Instagram will let users endlessly swap the audio on old posts

Instagram has announced a new feature that lets users replace the audio track on previously posted photos and videos without needing to reupload them. The update is part of the platform's broader effort to attract creators in competition with TikTok.

According to Jimmy O'Keefe, head of creator product marketing at Instagram, creators put a lot of thought into their posts but shouldn't be locked into every decision they made when hitting publish. The platform is building toward the idea that content should be able to grow and change with the user.

Swapping audio will not give a post an algorithmic boost, but it can be done an unlimited number of times without losing accumulated likes, comments, and shares. This allows creators to retroactively tweak existing content to fit trending sounds.

The feature follows other recent updates like the ability to reorder profile grid posts and add individual captions to each slide in a photo set. Instagram also introduced a $3.99-per-month premium tier that includes perks such as "Story Spotlight," the ability to see how many times users have watched your story, and 48-hour stories.

Instagram has long been grappling with the question of who it is for, especially since TikTok popularized short-form video. While average users may find it perplexing to update old posts with new music, creators and advertisers see potential for content recycling – for example, changing the song on a paid post annually or A/B testing different audio tracks on the same clip.