Instagram Gives Reels A Musical Boost With 20-Song Multitrack Update

Instagram has given its Reels feature a major update, allowing users to layer as many as 20 audio tracks in the same video.

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It comes as Meta pushes harder for Instagram Reels to be a strong competitor to TikTok, which is often seen as the go-to for new artists promoting their music. In addition to the new multitrack feature, the update allows users to incorporate multiple clips into the same reel, as well as stickers and text, all within Instagram’s built-in editor.

The update was announced in a post shared by Instagram’s @creators account overnight, with a caption reading: “Starting today, you can add up to 20 tracks to a single reel and visually align audio with elements like text, stickers, and clips while you’re editing in the app.”

Meta has consistently built on Instagram Reels since the feature was debuted in 2020 – the Reels Remix function (Instagram’s answer to TikTok’s Duet) was launched in 2021, followed by a suite of royalty-free music for users to put in their Reels in 2022.

TikTok continues to usurp Instagram Reels in popularity (especially for musicians) but it’s also faced some major controversies as of late. January saw the platform debut an ‘AI Song’ tool with catastrophic results, and enter a highly publicised battle with Universal Music Group that saw the latter pull its entire catalogue from the app.

February then saw TikTok lose its global Head Of Music Operations, days after a Munich court found the platform liable for the use of unlicensed media content. The last few months have also come with the looming threat of TikTok being banned in the US – over which the platform sued the US government – with Australian politicians also calling for the app to be banned Down Under.