Instagram & Facebook Now Get Music For Stories in India

Users can add licensed 15-second music clips just like stickers to their Instagram or Facebook stories.

Music first made its debut on Instagram in 2018.

(Photo: The Quint)

Instagrammers in India can now add a dash of music to their Instagram stories or insta-stories. This works for Facebook stories as well.

A user can create a photo or video story and then add a sticker which has music on it, from the library available on Instagram.

There are different genres of music available for use. The sticker shows the audio clip and title, and it can be placed anywhere on the screen. You can even edit the clip to use only the bit that you need.

This works exactly like the location or hashtag feature one uses on Instagram. The feature also allows you to display the lyrics to a song on the screen or you can disable that feature, if you only want the soundtrack.

The best part: These popular soundtracks are copyright free when used on Instagram and Facebook. However, this is not for business users or pages. It’s only for use on personal profiles. Also, these videos are meant for entertainment on personal profiles and cannot be monetised.

How to Put Music on Insta Stories

• Open Instagram app on mobile
• Click on ‘Add Stories’ at top left of the screen
• Select Music from the menu below the shutter button
• Add music from different moods, genre and popular hits
• The album sticker of the artist/group will be added to the Story

(Photo: Instagram screen grab/Canva)

Facebook has partnered with Spotify, Jio Saavn, Shazam and Gaana for the music tracks. One can only use 15 seconds of music on an Insta-story (which is the duration of an insta-story clip anyway).

Another interesting feature is Lip Sync Live. This works similar to user-generated music apps like Musical.ly. It has a timer and one can then sing along to the song playing, matching the words.

There’s also Facebook Music on profile – a feature that allows you to add music to your profile picture. However, this is again for personal profiles and not for business pages.

Earlier this year, Facebook India announced partnerships with top music labels T-Series Music, Zee Music Company and Yash Raj Films, licensing their music for use in social experiences on Facebook and Instagram. The feature is available in about 55 countries right now.