Instagram Adds Option to Replace Licensed Music to Boost Reels As Ads

Instagram / Lindsey Gamble

Instagram will now allow users to replace audio in Reels to boost them.

When users click on a Reel they have created that uses licensed music and choose Boost Reel, they receive a "Choose new audio to boost this reel" pop-up. This will include a "Choose new music" option, allowing them to select different audio to use when the Reel plays as audio. However, the original reel won’t change when viewed from their profile or discovered organically.

When choosing the "Choose new music" option, users can select audio from Meta’s Sound Collection. After doing so, they are directed to the workflow to boost the Reel.

Why It Matters: As Meta doesn’t allow users to boost licensed music, it creates a barrier for users to invest in paid media ads for their Reels as most often leverage popular and trending music for the audio, which often is licensed music.

This new option gives users the ability to still leverage licensed music for their organic content, which can help with the discoverability of their Reels, while still having the option to boost it as an ad by replacing the audio with something from Meta’s royalty-free library. This provides benefits for creators and Instagram, as creators can update their existing Reels to run them as ads versus having to re-upload them with new music.

As a result, this will likely increase the chances that users turn their organic Reels into paid ads, meaning more revenue for Meta.

This adds to a list of small tweaks that Meta has been making to make more content eligible for paid media, including prompting creators to resolve issues for their Stories content when they have components that make them ineligible for Partnership Ads.