you click on it, find the Music button from the list of choices available down below.
- You will find the Instagram Music library from there that hosts songs tailored to your needs or you can search for a particular song that you want to add.
- You can find almost every song that comes to your mind. The library of songs is diverse and hosts bigger artists and smaller creators too. So, you can pick and choose the one that attracts your interests the most.
- Once you select the song, you can navigate and adjust the tab on the song to select the portion of the song that you want in the background of your Instagram story.
- The maximum length of the Instagram stories is 15 seconds, so the maximum limit for the song is 15 seconds as well.
- Also, if it is a popular song that has lyrics available, those should directly pop up on the screen. You can change the view of the lyrics or the way the music sticker appears on the Instagram story.
These are the simple steps involved in how to play music on an Instagram story. It has helped a lot of smaller musicians and creators spread the better word about their songs since it has better outreach compared to the other streams or social media platforms.
Why am I unable to add Instagram music to the Stories?
As we said in the beginning, the Instagram music feature for the Instagram stories is quite a new feature. And, like most other social media platforms, even Instagram runs A/B testing with their new features. Nothing is available in a broadcast way.
Initially, after the launch of the feature, it was available in select countries like the USA, the UK, New Zealand, France, Germany, and Sweden. Once the feature gained massive popularity and recognition, it was rolled out to the remaining countries.
So, when you are looking into how to play music on your Instagram story, you need to ascertain one thing. Is the feature available in your country? By now, almost every country has access to the feature, so you shouldn’t face many complications.
However, if the feature isn’t available in your country, that’s why you aren’t able to add the sticker. But, sometimes, other reasons can contribute to why you aren’t able to access the feature. Here’s what you can do in that case:
- Update your application to the latest version and reload it.
- If you are using a business account, certain limitations come with such. Since not all Instagram music is free, there are restrictions on that. You can switch to a standard or public account in that case.
- Also, restrictions are there on branded content ads posted on Instagram stories. You can’t add music, GIFs or other multimedia to such promotional content.
If you are from one of those countries that still doesn’t have the Instagram music feature available, we’d recommend that you wait. Given how popular the feature is and has become over time, it won’t take time to be available to every country. In the meantime, you can keep up with Instagram’s official updates and hope for the best that you get access to the new feature.
So, now you know how to play music on your Instagram story. Not just for aesthetic purposes, it also enhances the engagement rate and allows you to make the most out of the listening experience. We hope that you find all the necessary inputs needed to spruce up your Instagram story and take it to the next level.