How to Put a SoundCloud Song on an Instagram Story

Sharing your new SoundCloud track on your Instagram Story is an excellent way to get it in front of a wide audience, but it's not as straightforward as it should be. With millions of people tapping through Stories every day, it's a perfect place to build hype and share your sound. This guide will walk you through the simple, direct ways to add your SoundCloud songs to your Instagram Story - both with the official 'Share' feature and, more importantly, with the actual music playing.

Why Your SoundCloud Music Belongs on Instagram Stories

Before getting into the how-to, let's touch on the 'why.' Instagram Stories offer a raw, immediate connection with your followers that a polished feed post sometimes can't. They are temporary, which encourages more frequent and casual sharing. For artists, producers, and podcasters on SoundCloud, this is a golden opportunity.

• Drive Direct Traffic: By creating a direct link back to your track, you turn passive viewers into active listeners. Every listener is a potential follower, and every follower is a potential fan.
• Build Hype for New Releases: Got a new single dropping on Friday? Tease a 15-second audio snippet of the chorus or the beat drop on your Story every day leading up to the release. Couple this with a countdown sticker, and you've got a mini-marketing campaign.
• Showcase Your Work Authentically: Stories are the perfect canvas for sharing a 'behind the music' look or shouting out your collaborators. Sharing a clip of your track and tagging the producer, mixing engineer, or featured artist not only gives them credit but expands your reach to their audiences as well.
• Get Instant Feedback: You can engage your community directly in the content creation process. Use interactive features like poll stickers ("Which album art should I choose?") or question stickers ("What do you think of this mix?") to instantly collect your audience's feedback.

The Official Way: Using SoundCloud's Built-in Share Feature

SoundCloud has a direct sharing integration with Instagram Stories. It's the quickest method, but it comes with one major catch: it doesn't embed the actual audio. Instead, it creates an attractive, clickable sticker with your track's artwork that links back to the song in the SoundCloud app. It's still a fantastic way to drive traffic, but it won't play music directly in your Story. Here's how to do it in just a few quick taps.

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. Open the SoundCloud App: Go to the SoundCloud app on your iOS or Android device and navigate to the track you want to share. This can be your own track or a song you love from another artist.
2. Find the Share Icon: Underneath the track's waveform, you'll see a row of icons for "Like," "Repost," and "Share." Tap on the Share icon (it's the one with an arrow pointing upwards).
3. Select "Stories": A sharing menu will appear, offering several options like copying the link or sending it to different apps. Look for the Instagram icon labeled "Share to Instagram Stories" or simply "Stories" and tap it.
4. Customize in Instagram: SoundCloud will automatically open your Instagram app and transport you directly to the Story creation screen. The track's cover art will appear as a customizable sticker, along with a "Play on SoundCloud" link at the very top of your screen that serves as your caption.
5. Edit and Post: From here, you're free to use the regular editing tools at your disposal in Stories. You are free to move and resize the sticker, change the background, add text overlays, GIFs, or other interactive stickers. When you're happy with how it looks, just hit "Your Story" to post it live.

The outcome: You have an aesthetic-looking Story that acts as a direct link back to your song on SoundCloud. When users tap the "Play on SoundCloud" link at the top of your Story, a new window opens containing a "Play on SoundCloud" button which will navigate new users to the app store for installation and send existing users to your song in-app. This is a fantastic method for a quick promo where the goal is to drive clicks.

How to Actually Get the Music *Playing* on Your Story

So, what if you want your followers to hear the track directly in the Story without clicking away? This requires a simple workaround, but it's far more engaging and offers listeners an immediate audio experience. The most dependable method for achieving this is through screen recording.

The concept is simple: you'll screen record your phone while your SoundCloud track is playing, and then upload that video file to your Instagram Story. Here's a granular breakdown on how to get started.

Pre-Flight Check: Get Your Visual Ready

Before you even begin to worry about the audio portion of things, determine what you want your followers to see when they watch your story. A simple, static screenshot of your album art will get the job done, but to elevate things, consider creating a simple visual background. You can get creative and source a short video snippet, a GIF, a custom behind-the-scenes pic, or your press shot.

Step-by-Step: The Screen Recording Method

1. Cue Your Track and Prepare Your Visual: Open the SoundCloud app and navigate to your track. Find the precise 15- to 60-second section you'd like to share and pause the track right at the beginning of that moment. Next, decide on your visual background. If you want to use the track's artwork, you can simply stay in the SoundCloud app. Otherwise, get a background image or video from your photo library ready to open.
2. Start Screen Recording:
   • On iPhone: Swipe down from the top-right corner to open the Control Center. Tap the circular recording button. After a 3-second countdown, your phone will begin recording.
   • On Android: Swipe down from the top of the screen to open the notification shade. Find and tap the screen recorder icon, which may vary depending on your phone's manufacturer.
3. Record Your Clip: Once the recording starts, switch to SoundCloud, press play on your track, and then quickly toggle back to the photo of your choice to display the visual. Let the track play over the visual for up to 60 seconds (the max length for a single Instagram Story).
4. Stop the Recording: When your clip is finished, stop the screen recording. The video will be automatically saved to your phone's camera roll.
5. Trim the Recording: Open the video in your phone's editing tool. The beginning and end of the clip will likely show you navigating menus, so trim that excess footage away to create a clean video of just your visual and audio.
6. Upload and Enhance: Open Instagram and go to create a new Story. Select your trimmed video clip from your camera roll. Before you post, add your final creative touches like text overlays, lyrics, animations, or interactive stickers to make it really stand out.

Making Your SoundCloud Stories Look and Sound Professional

Sharing your music is just the first step. If you want to make your Stories resonate greatly and drive more engagement than ever before, consider implementing these creative strategies:

• Visual Quality: High-quality visuals are enticing, use well-shot images or videos to accompany your audio. A well-crafted screen recording of your SoundCloud layout can set the scene creatively.
• Add Interactive Elements: Use Instagram's visual tools to keep your audience engaged and interactive.
• Link Directly: Connect your Story to your full song on SoundCloud or a relevant site.
• Use Captions: Give context or share a message with your audience.
• Tell a Story: Another great idea is to give your followers a bit of extra context, such as a story behind the song.
• Get Everyone Involved: Ask your audience for their thoughts or feedback.

Promoting your music across all social platforms is a huge commitment. After you share your post to an Instagram Story, you'll need to do TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts, and more. The more we can integrate music into our daily lives, the more we can connect with our audience. Remember, consistency is key, and sharing your music is just the beginning of building a loyal fan base.