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Instagram rolled out a new feature today which allows users to add music to their posts. Users in Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Sweden, the UK and United States, can enjoy the feature as from today. More countries will follow soon.
The roll-out is currently limited to a few countries, due to music licensing and copyright restrictions which affects the library of tracks available to users.
The new feature allows user to add a soundtrack to their post using the stickers menu, which is where Instagram includes the ability to add emoji, GIFs, and geographical tags and time and date stamps to their story posts.
When watching an Instagram Story that has musical accompaniment, a small rectangular sticker will display the track title, artist and album artwork.
There are two ways to add a soundtrack to an Instagram Story post.
If users have yet to take the photo or video, they can swipe along the bottom of the screen in the main camera interface until they reach ‘Music’.
To retroactively add a track to a photo or video that has been imported into Instagram, users will need to add the music sticker.
After selecting the music sticker from the designated menu, a list of potential songs will pop-up. These can be sampled from within the menu by tapping the play button.
Instagram divides the music library into three categories: popular, moods and genres.
Once a song has been selected, it can be fast forwarded to start at a specific point.
When a viewer comes across the post on Instagram, the song will immediately start to play from the chosen spot, like a chorus.
Below is HOW YOU CAN ADD A SOUNDTRACK TO AN INSTAGRAM STORY:
If you know what song you want to play as the soundtrack before you record, follow these steps:
Open the Instagram app
Open the camera located on the top right of the app
Scroll to the left hand side of the carousel and select ‘Music’
Select the song you wish and record the story
If you have pre-recorded a story and wish to add a soundtrack afterwards, follow these steps:
Record a story as normal
Open the stickers tab from the menu along the bottom of the screen
Drag and drop in the new “Music” sticker to your post
Select the song via the popular, moods or genres tab
Fast forward in the song to the start point
The song and artist name will appear on the post .
Instagram also made other changes and created more options for posting stories.
They include: