YouTube is now letting creators add and remix music videos to their Shorts. In its post announcing the feature, YouTube notes that creators can use music videos from artists like Beyoncé and Maggie Rogers — even as TikTok battles the record label that represents them. The timing suggests it’s a direct response to TikTok’s ongoing music licensing battle.
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Earlier this month, TikTok lost songs from artists including Taylor Swift, Drake, and Olivia Rodrigo due to disputes with Universal Music Group (UMG). The licensing agreement between TikTok and UMG was never renewed after the music company accused TikTok of trying to “bully” it into a bad deal and claimed that the platform wanted to “build a business based on music without paying a fair price for the music.” users have not been able to access UMG’s catalog since then, and existing videos using the company’s songs have been left without sound.
The new feature is a win for YouTube, which offers users access to UMG's libraries, while TikTok has been struggling with the company. TikTok currently doesn't offer the ability to remix music videos, which gives YouTube an edge over its biggest competitor in Shorts videos.
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The new remix option gives creators the ability to create a Short in conjunction with the music video, add the music video as a background and use its audio. Creators can also cut and embed clips from the music video into their own Short.
To access the feature, users can press the “remix” button directly on a music video and choose how they want to reconstruct it.
YouTube Shorts are short-duration videos that can be created directly from your phone. They offer a simple and fast option for creating and sharing videos. With YouTube Shorts, you can use various editing tools, such as adding music, video speed, filters, and time intervals to create an engaging video.
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YouTube Shorts also allow adding subtitles to make videos accessible to a broader audience. This can help increase the viewership and popularity of your videos. Finally, YouTube Shorts offer the ability to create interactive videos using special effects, such as the ability to add a link to another video or add a call to action, and now you also have the remix capability.
Source: theverge
