You can DJ on Instagram Live if your account is public with 1,000 or more followers, but Meta's music guidelines say a live video that is mostly recorded music may be muted, blocked or removed, so a set of other people's records is likely to be cut. If you go ahead, stream from a phone with the mixer running into an interface such as the iRig Stream, or from a computer through OBS and Instagram's Live Producer on instagram.com.
Who can go live
Instagram's Start a live video help page says only public accounts with 1,000 followers or more can start a live video. Live is off by default for Teen Accounts: under-16s need a parent's or guardian's permission to turn it on, and 16- and 17-year-olds can turn it on themselves. New accounts may not be able to go live, and neither may an account that has had a post removed under the Community Standards; Instagram points you to Account Status to check. If your account doesn't qualify, the livestreaming guide covers Twitch's DJ Program and Mixcloud Live, which license DJ sets.
What Meta's music rules do to a DJ set
Meta's Music Guidelines, effective 26 March 2024, apply to Instagram and Facebook alike. They say: "if you use videos or other content on our Products to create a music listening experience for yourself or for others, your content may be blocked and your page, profile or group may be deleted. This includes live videos." Content with music owned by someone else may be "blocked, muted or removed" if the use isn't authorised; "the greater the density of music in content, the more likely it may be limited"; shorter clips are recommended; and "there should always be a visual component to your content; recorded audio should not be the primary purpose of the content". Commercial use needs a licence you have obtained yourself, and Meta says nothing in its terms authorises any use of music.
Instagram's music help page explains how this plays out during a live. There are no limits on Stories or on "traditional musical performances" such as filming an artist performing their own music, but "the more full-length recorded tracks in your video, the more likely the video may be limited (e.g. muted or blocked)". If Instagram detects music that breaks its licensing agreements during a broadcast, you may get a notification while filming so you can change the stream and avoid an interruption. If the video is muted or blocked, Instagram tells you what you can do, which may include disputing a rights holder's claim.
A DJ set of released records is recorded music as the main purpose of the video, which is exactly what these pages describe. What stays within the rules: your own productions, music you hold a licence to broadcast, or a performance of your own tracks. Owning a download or a record-pool subscription isn't a broadcast licence, as the livestreaming guide explains. The same guidelines govern Facebook Live.
Stream from your phone
Instagram's help page gives the phone steps as: swipe right from your Feed, select Live at the bottom, then tap Go live. You can add a title before you start. When you end, the replay can go to your profile or your Live Archive; Instagram notes that only the video is saved, not the comments, likes or viewers.
The phone's microphone will pick up the room, not your mix. To send the mixer's output into the phone, use an interface built for it: the IK Multimedia iRig Stream takes a mixer's stereo feed into an iPhone, iPad or Android phone and works with any app that streams video, though owners report patchy Android support. Hold the phone in portrait: Instagram Live is 9:16, and Instagram's Live Producer page says horizontal video is cropped to fit. If you want to talk over the mix, see the best microphones for streaming.
Stream from a computer with OBS and Live Producer
Live Producer lets you go live from streaming software through a stream key. Instagram's Live Producer page, dated 2 November 2022, says it is "only available on instagram.com" and calls it limited access; it names Streamlabs, OBS and Streamyard as examples of software that works. The steps, from Instagram's help page:
- Open Instagram.com, click Create and select Live video.
- Enter a title and choose an audience. Practice goes live to nobody; Public goes live to your followers.
- Copy the URL and stream key shown. The key refreshes every time you use Live Producer, so copy a fresh one each stream.
- In your streaming software, select Custom RTMP and paste the URL and stream key. Instagram says the field is usually under stream settings.
- Start the stream in your software and check the preview in the Live Producer viewer, which can take a few seconds to appear, then click Go live.
- To finish, click End live video in Live Producer first, then stop the stream in your software. Instagram warns that doing it the other way round leaves your live video showing the last frame received.
Instagram's recommended settings, from the Live Producer page: 9:16 at 720x1280 and 30 fps, a video bitrate of 2,250 to 6,000 kbps, and 44.1 kHz stereo audio at up to 256 kbps. 60 fps is supported, and 480p and 360p are accepted but not recommended. Set the OBS canvas to a vertical size or the picture is cropped. Live Producer doesn't support guests or Live Rooms, Shopping, Fundraisers, Q&A or moderation tools, and comments can only be read and answered inside Live Producer. Getting the mix into OBS, from the hardware through an audio interface or from the DJ software as an application capture, is covered step by step in the livestreaming guide, and the best audio interfaces guide lists the hardware. Keep the OBS meter out of the red; see clipping and redlining.
Before the first stream
Use the Practice audience in Live Producer to check sound and framing with nobody watching. Keep the camera on you and the decks rather than a still image, since Meta's guidelines want a visual component. If a notification about music appears during the stream, change the music rather than wait: Instagram says the notice is sent so you can avoid an interruption.
How this page is made
Every rule on this page is quoted from Meta's Music Guidelines and Instagram's help pages, and every step from Instagram's Live and Live Producer pages, all read on 13 October 2026 and linked where they are used. Meta changes these rules, and its Live Producer page is dated 2022, so check the linked pages before you stream. We haven't tested Instagram Live for this page. The methodology explains how the site works.
