Instagram restricts going live to accounts with 1000+ followers
Instagram restricts going live to public accounts with at least 1,000 followers, as of last week. It’s part of a trend among social and music platforms making it harder for new musicians and creators to build a following.
Instagram restricts going live
Some users are receiving a notice when they try to go live on Instagram. “We changed requirements to use this feature.” it day. “Only public accounts with 1,000 followers or more will be able to create live videos.”
INSTAGRAM WOI GA BERES, MASA LIVE HARUS 1000 FOLS DULU?!!!! pic.twitter.com/QV6iDfl9vM
— szzzzzzz (@caffeinssss) July 27, 2025
Musicians and Creators Are Not Happy
The social media giant hasn’t explicitly explained their reasoning. But observers suggest it is aimed at improving overall livestream quality and reducing low‑view streams’ infrastructure costs,
Reaction has been strong among smaller musicians and other creators as Instagram restricts going live. They worry it will stifle casual broadcasting, limit discoverability and make it harder to build an initial following.
How Instagram Live Restrictions Compare to Other Platforms
Platforms vary, but like Instagram Live, more are requiring follower thresholds to access going live and other features.
To go live on TikTok, users also must have at least 1,000 followers and be at least 16 or 18 to receive gifts.
Reddit has a similar 1000 follower threshold. But users report exceptions based on content quality or location.
YouTube remains a place where beginning creators can get started. They only need 50 subscribers and to be in good standing with the community guidelines to unlock live streaming.
At least for now, Facebook Live is also available to with no follower minimum.
There is no Twitch follower threshold required to livestream. But like most platforms monetization perks (Bits, subscriptions) require additional eligibility.
Music Streamers Restrict Small Artists Too
Music streamers are also starting to put restrictions on artists with small follower counts.
Last year Spotify said that artist must now get at least 1,000 streams in 12 months before you can get paid. Only 20% of artists get 1000 or more monthly streams on Spotify according analysis by Luminate.
At the encouragement of the major labels. many other streamers added similar rules. Spotify also has threshold to access some tools in its Spotify For Artists platform.
Live music discovery and marketing platform Bandsintown has no followed minimums to use its free Bandsintown For Artists toolkit.
Bruce Houghton is Founder & Editor of Hypebot, Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, a Berklee College Of Music professor and founder of the Skyline Artists Agency
