YouTube Shorts Expands Music Remix Features to Compete with TikTok

YouTube Shorts, YouTube’s response to TikTok’s short video format, has evolved into more than just a platform for brief clips. With billions of monthly logged-in views, it has become a significant space for creators to build audiences through short-form content. YouTube Shorts has emerged as a strong competitor to TikTok by incorporating some of its features. To enhance its competitive edge, YouTube Shorts introduced features like Collab last year and is now expanding by allowing users to remix music videos.

YouTube Shorts Expands Music Remix Features to Compete with TikTok

In a recent blog post, YouTube announced several new music remix options for Shorts. Users can now adjust different settings from a full-length music video to create their own unique content. To get started, users can select the music video they want to remix into a Short, tap the Remix button, and choose one of the four tools.

The Collab tool allows users to display the music video side by side with their own content. This feature enables users to showcase their dance moves alongside the choreography from a music video.

The Sound tool extracts the audio from a music video and incorporates it into the user’s Short. This tool is popular on TikTok, where users enjoy lip-syncing to various audio clips. The Sound tool works with most music videos and songs uploaded to the platform.

The Green Screen tool enables users to set the music video as the background for their Short. This is ideal for reaction videos, where creators share their reactions to new music videos. The Cut tool allows users to quickly grab a five-second clip from a music video and seamlessly add it to their Short.

However, not all music videos are available for remixing. YouTube notes that artists or music labels may have restricted the use of their content for remixing.

YouTube’s timing for this feature couldn’t be better, as TikTok is currently experiencing issues with Universal Music, resulting in the loss of access to several hit tracks. This dispute has left many TikTok users with muted clips, impacting creators who heavily rely on music in their content. YouTube is stepping in to fill this void and provide creators with new opportunities to create engaging content.