How to Add Music to Instagram Video

Spice up your Instagram story with some tunes

By
Brad Stephenson
Brad Stephenson - Lifewire Writer
Brad Stephenson
Freelance Contributor
  • Western Sydney University
Brad Stephenson is a freelance tech and geek culture writer with 12+ years' experience. He writes about Windows 10, Xbox One, and cryptocurrency.
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Updated on January 1, 2021
Reviewed by
Jessica Kormos
Jessica Kormos
Reviewed by Jessica Kormos
  • Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College
Jessica Kormos is a writer and editor with 15 years' experience writing articles, copy, and UX content for Tecca.com, Rosenfeld Media, and many others.
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What To Know

  • Press Your Story, and take a photo or video. Tap Stickers > Music.
  • Then, find the music. Tap 15 > set length > Done. Drag the bar to the start, and press Done. Set up your post. Send to > Share > Your Story.
  • The "old way": Play a song, and minimize it. Press Your Story, and start a video. Film and set the rest normally. Send to > Share > Your Story.

This article explains how to add music to your Instagram story. The easiest way to add music to your Instagram Story is to use the special Music sticker, which is available within the latest versions of the official Instagram app on iOS and Android devices.

Add Music to Instagram Stories With Music Stickers

Follow the below steps to add music to your Instagram story using the Music sticker:

  1. Open the Instagram app and tap the Your Story icon in the top-left corner to create a new Story.

  2. Take a new photo or choose a photo or video from your gallery.

  3. Tap the Stickers icon from the top menu. It’s the one that looks like a smiley face post-it note.

    Creating a story in Instagram.

  4. Tap Music.

    Instagram Stories that use the Music sticker are shared to linked Facebook accounts but the music won't play due to copyright restrictions. You can upload your Instagram Story video as a Facebook Story with the music intact by saving it to your device after it’s live and uploading it to Facebook manually from the app.

  5. Browse for the music track you want to use in your Instagram Story.

    You can tap on the play icons to preview songs before adding them.

  6. When you’ve found the song you’re looking for, tap its album cover to add it to your Story.

    Adding the Music sticker.

  7. Tap 15 and choose the length of the track for your Story.

    Track length is limited due to copyright restrictions. Instagram Stories are typically less than 15 seconds anyway so this limitation shouldn’t be an issue for many.

  8. Tap Done.

    Adjusting the music length.

  9. Drag the white bar to select the part of the song you want to use.

  10. Tap Done.

  11. Tap the Music sticker to choose a different style.

    Adjustments to Music sticker.

  12. Pinch the sticker with two fingers to resize it and move it.

  13. Add other stickers, gifs, and text as usual.

  14. Tap Send to to publish your new Story to your Instagram account.

  15. Select Share next to Your Story.

    Adding additional items to story.

How to Add Music to an Instagram Post the 'Old Way'

This third method of adding music to Instagram Stories is how everyone used to add tunes to videos before the Music sticker feature launched. This can also be used when filming regular video posts as well.

Because this method adds music in an unofficial capacity, Instagram automatically scans it for any copyright infringement. If detected, Instagram simply removes all sound from the entire video. Your account won’t be closed and there are no legal consequences.

While it’s an old method, it’s still effective and can be used to incorporate music tracks that aren’t available officially within the Instagram app. This also removes the time limit for each song as well.

  1. Open your preferred music app on your device and start playing a song. For this example, we’ll use Spotify.

  2. Minimize the app with the song still playing in the background and open Instagram.

  3. Tap your avatar or the small camera icon in the upper-left corner to begin a new Instagram Story.

  4. Perform a long press on the record button to record a video. The song you’re playing, and all other audio, will be recorded along with the video.

  5. Continue to edit your Story as you usually would, adding filters, text, and gifs.

  6. When you’re ready, tap Send to to publish it.

  7. Select Share next to Your Story.

    Adding music the old way in Instagram.

How to Add Music for Instagram Videos

While Instagram allows you to crop a video and add filters to it during the upload process to your main feed, it doesn’t offer any way to add music to it. This means you need to add music to your video using another app, save it, then upload this newly edited video to Instagram.

Fortunately, there are a large number of free video editing apps available for iOS, Android, and Windows that makes adding music to video clips very easy.

Where to Find Music for Instagram Videos

If you’re adding music to your Instagram Story with the Music sticker, you don’t need to worry about finding tunes since the sticker essentially provides you with Spotify’s entire library.

If you’re using the third method, though, or want to add music to an Instagram video post, you need to find a track to use by yourself.

Technically, you can use any song from Spotify, iTunes, or any other music service, but your video may be flagged for copyright infringement. The safest option is to use royalty-free music from one of the many websites available online. They provide free and paid options for music usage and are typically open to anyone.

Another option is to compose your own music using a music creation or composer app.

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