How to Add Music from Spotify to iMovie on Mac/iPhone/iPad

"I have a full Premium account on Spotify, so I can download songs for offline use. But when I try to use Spotify music on iMovie, it just remains no response. Why? Do you know how to add music to iMovie from Spotify? Thanks." - Fabrizio from Spotify community

Creating beautiful, funny, or captivating videos in iMovie is made possible. However, when trying to find an appropriate background music for their videos, many people feel difficult. Streaming music platforms, especially Spotify, could be a good place to access various music resource, but adding music to iMovie from Spotify is a hug problem for most people like Fabrizio.

As for now, there is no official solution to this issue yet, as Spotify music is licensed for use only within the Spotify app. That's to say, although Premium users can download songs, the music won't work in iMovie since Spotify is incompatible with iMovie. Fortunately, with a simple trick here, you can still add Spotify to iMovie. The following post will show you how to add music to iMovie from Spotify on Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

Part 1. How to Add Spotify Songs as Recordings to iMovie

If you wish to add Spotify songs to your iMovie projects, for starters you should try to screen record the music track from the Spotify app for iOS. For that, you'll need to enable the Screen Recording function on your mobile device such as iPhone or iPad. Once the Screen Recording is enabled, you can head to screen record any music tracks from Spotify and then add the video to your movie with audio only. Now let's set up the Screen Recording function and start to record your favorite Spotify music tracks.

To set up the Screen Recording function on iPhone/iPad:

Step 1. For starters, make sure the Screen Recording is enabled on your iOS device. Open the Settings app > Control Center and check for "Screen Recording" under the INCLUDED CONTROLS section. If it's not included, scroll down the MORE CONTROLS until you see Screen Recording, and then tap the Add button on the left to enable this function.

Step 2. Now back to the home screen to open the Control Center. For iPhone X or later or iPad with iPadOS 13 or later, swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen. For iPhone 8 or earlier on iOS 11 or earlier, swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen.

Step 3. See on the Record button in the Control Center.

To record the Spotify music tracks on iPhone/iPad:

Step 1. To start recording, tap on the Record button.

Step 2. Head to the desired Spotify music track and play it in the mobile app.

Step 3. To stop the recording, you can tap the red bar on the top of the screen or return to the Control Center and tap the Record button again. Your screen recording is now stored into the camera roll.

To add screen recording to iMovie with audio only:

Step 1. On a non-separate device, open the iMovie program.

Step 2. Open or create your project.

Step 3. Tap on the Add button > Video and find the screen recording.

Step 4. Select the screen recording, and then tap on the More button (horizontal 3 dots) > Audio Only. Now the audio is added to your iMovie project.

However, you may find the audio quality is not as good as the original items on the Spotify app for iOS. Or if you the screen recording won't work as expected, you'll need a powerful third-party tool Spotify Music recorder instead. In fact, if you wish to add any Spotify songs to your Movie project with 100% lossless audio quality, it's necessary for you to pick a Spotify Music downloader so that you get the actual files from the original Spotify songs. What's more, those music files you get from Spotify are DRM-free.

You may receive this message before when you're trying to add song to your movie project: "This song is DRM protect and can't be used by iMovie". While you can choose to purchase your favorite music tracks from iTunes Store and use it with iMovie, you have to crack the DRM from those Spotify music tracks you want. All you need is a powerful Spotify Music converter called ViWizard Music Converter.

Part 2. Best Method to Add Spotify Songs to iMovie as Background Music

As we know, iMovie is a free media editor developed by Apple, and is in bundle with Mac OS, iOS, and iPadOS. It provides advanced options for users to edit photos, videos, and audios with enhanced effects. However, iMovie only supports a limited number of media formats, such as MP3, WAV, AAC, MP4, MOV, MPEG-2, DV, HDV, and H.264. You can read the following table to learn the detailed audio and video formats supported by iMovie.

iMovie Supported Audio Formats	MP3, WAV, M4A, AIFF, AAC
iMovie Supported Video Formats	MP4, MOV, MPEG-2, AVCHD, DV, HDV, MPEG-4, H.264

Therefore, if the files are in different formats, you won't be able to add them into iMovie as expected. Unfortunately, that's the case with Spotify. To be specific, Spotify songs are encoded in OGG Vorbis format with DRM protection. Thus, Spotify music cannot be played outside of the Spotify app even if the songs are downloaded.

If you want to add Spotify songs to iMovie, you should first remove DRM from Spotify and then convert Spotify OGG songs to iMovie compatible formats like MP3. All you need is a professional third-party Spotify music converter. So, come into the next part, and get an effective workaround to help you add Spotify music to iMovie.

To download DRM-free music files with ViWizard:

ViWizard Spotify Music Converter is such a useful tool. As an easy-to-use Spotify music downloader and converter, ViWizard enables you to download songs, albums, and playlists from Spotify no matter you're using a free or Premium Spotify account. Also, it will convert Spotify songs to MP3, AAC, WAV, or M4A that are supported by iMovie. Moreover, it's able to keep the original audio quality and ID3 tags as well.

You could install the version for Windows or Mac according to the operating system. Then you'll learn how to use ViWizard Spotify Music Converter to get rid of DRM restriction and convert Spotify music to MP3. Here are the complete steps you should follow.

1Add Spotify Songs to ViWizard Program

Launch ViWizard Spotify Music Converter on your Mac or Windows, then wait till the Spotify music player is completely loaded. You can browse the Spotify store to find the songs you want to add into iMovie and then directly drag them to the main interface of ViWizard.

2Choose the Output Format of Spotify

Move to the menu bar and select the Preferences option. Then click the Convert panel and select the output format, channel, sample rate, bit rate, and more. To make the Spotify songs editable with iMovie, you are highly suggested to set the output format as MP3.

3Start the Conversion of Spotify to MP3

Click on the Convert button to start removing DRM from Spotify tracks and converting the audios to MP3 or other iMovie supported formats. After conversion, click on the History icon to locate the DRM-free songs.

Once completing the conversion, you can easily add Spotify songs to iMovie on your Mac computer, iPhone, or iPad. In the following part, you'd know how to import music to iMovie from Spotify on Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

Part 3. How to Add Spotify Audio to iMovie for Mac

In iMovie for Mac, you use the drag-and-drop feature to add audio files into the timeline from the Finder. Alternatively, you can use the media browser within iMovie to find your songs or other audio files. All you need to do is to follow these simple steps.

To add background music stored on your Mac:

Step 1. In the iMovie app on your Mac, create a project or open your project in the timeline, then select Audio above the browser.

Step 2. In the sidebar, select Music or iTunes to access your music library. Then the contents of the selected item appear as a list in the browser.

Step 3. Browse to find the Spotify music track you want to add to your project, and click the Play button next to each song to preview it before adding.

Step 4. When you've found a Spotify song you like, simply drag it from the media browser to the timeline. Then you can trim and edit the track you add to the timeline in iMovie.

Part 4. How to Add Spotify Audio to iMovie from My Music for iPhone/iPad

Before you import the Spotify music track to the iMovie project on your iPhone or iPad, you have to upload them to the iTunes app or iCloud first and then sync those music files to your device.

To add Spotify music files to iTunes on Windows or Mac:

Step 1. On Windows or Mac computer, open the iTunes desktop app.

Step 2. Head to File > Add File/Folder to Library, and then browse for the music files to open.

Step 3. Once uploaded, a selection of music files will show up under the Recently Added tab.

To sync Spotify music files to iPhone/iPad:

Step 1. To sync those music files to use with iMovie on your iPhone or iPad, connect the device to your computer.

Step 2. When prompts in iTunes, click the device icon next to the Apple Music Contents menu.

Step 3. Select Music on the side bar.

Step 4. Make sure to check "Sync Music" > "Entire music library".

Step 5. Click on Sync to start the transfer.

Step 6. Once the transfer is finished, click on Done. The music files are now synced to your iPhone or iPad and can be accessed under the Recently Added tab in the Music app.

To create or import a project in iMovie app on iPhone/iPad:

Step 1. From the home screen of iPhone, open the iMovie app.

Step 2. If you already have your movie projects, choose one to open from the main interface. To create a new project, swipe from the bottom to choose on option, such as Movie. To import your project, click the More button at the top-right > Import Project, and then find the projects from Recents, Shared or Browse.

Step 3. If you're creating your movie from the videos that stored on your iPhone, you can add those music files to your project easily. Select Movie > Media > Video, and then select the video that requires the background music.

To add background music stored on your iPhone/iPad:

Step 1. Once you open a movie project, click on the Add Media button.

Step 2. To add background music stored on your device, scroll to Audio > My Music.

Step 3. Now browse for the music files you transfer to your iPhone. Select the item you want and tap on the Add Audio button. You may also need to preview the music.

Step 4. Your audio track will be placed on the timeline and are colored green, which indicates it's a background music clip. Tap on it and you can start to split the music track and make your movie.

By default, iMovie automatically loops background music to fit the length of your movie. You can add multiple songs as background music with those music files, but iMovie automatically arranges them to play one song a t a time. You can also manually adjust the length.

Part 5. FAQs about Music & Soundtracks on iMovie from Music Services

And you'd have lots problems about adding music to iMovie. You can add background music to your project in iMovie with ease. But in addition, iMovie provides lots of other features to users to create more amazing videos. Here we'll answer those frequently asked questions.

Q1. How to Lower Background Music in iMovie?

A: After you add music tracks to your iMovie project, you can adjust the volume of the track to get the sound mix just right. To adjust the volume of an audio, tap the clip in the timeline, tap the Volume button at the bottom of the window, then adjust the slider to decrease the volume. For Mac users, just drag the volume control down.

Q2. How to Add Music to iMovie without iTunes?

A: It's possible to add music to iMovie without iTunes. You just need to find the sound you want to add, and then drag audio files like .mp4, .mp3, .wav, and .aif files from the Finder and the Desktop right into the timeline of your iMovie project.

Q3. How to Add Music to iMovie from YouTube

A: In fact, YouTube doesn't team up with iMovie, thus not able to directly add YouTube Music to iMovie. Fortunately, with a YouTube music downloader, then your problem will be solved.

Q4. How to Add Sound Effects in iMovie on Mac?

A: iMovie provides a library of sound effects to choose from, so you can add sound effects to your project with ease. In the iMovie app on your Mac, select an audio clip in the browser or timeline. Click the Video and Audio Effects button, select the Audio Effect option, and then click the audio effect you want to apply to the clip.

Q5. How to Fade out Music in iMovie on Mac?

A: Fades are commonly used audio transitions, and you can use fade-ins and fade-outs to control the volume of the audio in your project. Just position the pointer over the audio portion of a clip in the timeline to reveal fade handles. Then drag a fade handle to the point in the clip where you want the fade to begin or end.

Extra Tip: Best Alternatives to iMovie for Windows/Mac/Android/iOS

Except for iMovie, there are lots of other video editing tools on the internet. No matter whether you want to add music to a video on your computer or mobile phone, you can find something else for editing your videos. Here are the two video editing tools that you can use on your computer and mobile device.

Alternative to iMovie for Windows/Mac

TunesKit AceMovi Video Editor is compatible with Windows and Mac computer, which provides a wealth of basic and advanced editing features such as crop, split, rotate, adjust speed, and more. It's easy to use this tool to create some funny and interesting videos.

Alternative to iMovie for Android/iPhone

InShot is a powerful all-in-one video editor and video maker with professional features. With this tool, you can add music, transition effects, text, emoji, slow motion, and other effects to your video on your iPhone and Android phone.

Conclusion

iMovie gives you the ability to create lots of interesting movies at no addition cost. Meanwhile, thanks to ViWizard Spotify Music Converter, you can download Spotify music to iMovie for use. From the content above, you've known how to add msuic to iMovie from Spotify with the help of ViWizard Spotify Music Converter. If you have any problem, please feel free to contact us or leave your voice below. Hope you enjoy your editing in iMovie with songs from Spotify.