How to upload music to Instagram (and share your own songs)

Many musicians ask how to upload a song to Instagram, and the honest answer is that you cannot upload an audio file on its own. Instagram is built around video, so your music has to travel inside one. The good news is that there are three simple ways to do it, and none of them costs anything.

Option 1: Post your song as a Reel with your own audio

Instagram calls audio that you made yourself original audio. It can come from filming in the Instagram app, or from a video you uploaded. Here is how to use it:

1. Make a short video with your song. This can be you playing, a clip of your studio, the cover art with movement, or footage from a gig. Use your editing app and export the video with your track in it.
2. In Instagram, tap Create and choose Reel, then upload the video.
3. Keep the original audio on. Instagram labels it with your username.
4. Add a caption, say where to hear the whole song, and post.

On a public account, other people can record Reels using your original audio, which spreads your song. You can limit this in the sharing and reuse settings if you would rather not.

Instagram also says that when it detects licensed audio in what you upload, it changes the label from original audio to the artist and song title.

Option 2: Share the song from Spotify to a Story

Spotify has a built-in way to do this:

1. Open the track, album or playlist in Spotify.
2. Tap the three-dot menu, then choose Instagram Stories.
3. Instagram opens a new Story with your cover art. Add text or stickers and post it.

Viewers see a Play on Spotify link, and tapping it opens the song in Spotify. The audio itself does not play on Instagram, so this is a way to send people to the song, not to play it in the Story.

Option 3: Keep a link in bio for your music

A Reel or a Story disappears from people’s attention quickly. Your bio stays. Put the link to your music there and say “new single, link in bio” in every post.

The problem is that you probably have more than one thing to share: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Bandcamp, your next gig and your email list. A page that holds all of them means the address in your bio never needs to change.

Know the music rules

• Your own music is yours to use. If you wrote and recorded it, you can put it in your videos.
• Other people’s music needs permission. Instagram’s help pages say that for music outside its library or Meta’s free Sound Collection, you need licences from the rights holders.
• Use the library for others’ songs. Instagram’s audio library and the Sound Collection are the safe way to add music you did not make.
• Audio can be muted. If a rights holder blocks your video because it contains music they own, the audio can be muted.
• Downloading a Reel does not save library music. Instagram says the music you added from its library is not saved when you download a reel.

Does Instagram have a way to put my song in its library?

I could not find an official Instagram page that describes how an independent artist adds a track to the audio library. Ask your music distributor what it offers for Instagram, and check Instagram’s Help Center for the current rules.

Put your music on a page of its own

With Linkerzz you can claim your link for free and build a page for your music in a few minutes. The embed block takes a Spotify or SoundCloud link and shows a player card that your visitor taps to play. Nothing loads from Spotify or SoundCloud until they tap, so your page stays fast. Add your YouTube and tour links, a contact form for bookings, and put the one address in your bio. Here is how to add a link if you have not yet.

A simple release routine

1. Before release: post a short teaser Reel with a few seconds of the song.
2. Release day: share the track from Spotify to your Story, and post a Reel with the song as your original audio.
3. After: reply to comments, and keep the link to the song in your bio.
4. Each month: look at which Reel people watched most, and make another in the same style.