Instagram now lets users add music to their Stories. Yes — even licensed ones that often get tagged and promptly taken down afterward.
Starting June 28, Instagram users will be able to add background music to their Stories, with thousands of songs at their disposal, including ones from popular artists including Demi Lovato and Bruno Mars. New songs are added daily, the company says.
How To Add Music To Your Instagram Stories
Inserting songs is just like adding stickers, polls, and sliders — just drag and drop the new "Music" sticker to a post, then choose a song that'll go perfectly with the post. It's even possible to scrub through the music and use only a particular section, such as the chorus or any notable part of a track users want to highlight.
This isn't the first time for Instagram to experiment with music. Back at F8, Facebook, which owns Instagram, added deep linking to Spotify in Stories, but this new implementation goes beyond because it actually plays the song a user has chosen.
Instagram will also let users pick the background music they'd like to add even before recording a video or taking a photo, which could be useful for, say, someone who wants to create a lip-synch video.
The Instagram And Snapchat Feud Continues
Alongside the ability to add music, Instagram also announced a huge Stories milestone that'll further frustrate Snapchat: the company says it's now used by 400 million users a day. Meanwhile, Snap Inc. continues to struggle as a public company, and the fact that Facebook has repeatedly copied Snapchat's core features no doubt aggravates its chance to grow even further.
But for those of you who don't really care about Silicon Valley drama and just want to know about the new music feature, note that it should be available in "select countries," presumably in places where it's much easier to get music licenses, as copyright laws vary from country to country. The new feature is rolling out to Android and iOS, but for some reason, the ability to pre-choose music before recording is exclusive to iOS for now. Instagram assures that Android users will get it soon. There's no telling how soon, though.
Do you find being able to add music to Instagram Stories particularly useful? If so, what will you most likely use it for? As always, if you have anything to share, feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
