How to Add Music to a Video on Instagram

Adding the right music to your Instagram video can transform it from just another clip into content that stops the scroll and gets noticed. Whether you're making a Reel, a Story, or a standard feed post, the perfect track sets the mood, amps up the energy, and can even help you go viral. This guide walks you through exactly how to add music to any type of Instagram video, covering everything from the built-in library to copyright rules you need to know.

Why Is Music So Important for Instagram Videos?

Ever watched an amazing video, only to turn the sound on and realize it's completely silent? It feels... weird. Music is more than just background noise, it's a powerful tool for connection and engagement on social media. For brands and creators, a great soundtrack is an essential part of a successful content strategy.

• It Grabs Attention: A trending or popular song can instantly make your video more relevant and an "audio on" experience. In a fast-scrolling feed, the first few seconds of a familiar track can be the difference between someone watching or moving on.
• It Creates an Emotional Connection: Music has a direct line to our emotions. An upbeat pop song can make a product feel fun and exciting, while a low-key acoustic track can lend a heartfelt, authentic vibe to a personal story. It helps you tell a better story without saying a word.
• It Hooks Into Trends: Trending audio is one of the most powerful drivers of discoverability on Instagram, especially for Reels. When you use a sound that's blowing up, the algorithm is more likely to show your video to users who have engaged with that sound before, exponentially increasing your reach.

Think of music as a shortcut to setting the right tone. It's the quickest way to tell your audience how they should feel about the content they're about to watch. When used effectively, it encourages longer watch times, more shares, and higher overall engagement.

How to Add Music Directly in the Instagram App

The most straightforward method for adding music is to use Instagram's own extensive, built-in library. The process varies slightly depending on whether you're creating a Reel or a Story.

For Instagram Reels

Reels are designed to be short, entertaining, and driven by audio. Adding a trending track is practically a requirement for success. The process is fully integrated into the Reels editor, giving you plenty of control.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Open the Reels Editor: Tap the plus icon (+) at the bottom of the Instagram home screen and select "Reel." You can either record a new video directly in the editor or upload a pre-recorded clip from your camera roll.
2. Access the Audio Library: Before or after recording/uploading your clip, tap the music note icon (Audio) on the left side of the screen. This will open up Instagram's music library.
3. Find Your Perfect Track: You'll see a "For You" page with recommendations based on your activity, as well as a "Browse" section with categories like Pop, Hip Hop, and more. A critical feature here is the trending section, often marked with an upward-pointing arrow next to a song. Using a trending sound gives your Reel a visibility boost. You can also use the search bar at the top to find a specific song, artist, or track.
4. Select and Adjust Your Audio Clip: Once you tap a song, a timeline editor will appear at the bottom. You can slide the bar left and right to select the exact 15, 30, 60, or 90-second snippet you want to use in your video. Many popular songs will have the most catchy or viral part of the track pre-selected for you. Tap "Done" when you're happy with your selection.
5. Balance Your Audio Levels: After adding the music, tap "Next." On the final editing screen, tap the music note icon at the top again. This opens the audio-mixer. Here you'll see two sliders: "Camera audio" and "Music." If your original video has someone talking, you'll want to lower the music volume so the speech is clear. If the music is the main event, slide the camera audio down or all the way to zero.
6. Finish and Post: Add your captions, hashtags, and cover photo, then share your Reel!

For Instagram Stories

Stories have a slightly different but just as easy method for adding music: the interactive music sticker. This allows you to add a soundtrack and display lyrics or album art in a fun, dynamic way.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Create Your Story: Open the Instagram Stories editor by swiping right from your home feed or tapping the plus icon (+) and selecting "Story." Take a photo, record a video, or upload one from your camera roll.
2. Open the Sticker Tray: Tap the sticker icon (the smiley face in a square) at the top of the editing screen.
3. Select the Music Sticker: Find and tap the "Music" sticker. This action will open the same music library you see for Reels, complete with recommendations, genres, and a search bar.
4. Choose Your Song and Display Style: After selecting a track, you'll have a few customization options. You can use the timeline slider at the bottom to pick which part of the song you want to play. Above that, you'll see several display options. You can have scrolling lyrics (in a few different fonts), a small thumbnail of the album art, or a larger album art box. Tap through these options to see which best fits your Story's vibe.
5. Position and Resize the Sticker: Once you've chosen your display style and song clip, tap "Done." You can now treat the music sticker like any other sticker - pinch to resize it, and drag to position it anywhere on your Story.
6. Share Your Story: Once everything looks good, simply share it with your followers. Viewers can tap the sticker to see the artist and song name, and even save the audio for their own use.

For Instagram Feed Videos

Here's a common point of confusion: a while back, Instagram removed the simple music button for standard in-feed video posts that aren't Reels. So, how do you get a video with popular music onto your main grid?

The answer is to post it as a Reel and choose to share it to your feed. This has become the standard workflow and actually provides a visibility benefit, as Reels get preferential treatment in the algorithm.

When you go through the steps of creating a Reel, on the final screen before posting, make sure the toggle for "Also share to feed" is turned on. This way, your musical video will appear on your main profile grid just like old-school video posts, but it will also circulate as a Reel, giving it more potential for discovery.

A Quick Word on Music Copyright for Business Accounts

If you have a Professional (Business) account on Instagram, you may notice that the selection of music in the library is much more limited. You'll find lots of generic sound-beds but few, if any, charting pop songs from major artists. Why is that?

It all comes down to licensing. Popular music is licensed by Instagram for personal, non-commercial use only. Since a business account is inherently commercial (used to promote products or services), Instagram restricts access to this music to protect both you and the platform from copyright infringement claims.

To solve this, businesses are granted access to Instagram's own Royalty-Free Music Collection. Every track in this library is cleared for commercial use, so you can add background music to your promotional content without fear of legal issues or your video being muted. While you won't find the latest Drake track here, a well-chosen piece of instrumental music can still dramatically improve your video's quality.

Using Third-Party Apps to Add Custom Music

What if you want total creative control? Maybe you want to use a specific clip a musician friend gave you, or you've licensed a perfect track from a royalty-free music site and want to edit it perfectly to your video footage. In this case, you'll need to add the music before you upload your video to Instagram.

You can do this with almost any video editing app, from mobile solutions to professional desktop software.

1. Choose a Royalty-Free Music Source: If you're a business or serious creator, you'll want to find music you have a proper license to use. Platforms like Epidemic Sound, Artlist, or the free YouTube Audio Library offer massive catalogs of high-quality tracks and sound effects that are cleared for use on social media.
2. Download Your Audio: Find the right track on your chosen platform and download the MP3 or WAV file.
3. Use a Video Editing App: Import both your video clip and your downloaded audio track into a video editing app on your phone or computer. Popular mobile choices include CapCut and InShot.
   • Place the audio track on the timeline underneath your video clip.
   • Trim the audio to fit the length of your video, and adjust its start point to match your visuals.
   • Adjust the volume of your original video audio and the music track to find the right balance.
4. Export and Upload: Once you're finished, export the final video file. It will now have the music permanently "baked" into it. From there, you can upload it directly to Instagram as a Reel, Story, or feed post without needing to use Instagram's music library at all.

Final Thoughts

Mastering how to add music to your Instagram videos is a foundational skill for modern content creation. Whether you leverage trending sounds through Instagram's built-in library for Reels and Stories or use a third-party app with licensed music for ultimate creative control, a great soundtrack is what will truly bring your content to life.

Once you've put in the creative work of shooting, editing, and finding the perfect soundtrack for your video, the last thing you want is for a clunky or unreliable scheduler to drop the ball. At Postbase, we designed a simple, modern platform that was built from the ground up to handle today's video formats like Reels, Shorts, and TikToks. We make sure that once your content is ready, scheduling and publishing it reliably across all your platforms is the easiest part of your job, not another frustrating chore.