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With TikTok’s future in question here in the United States, many artists are wondering…. Where do I take my short-form videos?   Facebook thinks it has the answer to that question with their recently-launched Instagram Reels.  In this episode I’m going to take a look at this new platform and see if it’s up to the task.

You’ll Learn

• What is Instagram Reels
• How Instagram Reels stacks up with TikTok
• Why TikTok makes me nervous

Resources

• Introducing Instagram Reels – Instagram official announcement
• Instagram Reels launches globally – Techrunch
• TikTok found to have tracked Android user’s MAC addresses until late last year – Techcrunch

Transcript

What’s up Heroes, welcome to the Producer Life Podcast, episode 33.  Before I get started I wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who has listened to or shared this podcast over the last eight months.  We just passed 1,000 streams which is really exciting so…. THANK YOU.   

With TikTok’s future in question here in the United States, many artists are wondering…. Where do I take my short-form videos?   Facebook thinks it has the answer to that question with their recently-launched Instagram Reels.  In this episode I’m going to take a look at this new platform and see if it’s up to the task.

But first, cue the intro music

Instagram announced the US rollout of Reels on August 5th on their blog. Prior to this Reels has been available in Brazil since last November (although it’s called Cenas there) and was tested earlier this year in India and some European countries according to Techcrunh.

Instagram seems to be trying to offer something for everyone: if you want to share polished photos, you’ve got your Feed. If you want to share longer form videos, you’ve got IGTV.   Want to address your fans less formally? There’s stories.  And now…. There’s Reels for short form videos, directly challenging the clear industry leader: TikTok.

Let me describe the platform briefly. 

Reels allows you to share up to 15 seconds of video, and also has a massive catalog of music to use, more on that in a minute.   Reels are easy to find on Instagram; just click the explore icon (the magnifying lens on your app) and you’ll already see Reel videos mixed in with your feed of photos and stories.  My feed features a large Reel at the top every time I refresh.    Instagram’s algorithm show Reels based on the types of things you interact with on your Instagram profile… mine was immediately populated with lots of dancing, DJ videos, and producer tips for example.  You can of course like, comment, or share the Reel just as you would any other Instagram post.   

Creating your own Reels is pretty easy because it uses the Instagram Camera you’re already familiar with.  I’m going to post a walk-through video on the show notes which will be easier to follow than me describing it here… but suffice to say Instagram reels includes all of the music, effects, drawing tools, text tools, and stickers you’d expect from a TikTok competitor.  

Also of note: if you swipe UP you can use any video clips that are stored in your phone. So for my first Reel, I selected a 15 second clip from one of my live streams that I had already recorded and edited outside of the Instagram app.

Instagram has licencing deals with both big record labels as well as indie labels, so you shouldn’t have to worry about your videos being pulled down. I was really surprised to discover that my original tracks are already listed there too, I distribute through CD Baby… so if anyone wants to create some Reels with any of my music… send me a link I’d love to see and share it.

When you share a Reel it will follow your Instagram privacy settings.  Sooo… either your friends see it or the world sees it.   In addition to going to the Instagram Explore feed, you’ll also be presented with the option of sharing it to your Instagram Feed or Stores.

All of that sounds good,  but Instagram Reels is currently missing some key features where TikTok excels.   For example, the video editing is limited… in particular there’s no “sound sync” so you have to manually sync your dance moves to short clips. This may help to explain why so many of the dance videos I was seeing on my feed were re-posts from TikTok.  They also lack TikTok’s popular “duet” option where you do side-by-side reaction videos.

That said, Instagram has a massive user base with an estimated 107 million in the US alone…. and this platform is still new. If Facebook really prioritizes its development, and especially if TikTok gets banned here,  I could see this really taking off and being a good replacement. 

Here’s the bottom line: if you’re listening to this, you’ve probably already got an Instagram account. Give it a shot and see what you think… you could even start by reposting some of your older TikTok videos. 

I’m pretty excited about this. I’ve seen a lot of other musicians get a lot of traction with TikTok, but I’ve always been a little sketched out by TikTok over privacy concerns… being a paranoid ninja-type and all. Some of that concern seems to have been legitimized by the recent discovery by the Wall Street Journal that TikTok was taking advantage of a bug on Android phones that allowed them to collect users MAC addresses… which can individually identify phones. 

I trust Instagram a little more (not too much of course… it is owned by Facebook after all….) but Reels gives me a new way to share some music-centric content with my existing audience.   

What do you think? Have you tried Reels? How’s it compare to Tiktok?  Join the conversation and check out the show notes at ProducerLifePodcast.com, episode 33.

Until next week, this is the House Ninja reminding you to be somebody’s Hero today.