YouTube is revamping the Remix feature in its ever-popular Shorts by allowing users to integrate their favorite music videos into the content.
This update consists of four tools: Sound, Collaboration, Green Screen, and Slice. The first allows you to take a track from a video to use as background audio. Collab places a short film next to an artist's content so you can dance along or copy the choreography. Green screen, as the name suggests, allows users to turn a music video into the background of a short film. Then there's Cut, which gives creators the ability to remove a five-second portion of the original source to add it to their own content and repeat it as many times as they want.
It's important to mention that none of these are new to the platform, as they were actually introduced years before. Green Screen, for example, appeared on the scene in 2022, although it was only available in non-music videos.
Remixing
The company is rolling out the remix update to all users, as confirmed by 9To5Google, but will roll it out incrementally. On our Android, we only received a part of the update since most of the tools are missing. Either way, implementing one of the remix functions is easy to do. The steps are exactly the same across the board, with the only difference being which option you choose.
To get started, find the music video you want to use in the mobile app and tap the Remix button. It will be found in the description carousel. Next, select the remix tool. At the time of writing this article, we only have access to Sound, so that will be the one we will use.
You'll then be taken to the YouTube Shorts editing page, where you'll highlight the 15-second portion you want to use in your video. Once everything is resolved, you can record the short with the music playing at the end.
Analysis: an advantage over the competition
The expansion of the Remix feature comes at a very interesting time. Rival TikTok recently lost access to the vast music catalog owned by Universal Music Group (UMG), meaning the platform can no longer host tracks from artists represented by the record label. This includes megastars like Taylor Swift and Drake. TikTok videos featuring “UMG-owned music” will be permanently muted, although users will be able to replace them with songs from other sources.
The breakup between UMG and TikTok was the result of failed contract negotiations. Apparently, the social media platform was trying to “bully” the record label into accepting a bad deal that would not have adequately protected artists from generative AI and online harassment.
YouTube, on the other hand, was more cooperative. The company announced last August that it was working with UMG to ensure that “artists and rights holders receive adequate compensation for AI music.” Therefore, YouTube creators can safely take whatever songs they want from the label, for now. Future negotiations between these two entities are likely to sour in the future.
If you plan to make YouTube shorts, you'll need a smartphone with a good camera. Be sure to check out TechRadar's list of the best iPhones for 2024 if you need some recommendations.
