As the short-form video landscape continues to evolve, YouTube is introducing a new feature that allows users to incorporate or "remix" music videos into their shorts. This move comes as the company aims to challenge TikTok’s dominance in the space.
The Advantage of Leveraging Official Music Videos
Given that YouTube has access to a vast library of official music videos, it makes sense for the platform to leverage this asset to advance its short-form video ambitions. Unlike TikTok, which relies on user-generated content and often faces issues with copyright infringement, YouTube can provide users with high-quality, licensed music videos.
The Tools Available for Remixing Music Videos
There are four tools available for Shorts creators to use when remixing a music video on YouTube:
- Collab: This tool allows you to display the music video right alongside your own video. For instance, you can create a Short where you are dancing along to the choreography of a music video while having the music video play alongside your own.
- Green Screen: This tool lets you use the music video as the background to your Short. This format could be used for reaction videos, such as uploading videos of yourself reacting to a new music video for the first time.
- Cut: This tool allows you to take a five-second clip of a music video and add it to your short.
- Sound: This tool lets creators take just the sound from a music video and use it in their Short.
Getting Started with Music Video Remixing
To get started with the feature, you need to go to the music video you want to remix into a Short and tap the "Remix" button. Choose one of the four tools available to start creating your remixed music video.
Limitations on Music Video Remixing
It’s worth noting that not all music videos can be remixed in Shorts. YouTube notes that in some cases, an artist or music label may have opted out of letting Shorts creators remix their music videos.
The Advantage Over Rivals
According to Sarah Ali, a senior director of product management at YouTube, "On YouTube, you can watch the music video on repeat, check out other Shorts that have been created from the same song by fellow fans, and discover deep catalog cuts from your favorite artists and relive those moments by remixing them as your own. All of that can happen in one place and it’s only on YouTube."
This capability is not available on rival products like TikTok and Meta’s Reels, giving YouTube an advantage over its competitors.
The Growth of YouTube Shorts
Today’s announcement comes a few months after Google revealed that YouTube Shorts has crossed 70 billion daily views. Although the difference in numbers shows healthy growth, daily views on Shorts still lag behind Reels, which Meta reported had garnered 140 billion daily views across both social networks.
Chasing TikTok
YouTube Shorts is still chasing TikTok, which remains arguably the most popular short-form video platform.
Aisha Malik
Consumer News Reporter at TechCrunch
Prior to joining the publication in 2021, she was a telecom reporter at MobileSyrup. Aisha holds an honours bachelor’s degree from University of Toronto and a master’s degree in journalism from Western University.
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