Instagram’s rolling out the ability to actually listen to a preview of a song that you’ve shared from Spotify in IG Stories, as opposed to just providing a Spotify link, further refining its music engagement elements.
So now, when you share a Spotify music sticker within your IG Stories, viewers will be able to listen to it in-stream. Up till now, you’ve been able to share Spotify music stickers, but that only provided a link back to the Spotify track. The updated sticker now also includes audio, which is a big improvement.
Yet, at the same time, functionally, it’s not really new, as you’ve been able to post music in Stories since forever. But you haven’t been able to combine Spotify song sharing within Stories in the same way, to it builds on that functionality.
Though you have been able to share songs to your Stories via “Add Yours” music stickers, while you can also now share songs from Spotify to your IG Notes, a feature that Instagram added last month.
And now, you can also share what you’re listening to on Spotify direct to Stories as well, adding another music engagement option in the app. WhatsApp added the same for its version of Stories, in WhatsApp Status, last month.
The option adds another means to counter the rising influence of TikTok, and potentially replace TikTok’s presence in this respect, if TikTok ever ends up getting banned in the U.S.
TikTok has become a key platform for music promotion, with music publishers now focusing on the app as an essential connector, with some even changing their artists’ song names to better align with TikTok trends.
But if TikTok goes bye-bye, as a result of the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” then all that music engagement will have to go elsewhere, and IG seems to be setting itself up as the best alternative in this respect.
Though YouTube is also adding music features to tap into the same opportunity, and with TikTok continuing to get extensions from Trump, it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere either way.
But still, it’s another music engagement option, which will provide more ways for IG users to share their favorite tracks.
