Top 14 Instagram Music Sticker Tips and Tricks to Use It like a Pro
With the music sticker, you can add a 15-second song from the provided library to your photo or video. You can search for songs by name, artist name, genre and even mood. The chosen song will be automatically read whenever a user will view your story. They will be able to see the name of the song and other details. The music sticker also offers lyrics that are added automatically if they are available for a song.
There are two ways to use the music sticker. In the first method, you must first choose the song and then capture a photo or video. In the second method, you must first capture a photo or video. Then you can add a music sticker. You can even use existing media from your gallery or film.
Now that you know the basics of the musical sticker, let's start with the methods. Consider this article as your guide for the Instagram music sticker, especially for tips and tricks.
Note: For clarity, I've incorporated hints and tips according to the steps.
Method 1: Add a music sticker to a photo or live video
This method is useful when you spot something cool and want to record it with the music. Now, instead of capturing the scene first and then adding music, you can start playing music and then capture a photo or video. You can even add interesting filters using this method.
To use it, follow these steps:
Step 1: Open the Instagram story screen by tapping the camera icon in the upper left corner of the Instagram home screen.
2nd step: Slide the camera options down to the right to reveal the music option. When you reach it, the music selection screen opens.
Search for the song in the list or use the search at the top. Tap on it to add it to your story.
Professional advice: Press the play button to preview the song.
Here are some tips that work exclusively for this method.
Tip 1. Add an effect to the sticker music
Once you have selected a song, choose an effect from the bottom list, such as vintage and VCR. Swipe horizontally to reveal more options.
Tip 2. Change section of music
All songs last at least a minute. But Instagram only allows you to add 15 seconds (or less) to your story. So, to change the part of the music that will play for your story, tap the second icon at the top that contains live bars.
On the next screen, drag the slider to keep it in your favorite section of the song. Tap Done to confirm.
Tip 3. Change song
To change the song, press the music icon at the top and find your song on the music selection screen. Tap to add.
Step 3: Take a picture or record a video using the capture button.
Point: Hold the capture button to record a video.
Tip 4. Change the sticker style
Once you have captured the scene, tap the music sticker to scroll through the available styles.
Step 4: Edit the story as usual by adding text, doodles and other stickers. Then add it to your story.
Note: Lyrics do not seem to work when you use a music sticker that uses this method.
Method 2: Add a music sticker to an existing or newly captured photo / video
To do this, follow these steps:
Step 1: Launch the Instagram app and go to the story creation screen.
2nd step: Now, capture a new photo or choose one in your gallery.
Step 3: Tap the sticker icon at the top and choose Music from there.
Step 4: You will be brought to the music selection screen. Here search for your favorite song. Tap the song to add it to the story.
Point: Preview the song before adding it by tapping the play icon.
Step 5Then the interface will take you to the personalization screen of the musical sticker. Here are various tips for using it to the fullest.
Tip 5. Change song section
Use the slider at the bottom to select a portion of the song you want to include in your story.
Tip 6. Change song
You do not like the selected song? No need to start from scratch. Tap the album icon at the top to choose a new song.
Tip 7. Change the style of the lyrics and hide the lyrics
By default, lyrics are included in your story if they are available for the song you added. To change the style of the lyrics, tap the lyrics to browse the different styles or choose one from the bottom list. To hide lyrics, use styles with the video icon. It will simply show the album cover with the song and the name of the artist. Tap Done to confirm.
Tip 8. Change the color of the lyrics
To get good looks, you can associate the color of the lyrics with the colors of your image. So, to change the color of the lyrics, touch the color palette icon at the top to scroll through the different colors. Tap Done to save the changes.
Tip 9. Change the duration of the story
By default, all stories with a picture and music sticker will last 15 seconds. The length of a video story depends on the duration of the video. Again, the maximum limit is 15 seconds.
You can reduce the duration in the case of static image stories. To do this, tap on the text at the bottom and select the duration. This can take between 5 and 15 seconds. Tap Done to confirm.
Step 6: Tap Done to access the history editing screen. You get here all the existing story features such as doodle, text and sticker.
At this point, you can further edit the music decal, as shown in the following tips.
Tip 10. Change the location of the lyrics
Similar to any other item in the story, keep the name of the album or lyrics and drag them to the location of your choice in the story.
Tip 11. Resize Lyrics
After placing the lyrics in the area of your choice, use the pinch and pull gesture to resize them.
Step 7: Finally, add the story with the music sticker to your story.
Tip 12. Remove the music sticker while keeping the music.
Sometimes the music sticker distracts the audience from the real story. Does this mean that you can not add a song without removing the music sticker? No, a workaround exists.
You must resize the sticker to reduce it so that it almost disappears from view. So technically, the sticker still exists, but it's hard to see.
Tip 13. How to put a song that you have seen on the story of someone in your story
As a viewer, you will see the song and the name of the artist as the user. Tapping on the album art or lyrics will also reveal more details about the song. You can even play the song or add to your story.
Tip 14. How to Add Song to Story Without Music Sticker
If you want to add a song that is not available in the music library library, play it in the music app on your phone. Then, open the Instagram and record the video. It will be recorded as part of the video. Of course, this tip does not work for photos.
Music Sticker Not Showing Issue
Similar to other stickers, Instagram is quite slow in rolling out the music sticker. One does not really know how to make it easy to give the stickers and who should be left out. Yes, the availability in the region matters. But many stickers, including the music sticker, are available for some users in the same area.
As such, there is not any proper fix for it. You can try updating your Instagram app and logging out the app to bring back the missing music sticker.
Note: Music sticker does not seem to work in Instagram business profiles.
Spice Up Your Stories
While the music sticker may look amazing, few things might not be good with some users. First, you can not download stories having a music sticker in it. That's done to avoid illegal use of the songs. Secondly, you can not add your songs from the phone's library. Nevertheless, it's a cool feature.
Do let us know your thoughts about the music sticker in comments below.
Then: Wondering what happens when you block someone on Instagram? Find the answer in our next post.