How to Get Songs Added to Instagram

You've just finished a killer new track, and you can already imagine your fans and friends using it as the soundtrack for their Instagram Stories and Reels. But when you try to find it in the music library, it's nowhere to be found. This article will show you exactly how to get your own music officially added to Instagram's music library, step by step.

Why Can't I Just Upload My Song to Instagram?

Unlike uploading a photo or video, you can't just send an MP3 file directly to Instagram. The entire system is built on licensing. At a massive scale, Meta (Instagram's parent company) needs a bulletproof way to verify that every song in its library is licensed properly so artists, songwriters, and publishers get paid when their music is used. If they allowed direct uploads, their platform would become a legal minefield of copyright infringement claims.

To solve this, Meta partners with record labels and music distribution companies. These companies handle all the backend legal and financial work, delivering music to Instagram (and other platforms like Spotify and Apple Music) with all the proper licensing information attached. For an independent artist, a music distributor is your official gateway to getting heard on social media.

Your Essential Partner: The Music Distributor

A digital music distributor acts as the middleman between you and major digital platforms. You pay them a small fee or a percentage of your royalties, and in return, they do the heavy lifting of:

• Formatting and delivering your music to Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, TikTok, Apple Music, and hundreds of other stores and services worldwide.
• Collecting royalties on your behalf whenever your song is used or streamed.
• Providing you with analytics and data on how your music is performing.

Think of them as the logistics service for your music career. They make sure your song gets where it needs to go, legally and efficiently.

How to Choose the Right Music Distributor

There are many distributors out there, each with a different pricing model and set of features. One isn't necessarily "better" than another, it's about finding the best fit for your goals and budget. Here’s what to look for when making your choice:

• Pricing Model: Some distributors charge an annual flat fee per release (like DistroKid), allowing you to keep 100% of your royalties. Others charge a one-time fee per release and may take a small commission from your earnings (like TuneCore or CD Baby). Do the math and see which model makes more sense for you.
• Platform Distribution: Make sure the distributor specifically names Instagram and Facebook in their list of partners. Most major distributors do, but it's always worth double-checking. You also want to see partners like Spotify, Apple Music, and TikTok, so you can get your music everywhere at once.
• Speed to Live: Check their typical timeline for getting music live on platforms. Some are faster than others, but it usually takes anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Be wary of any service that promises instant delivery.
• Extra Features: Look for valuable add-ons. Do they help you get on Spotify playlists? Can you submit your lyrics to appear in Instagram Stories? Do they offer royalty splits to easily pay collaborators? These features can save you a ton of time down the road.
• Customer Support: Read reviews about their support team. When something goes wrong with a release, you’ll want a responsive and helpful team to turn to.

Some of the most popular distributors used by independent artists include DistroKid, TuneCore, CD Baby, and Amuse. Spend some time on their websites to compare their offerings before you commit.

Step-by-Step: Adding Your Music to the Instagram Library

Once you’ve chosen a distributor, the process is pretty straightforward. While the user interface for each service will be slightly different, the core steps are universal.

Step 1: Get Your Assets Ready

Before you even sign up, get your files organized. Proper preparation makes the upload process smooth and painless. You will need:

• Your Audio File: Your final, mastered song. This needs to be a high-quality, uncompressed audio file. The standard is a 16-bit, 44.1 kHz WAV file. Do not upload an MP3, as the quality is lower and most distributors will reject it.
• Album Artwork: Your cover art must be a perfect square and high resolution. The standard requirements are usually 3000x3000 pixels at 300 DPI, in either JPG or PNG format. Don’t include any social media handles, website URLs, or logos from services like Spotify or Apple Music on the artwork - it will get rejected.
• Metadata: This is all the text information about your song. Write it down in a separate document so you can easily copy and paste it. This includes:
  • Song Title
  • Artist Name(s) & Featured Artists
  • Album/EP Title (if applicable)
  • Composer and Songwriter names (the legal names, not just stage names)
  • Genre
  • Release Date

Step 2: Sign Up and Start a New Release

Create an account with your chosen distributor. Navigate their dashboard to start a new "single" or "album" release. Most will guide you through the process screen by screen.

Step 3: Upload Your Music and Information

This is where you’ll upload your WAV file, artwork, and enter all the metadata you prepared. Be extremely careful and double-check everything for typos, especially album and song titles. A small typo can cause major headaches later.

During this stage, you’ll see a list of platforms or "stores" where your music will be delivered. Make sure the box for Instagram & Facebook is checked. Often, it's included by default as part of their main distribution network.

Step 4: Submit Your Song for Review

After you’ve filled everything in, you’ll submit the release. The distribution service’s team will then review your submission to ensure the audio quality is good, the artwork meets specifications, and the metadata is formatted correctly. This review process can take a few business days.

Step 5: Wait for It to Go Live

This is the hardest part: being patient. Even after your distributor approves your release, it takes time for it to be processed and ingested by Instagram's system. The delivery and processing time can range from a few days to over two weeks.

You can check if your song is live by creating an Instagram Story or Reel, tapping the "Music" sticker, and searching for your artist name and song title. If it appears, you’ve done it! Your music is now available to millions of people.

Bonus: Get Your Lyrics to Show Up on Instagram Stories

Seeing your lyrics pop up, karaoke-style, in an Instagram Story is a huge win for engagement. To make this happen, you need to submit time-synced lyrics through a verified service.

Most distributors have a partnership with Musixmatch, which is the company that supplies lyrics to Instagram, Spotify, and other platforms.

Here’s the general process:

1. Check your distributor’s dashboard for a “Lyrics” section. They will likely have a direct integration that lets you submit lyrics right there.
2. If not, you can sign up to be a Verified Artist directly on Musixmatch.
3. Once your song is live on platforms (like Spotify), you can find it in the Musixmatch catalog.
4. From there, you’ll use their tool to type out your lyrics and sync them, line by line, with your song’s audio.

After you submit, Musixmatch reviews them. Once approved, the lyrics should start appearing on Instagram within a few days.

Troubleshooting: "My Song Still Isn't Showing Up!"

If it's been a few weeks and your music is still missing from the library, here are a few things to check:

• Are you searching correctly? Make sure you’re spelling your artist name and song title exactly as you entered them into your distributor’s system.
• Check your release status. Log in to your distributor's dashboard. Is there an error message or a "rejected" status on your release? They will usually tell you exactly what needs to be fixed, whether it’s an artwork issue or a metadata error.
• Contact support. If everything looks fine on your end, don't hesitate to reach out to your distributor’s support team. They can look into the delivery status and see if there’s a stall on the backend.
• Did you pick your clip? Some distributors, like DistroKid, let you specify which 60-second clip of your song should be available on social platforms. If you didn’t select one, Instagram may default to a section you didn't intend, or in rare cases, not show it at all until a clip is selected.

Final Thoughts

Getting your own music officially released on Instagram is a straightforward process once you understand the role of music distributors. It breaks down into three key phases: preparing your music files, choosing the right distribution partner, and carefully uploading all your information for review.

Once your track is finally live in Instagram's library, the work of promoting it begins. After putting so much effort into making the music, this is where we've learned not to drop the ball. That’s why we use Postbase to schedule our content around a release. Seeing everything on a visual calendar allows us to plan a full week of Reels and Stories that build hype for a new song. It helps streamline the promotion so we can get back to what matters most - working on the next track.