Royalty Free Music for Instagram Reels: Find the Perfect Tracks to Make Your Videos go Viral
Jourdan Aldredge
Aug 15, 2024
Despite its simple photo-sharing roots, Instagram has evolved from a niche photography app into one of the most popular and important social media platforms in the world. While some might still consider it a photo-based app, its video sharing possibilities are where Instagram really shines.
If you’re someone looking to create content specifically to share on Instagram Reels (or other short-form vertical video content apps like TikTok or Facebook), you’re going to need music for your videos.
And not just any music. You’re going to need high-quality and viral-friendly music to make your videos sound great, as well as fully licensed and royalty free music to allow you to post content that won’t be flagged or taken down for copyright infringement.
So, to help you on this Instagram Reel content creation journey, we have hand-selected royalty free tracks and playlists to help you make unforgettable Instagram Reels, without worrying about complicated legal claims.
10 top royalty free songs for Instagram Reels
To kick things off, let’s give you what you came here for: finding the perfect high-quality royalty free music for Instagram Reels.
As we’ll explore more below, with Soundstripe music you have access to a vast library of royalty free sounds and music, providing you with the ability to create successful cross-channel video content.
Looking for something upbeat and viral-ready? Check out the hand-selected tracks below.
Description: A medium energy, electronic song that is best described as fun and happy. Synth and bass are the primary instruments in this track.
BPM: 107
Key: E Minor
Description: A low-energy jazz song that is best described as romantic and happy. Accordion and piano are the primary instruments in this track.
BPM: 135
Key: F Major
Description: A medium energy, pop song that is best described as fun and happy. Synth and bass are the primary instruments in this track.
BPM: 104
Key: D Major
Description: A medium-energy, electronic song that is best described as angry. Synth and bass are the primary instruments in this track.
BPM: 120
Key: F Minor
Description: A medium energy, electronic song that is best described as scary and suspenseful. Synth and bass are the primary instruments in this track.
BPM: 110
Key: D Minor
Description: A low energy, acoustic song that is best described as romantic and quirky. Bass and guitar are the primary instruments in this track.
BPM: 65
Key: A Major
Description: A medium energy, rock song that is best described as quirky and fun. Organ and drums are the primary instruments in this track.
BPM: 163
Key: C Minor
Description: A medium-energy pop song that is best described as fun and happy. Organ and guitar are the primary instruments in this track.
BPM: 160
Key: A Minor
Description: A medium energy, electronic song that is best described as fun and happy. Synth and bass are the primary instruments in this track.
BPM: 120
Key: A Minor
Description: A low-energy, funk song that is best described as reflective and quirky. Organ and bass are the primary instruments in this track.
BPM: 90
Key: C Minor
These are just some of our top selections, though. If you’d like to further explore all of our royalty free music tracks in our Soundstripe library, then we highly recommend checking out all of our music on our Soundstripe app.
What is royalty free music?
Now, as we mentioned above, there’s a term we’ve used a few times that you may or may not be super familiar with. That term is “royalty free” music. In case you’re unfamiliar, let’s go over some basics about how music licensing and copyrights work.
It’s important to understand that all songs have copyrights that extend both to the composing artists and to the recording artists. If you’d like to use any music in any content, you’ll need to legally license the use of the music for your projects and fairly compensate the artists themselves.
To help with this process, companies like Soundstripe offer music that is fully licensed and cleared for subscribers to use in their videos and content. The artists have been compensated, and as a Soundstripe subscriber, you can use any song or sound effect in our libraries in your videos without paying additional royalties or fees—hence the “royalty free” term.
If you’re still looking for more information, here’s a full guide to what royalty free music is and how it works, as well as some other helpful resources for understanding the nuances of copyrighted music and how to license music for video.
Our top playlists for royalty free music for Instagram Reels
With high-quality royalty free music providing the background to your Instagram Reels, you’ll be able to safely upload your content not just to Instagram, but you can also repurpose your videos to use on other apps like TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and more.
Using royalty free music for your Instagram Reels is the easy part though. The real challenge and the area in which you’ll have the most creative freedom is just picking the right song for your video.
To help you further with this task, here are some more playlists that explore different genres and styles, which we think might be great for your Instagram Reels.
Description: A collection of the best vocal Pop tracks from the Soundstripe catalog.
Description: Whether you want to stay in tune with the freshest stuff in Soundstripe's library or just want a playlist handpicked by people with superb taste, you’re in the right place.
Description: Songs that incorporate traditional sonic elements from all around the globe.
Description: Low-energy Lo-Fi style background music for studying and other deep focus work.
Description: Radio-friendly tracks inspired by the home of country music, Nashville, Tennessee
But please keep in mind that these are just a handful of recommended playlists for your Instagram Reels content. We have plenty more playlists and tracks to share with you on our app, which you can check out here.
Tips for adding music to your Instagram Reels
Once you’re ready to add the perfect background tracks to your Instagram Reels, here are some quick tips to keep in mind.
- Develop your own sonic brand by picking tracks that feel aligned with your audience and brand.
- Consider adding royalty free sound effects to help fill out your videos.
- Experiment with different song stems, which can be great for intros and outros.
- Don’t limit yourself to just one track per video; consider trying different songs for different parts of your Instagram Reels.
- Put the majority of your focus on the first few seconds of your Reels, as those moments are crucial for your viewers to decide if they’ll keep watching or scroll to the next one.
While having the perfect soundtrack is great, the best trick to creating impactful and engaging Instagram Reels content is to make fun, empathetic videos that are true to yourself and your brand.