Instagram’s Photo Carousels with Music are Similar to TikTok’s Photo Mode

Instagram has introduced a new feature that enables users to include music in their photo carousels. The feature, launched in collaboration with pop star Olivia Rodrigo to promote her single “bad idea right?”, allows users to select licensed music to accompany their slideshows. Furthermore, Instagram has also announced the ability to create collaborations with up to three co-authors and share audience-response prompts on Reels.

Carousel’s soundtracking feature adds a missing piece that can already be found in TikTok’s photo mode, which was launched last year. “Whether you’re sharing a collection of summer memories with friends or moments from your camera roll, you can now add music to your photo carousels,” Instagram writes in a blog post today. “We’re building feed photo music into our post, so anyone can add a song to capture the mood and bring their carousel to life.”

Also announced today, Instagram Collabs adds the ability to invite up to three friends (from one) to help authors of posts, carousels or reels. The platform says that each author’s audience will see the content (perhaps hinting that it could be a convenient way for influencers to benefit from following each other) and it will appear in each account’s profile grid. Additionally, the company says that private profiles can still start posts/rolls and invite collaborators as long as they follow the private account.

Instagram also updated the functionality of the Add Yours sticker. When a creator adds a new Add Your Prompt to the reel and Followers add content in response, the creator can now highlight their favorite posted replies for all their followers to see. “With the Add Your Own sticker, a creator or artist can invite their followers to participate in a fun prompt or challenge they create with Reels, then handpick their favorite broadcasts to celebrate fan creativity.” Basically, it sounds like a way to use people’s social desire to connect with high-profile figures (especially celebrities like Rodrigo) to create engagement for creators and the platform as a whole.

Finally, Instagram stated that it will bring its music library to “several countries in the coming weeks,” though it has yet to announce specific countries or dates. However, it did mention that Instagram is partnering with Spotify in Mexico and Brazil to feature the top 50 songs from Instagram Reels on the music platform’s Reels Music Chart.