If I Had Instagram Music

I’m an avid Instagram user, it’s my favourite app to open at the beginning of the day to scroll through pretty pictures and funny stories from friends and celebrities.

However, the biggest hurdle I’ve had to deal with is having to sit out of new features that launch because my country doesn’t get first dibs on them.

This is how it works, the company makes something new, and only certain countries have access first. This method allows for there to be less tech issues and the update gradually rolls out to other places, until it’s worldwide. This usually takes a few months.

First it was the livestream update on stories, then it was new filters on the superzoom. (I hate how they got rid of a lot of the filters they had at the beginning that were cute and fun and replaced them with more abstract ones)

Now, it’s the ability to add music to your story. Select a song from the library, and then pick a 15 second part of it to play as a soundtrack on your story.

How cool would it be to put Orden Ogan or Lady Gaga playing on my story? My followers could get to know my vast music taste more! I could also select something based on my mood.

Except no. Only countries like US, UK, Germany and a few others get dibs on these new features. Everyone else has to be patient, but eventually our patience runs out. We will soon get tired of being left out. Here I am in Canada having to sit this one out and the music doesn’t play.

It’s been almost a year since the feature first launched and I still don’t have it. But, it’s not surprising; when Spotify first launched, we Canadians didn’t have access to it for a couple of years due to licensing. Even though I’m one of those anti-streaming people who likes to own her music, feels Spotify devalues it, and under-pays the artist, still, it appears the reason why I still don’t have this feature yet is due to the same issue.

For the hell of it, I briefly installed a VPN on my phone so I could access the music feature. But do I really want pay for one just to get this?

Other complaints have risen such as only certain accounts having the music or other stickers, and geo location had nothing to do with it.

There has been no announcement about it since its release last year when it will be rolling out to the rest of the world, and by now, I have a whole playlist of what could go in my story, but I still can’t put it to use.

Instagram, stop leaving your Canadian users in the dark. We’re tired of being left out. We want to play music too, and we shouldn’t have to pay for a VPN to get it!

👽Emily