YouTube is enhancing its Remix feature on Shorts, enabling users to incorporate their favorite music videos into their content. The update introduces four tools: Sound Collab, Green Screen, and Cut.
Sound Collab allows users to utilize a track from a video as background audio, while Collab places a Short next to an artist’s content for interactive dancing or choreography imitation. Green Screen enables users to use a music video as the background of a Short, and Cut provides creators with the ability to remove a five-second portion of the original source for their content.
Although not entirely new, these features were previously introduced, with Green Screen making its debut in 2022 but only available on non-music videos. The Remix upgrade is being gradually rolled out to all users, with the implementation of the remix features being simple and consistent across the platform.
To utilize the Remix feature, users can tap the Remix button on the mobile app, select the desired remix tool, and then highlight the 15-second portion for use in the video. This enhancement comes at an opportune time, especially as rival TikTok recently lost access to Universal Music Group’s vast music catalog, impacting the availability of tracks by popular artists represented by the label.
While TikTok’s loss of access to UMG’s music catalog was due to failed contract negotiations, YouTube has worked cooperatively with UMG to ensure proper compensation for artists and rights holders. This collaboration allows creators on YouTube to utilize songs from the label. However, future negotiations between the two entities could potentially lead to challenges.
