How to Share Music on Instagram Story

Adding music to your Instagram Stories can completely change the way your followers experience your content, turning a simple photo or video into an engaging memory or a powerful statement. This guide will walk you through every step of sharing music on your Story, from a simple sticker tap to creative strategies that will make your content stand out.

The Absolute Easiest Way: Using Instagram's Music Sticker

The most direct method for adding music is by using the Music sticker right inside the Instagram app. This gives you access to a massive library of songs and full customization over how the music and lyrics show up on your screen. Here's a step-by-step breakdown:

1. Open the Story Creator: First, open the Instagram app and tap the "+" icon in the top-right corner, then select "Story." You can also simply swipe right from your main feed.
2. Create or Add Your Media: Take a photo, record a video, or upload one from your camera roll. Once you have your visual base, it's time to add the music.
3. Open the Sticker Tray: Tap the sticker icon (it looks like a square smiley face) at the top of your screen. This will open a tray full of Instagram's interactive stickers.
4. Select the Music Sticker: Tap the "MUSIC" sticker. If you don't see it right away, you can use the search bar at the top of the sticker tray to find it.
5. Choose Your Track: You'll now see Instagram's music library. You can find a song in a few ways:
   • Search: Use the search bar at the top to type in a specific song title, artist, or even an album.
   • For You: This tab shows recommendations based on the content you post and interact with.
   • Browse: This option lets you discover music by genre (like Pop, R&B & Soul, Rock), mood (like Fun, Upbeat, Dreamy), or trending tracks.
6. Trim Your Clip: Once you've selected a song, a timeline scrubber will appear at the bottom of the screen. Instagram Stories allows for a music clip up to 15 seconds long. You can slide this bar left and right to select the exact part of the song you want to feature.
7. Customize the Look: This is where you can get creative. Instagram offers several ways to display the music on your story:
   • Lyrics: If the song has lyrics available, you can choose from different fonts and animations. Tap through the style options to see the lyrics pop up on the screen, syncing perfectly with the music. You can also tap the color wheel at the top to change the color of the text.
   • Sticker Styles: If you prefer not to show lyrics, there are two sticker options that display the album art along with the song title and artist - a small square or a larger rectangle.
8. Place and Post: After you've customized your sticker or lyrics, tap "Done." You can now pinch to resize it, drag it anywhere on the screen, and rotate it. Once it's perfectly placed, you're ready to share your Story!

Pro Tip: Using Lyrics as a Storytelling Tool

Don't just let lyrics play in the background. Use them to add another layer of meaning to your content. For example:

• Showcasing a travel shot? Pick a song with lyrics about adventure and let them scroll over a breathtaking landscape.
• Posting a workout video? Find a high-energy track and highlight lyrics about motivation and strength.
• Running a sneak peek for a product launch? Tease it with mysterious lyrics to build anticipation.

Sharing Directly from Spotify, Apple Music, and Other Apps

You've probably seen your friends share a song directly from Spotify to their Story. This is a great way to showcase a track you're loving, but it works a bit differently than the Music sticker. Instead of embedding playable music, it creates a link back to the streaming app.

How to Share from Spotify

1. Open the Spotify app and play the song you want to share.
2. Tap the Share icon (the square with an arrow pointing up) at the bottom of the screen.
3. From the share menu, select "Instagram Stories."
4. Spotify will automatically generate a Story-sized image with the song's album art, title, and a scannable Spotify code. It will open this directly in Instagram's Story editor.
5. From here, you can add text, other stickers, or drawings before you post. Viewers will be able to tap "Play on Spotify" at the top of your Story to listen to the full track in their app.

Important Note: This method does not embed the song to play automatically in your Story. To do that, you'd need to go through the extra step of saving this shared graphic, starting a new Story, uploading the graphic, and then adding the Music sticker over it to get playable audio.

How to Share From Apple Music and Others

The process is nearly identical for other major streaming platforms:

• Apple Music: Tap the three dots on the "Now Playing" screen, select "Share Song," and choose Instagram.
• Shazam: After identifying a song, tap the share button and select Instagram Stories.

In all these cases, you are sharing a link to the music, not embedding the sound itself. It's great for discovery, but for atmospheric audio, the native Music sticker is the way to go.

A Quick Guide for Business Accounts: Music Licensing and You

If you run a Business account on Instagram, you may have noticed that the music library is a lot different. Trending pop songs are often missing, replaced by a library of royalty-free tracks you've never heard of. This isn't a glitch - it's intentional.

Mainstream music is licensed for personal, non-commercial use only. Using a popular track in a Story that promotes a product or service counts as commercial use, which could open you up to copyright violations. To protect brands (and themselves), Instagram provides Business accounts with its Sound Collection - a library of over 9,000 royalty-free tracks that are cleared for commercial use.

So, what are your options as a business?

• Use the Instagram Sound Collection: The safest route is sticking to the free, commercially-licensed music Instagram provides. It might take a bit of digging, but you can find tracks that match your brand's vibe.
• Switch to a Creator Account: Many businesses switch their profile category from "Business" to "Creator." Creator accounts usually have access to the full music library. While a common workaround, this still exists in a legal gray area, as you might still be using the music for commercial purposes without the proper license. It's a risk you'll need to evaluate for your own brand.
• Use Royalty-Free Music Services: For a completely safe and professional approach, consider using a third-party service like Artlist or Epidemic Sound. You can find high-quality tracks, edit them into your videos using an app like CapCut or InShot, and upload the finished video to your Story.

Troubleshooting Common Music Story Problems

Sometimes things don't work as expected. Before you get frustrated, here are some common issues and quick fixes:

"The Music sticker is missing or not working."

This is one of the most common issues. Try these steps in order:

1. Update Your App: The easiest fix is often making sure your Instagram app is updated to the latest version from the App Store or Google Play Store.
2. Log Out and Log In: Close the app, reopen it, and log out of your account, then log back in. This often clears up minor glitches.
3. Reinstall the App: If all else fails, deleting and reinstalling the app can fix persistent bugs.

"Lyrics aren't available for this song."

Unfortunately, not all songs have licensed lyrics available for syncing on Instagram. If you search for a track and can't find the lyric display options, it's because they simply aren't available for that song. The only solution is to choose another track or use one of the standard sticker formats.

"This song is currently unavailable." or "This song is not available in your region."

Music licensing is incredibly complex and varies from country to country. If a track is unavailable in your region, you won't be able to use it in your Story. There's no in-app way around this, you'll have to find another song.

Final Thoughts

In short, adding music transforms your Instagram Stories from silent clips into dynamic experiences. Whether you're using the native Music sticker for its customizable lyrics, sharing a new favorite track from Spotify, or navigating the world of licensed audio for your brand, you now have the tools to make your content more memorable and engaging.

We know that managing a consistent and engaging presence on social media is a ton of work, especially when juggling different platforms and content formats. That's precisely why we built Postbase around the needs of modern content creators. Since our tool was designed from the ground up for Stories, Reels, and TikToks, you can use our visual calendar to plan your entire content strategy in one place. We handle the scheduling chaos so you can focus on the fun stuff, like finding that perfect song to bring your Story to life.