Spotify Is Taking Instagram Sharing ‘To the Next-Level’—Now with Audio Previews and Real-Time Sharing

Spotify has announced an expansion of its integration with Instagram, bringing audio previews and real-time song sharing. Users who share songs from Spotify to Instagram Stories can now include a short audio clip along with the visual story. When someone views the story, the snippet plays automatically? Sound familiar?

Anyone interested in the song playing can tap the music sticker to open the full track on Spotify, providing a direct path for deeper music discovery among social circles. Tapping the song title brings up a dedicated audio page in Instagram. There, users can see which Reels are using the track or save the track to their Spotify ‘Liked Songs’ playlist.

Spotify explains, “It’s all about elevating music discovery. If you stumble upon a song you love in a friend’s story, a simple tap on the music sticker will now open the track in Spotify, so you can easily listen to that new find in full.” The feature sets up Instagram with a very similar TikTok feature, funneling those who like the music directly to Spotify.

The update also introduces real-time music sharing within Instagram Notes. Tapping the music symbol when composing a note will allow users to sync their current Spotify track to the note for friends to see. If the song is already playing on Spotify, the Note auto-updates to reflect the selection. If not, the Note will then show the next played track within 30 minutes.

Now friends who see the note on their feeds will see a pop-up bubble that scrolls the name of the artist and track as ‘Now Listening.’ Spotify also says it has made sharing songs through Notes easier. From the ‘Now Playing’ view in Spotify, tapping the Share icon allows the user to create a direct post to Instagram Notes among other sharing options.

This new ‘next-level integration’ effectively deepens ties between Spotify and Instagram to better compete against TikTok in the age of digital music discovery. TikTok has become a massive driver of viral tracks and has been key for several emerging artists breaking out into viral fame. These new features allow Instagram to funnel curious music lovers right to Spotify—where Daniek Ek hopes they’ll become Premium customers.