How to Post Spotify Lyrics on an Instagram Story

Sharing your new favorite song on an Instagram Story to set a vibe is great, but sharing the exact lyrics that resonate with you is next-level personal. It transforms a simple song recommendation into a statement, a mood, or a piece of your personality. This article will guide you through the process of posting Spotify lyrics directly to your Instagram Story, offer creative ways to make them stand out, and cover what to do if things aren't working as they should.

Why Share Spotify Lyrics on Your Instagram Story?

Before getting into the how-to, it’s worth considering the why. Sharing lyrics isn't just a gimmick, it’s a powerful tool for visual storytelling and brand building, whether your "brand" is personal or professional. Music creates an instant emotional connection, and pairing specific lyrics with your content lets you tap into that.

Here’s what it accomplishes:

• Deeper Personal Expression: Sometimes a lyric articulates your feelings better than you ever could. Sharing lyrics allows you to convey your emotions, your motivation for the day, or a nostalgic memory without having to type a word. It adds a layer of depth to your online persona.
• Enhanced Content Mood: Posting a beautiful sunset video? Add a wistful lyric. Sharing a workout milestone? Post an energetic, upbeat line from your power song. The lyrics add context and emotion that a simple song sticker might not convey as directly.
• Community Building: Music is universal. When someone sees that you love a song they also love, it creates an immediate bond. It's a fantastic conversation starter in the DMs and a simple way to find people with similar tastes.
• Supporting Artists: For both fans and the artists themselves, this is a powerful promotional tool. It spreads the word about new music organically and encourages others to listen. Tagging the artist amplifies this effect even further.

The Step-by-Step Guide to Sharing Spotify Lyrics

The good news is that Spotify and Instagram have made this process incredibly seamless. You don't need any third-party apps or workarounds. This is all built directly into the Spotify app.

Step 1: Find and Play Your Song in Spotify

Open the Spotify app on your mobile device. Use the search function to find the song containing the lyrics you want to share. Tap on it to start playing, and then tap the "Now Playing" bar at the bottom of the screen to bring up the full-screen view with the album art.

Step 2: Access the Lyrics Feature

From the full-screen "Now Playing" view, swipe up from the bottom of the screen. This will reveal the Lyrics card, which shows time-synced lyrics that scroll along with the song. The current line being sung will typically be highlighted in a brighter color. If you don't see this card, it probably means Spotify doesn’t have synced lyrics for that particular track.

Step 3: Tap the 'Share' Button

Once you see the lyrics you want to share, look for the 'Share' icon. It's usually a small, curled-arrow button located in the bottom right corner of the Lyrics screen. Tapping this will prepare the lyrics for sharing.

Step 4: Select the Lyrics You Want to Share

This is where the magic happens. After you tap 'Share,' Spotify will present the lyrics in selectable lines or stanzas. You can now tap on the specific lines you want to feature in your Instagram Story. As you select them, they’ll become highlighted. There's usually a limit on how many lines you can choose (up to four is common), so pick the ones that pack the most punch for you.

Step 5: Share Directly to Instagram Stories

After you’ve selected your perfect lines, tap the white 'Share' button at the bottom of your screen. A new menu will pop up, showing different apps you can share with. Tap on the "Instagram Stories" option.

Spotify will automatically prepare a Story for you. It pulls the album art, creates a color-matched gradient background, slaps your selected lyrics right on top, and adds a link back to the song on Spotify. Best of all, it handles adding the song's audio clip to your Story, so it plays in the background automatically. From here, you’ll be taken to the Instagram Story editor to finish things up before posting.

Creative Ways to Customize Your Spotify Lyric Story

The default Spotify Story looks great, but you don't have to stop there. Once you're in the Instagram Story editor, you can treat the pre-made Spotify asset as your canvas and add your own unique style on top of it.

Tweak the Look Before & After Sharing

Before you hit 'Share' in Spotify, you can often tap the multi-colored circle icon to cycle through a few different background colors that Spotify suggests based on the album art. Find one that fits the vibe you’re going for.

Once the story is in the Instagram editor:

• Resize and Rotate: Treat the entire Story post - the background and lyrics - as one big sticker. You can pinch to make it smaller to create a border, or you could make it smaller and place it on top of a photo or video you've put in the background.
• Add GIFs & Stickers: Use Instagram’s GIF library to add some movement or emotion. Search for the artist’s name for official GIFs, or find something that matches the lyric’s message. You can also add quiz stickers, polls, or question boxes to make your Story interactive.
• Overlay Text: Want to add your own commentary? Use Instagram’s text tool to add your thoughts about why that lyric resonates with you. Choose a complementary font and color to make it visually appealing.
• Tag People: Don't forget to tag the artist! Most artists love seeing fans share their music and will often reshare it to their own Stories, getting you more exposure. You can also tag friends who you think would appreciate the song.

Troubleshooting: What to Do When It's Not Working

Technology isn’t always perfect. If you’re running into issues sharing your lyrics, here are some common problems and their solutions.

Problem: “The lyrics option isn't available for my song.”

Solution: Unfortunately, not every song in Spotify's massive library has time-synced lyrics licensed. This is especially true for more obscure tracks, independent artists, or very new releases that are still being processed. If you swipe up and don't see a lyrics card, there isn't much you can do other than pick a different song.

Problem: "I can't see the Instagram Stories share option."

Solution: This is almost always an issue of outdated software. The number one fix is to head to the App Store or Google Play Store and update both your Spotify and Instagram apps to the latest versions. If that doesn't work, try restarting your phone. That simple step resolves a surprising number of app-related glitches.

Problem: "The lyrics look weird or are formatted incorrectly on my Story."

Solution: This is usually a temporary bug that happens while one app is communicating with the other. The best solution is to go back to Spotify and try the share process again. If it continues to happen, fully close out both the Spotify and Instagram apps and reopen them. This clears the cache and typically fixes minor formatting issues.

Going Beyond One-Off Shares: Building a Social Strategy with Music

Knowing how to post lyrics is one thing, knowing when and why is another. Using music strategically can elevate your social media presence.

For Personal Brands & Creators

Your taste in music can be a powerful pillar of your brand identity. You can create recurring content themes to engage your audience:

• Mood-Setting: Use a lyric Story to silently 'announce' the feeling behind an upcoming blog post, video, or product launch.
• Weekly Playlist Series: Share a "Song of the Week" with your favorite lyrics to give your followers something to look forward to.
• Interactive Questions: Post a lyric from a popular song and ask your followers to guess the artist, or ask them to share their own favorite line from the song in your DMs.

For Artists & Musicians

This feature is practically tailor-made for you. When you release new music, posting lyrics to Instagram Stories shouldn't be an afterthought - it should be a core part of your launch plan.

• Enable User-Generated Content (UGC): Actively encourage your fans to share their favorite lyrics from your new single or album. Reshare your favorite fan posts to your own Story to show appreciation and build community.
• Behind-the-Lyrics Content: Post a specific lyric to your Story, then create a follow-up Story (maybe a video of you talking to the camera) explaining the inspiration or backstory for those words. This creates a deep, intimate connection with your listeners.
• Build a Lyrical Countdown: In the days leading up to a release, post one new lyric from the song each day as a teaser to build hype and anticipation.

Final Thoughts

Sharing Spotify lyrics to your Instagram Story is more than just a novelty, it's a fast, beautiful, and emotive way to express yourself and connect with others. Now that you know the simple steps, the customization tricks, and how to troubleshoot any issues, you can make this a regular part of how you share on social media.

Of course, turning one-off creative sparks into a consistent social media presence requires planning. That's why I organize all my content ideas - from timely lyric shares that match a current mood to fully scheduled Reels - on a single visual calendar. At Postbase, we built our planning tools to make managing your entire social strategy feel just as simple and intuitive as sharing a song, helping you see the big picture and stay ahead of your content schedule without the chaos of juggling multiple platforms.