Previously, when Snapchat users wanted to add music to Snaps, they had to play music in the background before recording the Snap. Thankfully, that has changed.

Snapchat's Sounds feature allows you to add popular music to your Snapchat stories and messages. You can even create your own custom tracks to add some melody and flair to your Snaps.

In this article, we’ll help you learn how to add music to your Snapchat stories and messages.

How to Add Music to Your Snapchat Stories and Messages

To add some background music to your Snaps:

  1. Fire up the Snapchat app.
  2. From the row on the right, tap the music icon.
  3. You’ll get a music menu pop-up. From here, you can select a song from Snapchat’s popular music recommendations, or find a personal favorite by using the Search box.
  4. To preview and add a song to your Snap, tap the play icon next to it. At the bottom, there will be a bar where you can select which part of the song you want to feature.
  5. If you want to change the song, you don't have to abandon your Snap entirely. Simply tap the X icon to the right of the music bar and select another song from the music note icon.
  6. Tap the tick icon when you’re done. Snapchat will add the song’s details (title and artist) in a little sticker on your screen. Drag the sticker out of the frame if you’d rather not have it in your Snap and retain your music track.
  7. Pinch the screen to increase or reduce the size of the sticker. You can also drag it across the screen to adjust its placement as you wish.
  8. To remove or replace a song you’ve added to your Snap, tap the music icon again and tap Remove Sound at the bottom of the screen. Or, you can simply drag the music details sticker to the trash icon that will appear at the bottom of the screen.
  9. Customize your Snap with awesome filters if you want, then send it to your stories or as a message to a friend.

Related: The Best Snapchat Filters List and Essential Snapchat Lenses

You can add a soundtrack to a photo for a maximum of 10 seconds. However, the duration of a video is 60 seconds, and the soundtrack will play for the duration of the video.

How to Add Your Recordings as Soundtracks to Your Snaps

It's worth noting that Snapchat's sound feature currently only provides licensed music through collaborations with major record labels. As a result, you might not be able to find the music of your favorite indie band there. So, how do you go about adding your own custom music to Snapchat videos?

If you want to create a custom soundtrack of your own:

  1. Tap the music icon and then My Sounds > Create Sound. You can then record your personal masterpiece. Make sure that there is no background noise when you’re recording so that you get a clean, high-quality output.
  2. Give your new audio clip a title and save it to My Sounds to use in your Snap. You can also make this public if you want other Snapchat users to be able to listen to your music.
  3. Finally, use the preview window to trim your clip as needed, dragging it to adjust which part of the sound you want to use on your Snap.
  4. Add GIFs to your Snap to give it some more personality, if you like. You can also add filters or stickers to add more flair to your Snaps.

Related: How to Get More Snapchat Filters, Lenses, and Stickers

Keep in mind, however, that you cannot record songs. If Snapchat detects music in a recording, a pop-up overtakes the screen, blocking the recording to prevent potential copyright liability.

Also, adding music to Snapchat Snaps is limited to the app's built-in library or recording an audio clip directly on the app. You cannot import tracks from your file manager into the app.

How to Add Music to Snapchat Memories

You can also add music to existing or already-recorded Snaps. If the Snap is still on your screen, simply tap the music icon and follow the instructions above.

To add music to a Snap from your Memories:

  1. Tap the Memories icon on the left side of the Snap record circle.
  2. Select the Snap you want to edit.
  3. Tap the three-dot icon on the top right of your screen.
  4. Select Edit Snap from the options. The options menu on the right will return, and you can add music to your Snap following the steps in the section above.
  5. If your Snap already has an original sound, tap the speaker icon at the bottom left to turn it off so that it doesn’t clash with the music you just added.
  6. Tap Done in the top left of your screen and select Save Changes to save your Snap edits.

Two Easy Ways to Add Music to Your Snaps

Make your Snaps more polished and exciting by adding cool music. You can choose one of many tracks from Snapchat's library if you want. Otherwise, you can record your own music and add it to your Snaps.