Summary YouTube Shorts is expanding its features to compete with TikTok, including the ability to remix music videos for short-form content creation.
Users can now tweak different settings from full-length music videos to create their own unique Shorts, using tools like Collab, Sound, Green Screen, and Cut.
However, not all music videos are available for remixing, as some artists or music labels may have restricted their materials.
YouTube Shorts, YouTube’s answer to TikTok, has been expanding beyond just a hub for sub-60-second clips on the internet’s top video platform. With billions of monthly logged-in views, it has become a significant platform for creators who have built entire audiences through short-form videos. Of course, YouTube Shorts has emerged as a strong rival to TikTok by incorporating some of the latter’s ideas. To further compete, YouTube Shorts introduced features like Collab last year, and it’s now beefing up that experience by allowing users to remix music videos.
YouTube has announced in a blog post a bunch of new music remix options for Shorts. Now, you can tweak different settings from a full-length music video to craft your own unique creation. To dive in, just head to the music video you want to remix into a Short, tap the Remix button, and pick one of the four tools.
With the Collab tool, you can showcase the music video side by side with your own. Imagine busting some moves to the choreography of a music video while that same video plays alongside your Short.
The Sound tool does exactly what it sounds like. It takes the audio from a music video and uses it in your own Short. You know, the kind of thing that’s a big hit on TikTok, where users love to lip-sync to different audio clips. This tool works with pretty much any music video and most songs auto-uploaded to the platform.
There’s the Green Screen tool too, which allows you to set the music video as the background for your Short. This is perfect for reaction videos, where creators share their reactions to a new music video. Meanwhile, the Cut tool lets you snag a quick five-second clip from a music video and seamlessly add it to your Short.
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But there’s a catch: not every music video is up for grabs to remix. YouTube points out that, in some cases, artists or music labels might have restricted the use of their materials for remixing.
YouTube couldn’t have chosen a better moment to roll out this feature; it’s happening just as TikTok is facing a snag with Universal Music, losing access to a bunch of hit tracks. This financial tiff left many TikTok users with muted clips. Since music is such a big deal on these apps, it hit creators hard. But YouTube is stepping up to fill that void.