YouTube will let you use music videos in Shorts

To compete with TikTok, YouTube now allows users to "remix" music videos in its short-form films, known as Shorts. Given that YouTube possesses something TikTok does not, namely a massive collection of official music videos, it makes sense for the company to use it to achieve its short-form video goals.

This decision is noteworthy as it comes a few weeks after Universal Music Group took their song catalog off TikTok, restricting the option for users to include music from prominent singers like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Ariana Grande in their videos.

Shorts makers can utilize four techniques to remix a music video on YouTube. The "Collab" function allows you to show the music video right alongside your own video. For example, the program allows you to make a short movie in which you dance to the choreography of a music video while the music video plays alongside your own video.

The "Green Screen" option allows you to utilize a music video as the background for your Short. This format could be applied to reaction videos. Many individuals share recordings of their first reactions to a new music video, and this format facilitates that process. The "Cut" option allows you to add a five-second clip of a music video to your short, whilst the "Sound" tool allows producers to only use the sound from a music video in their short.

To use the function, navigate to the music video you wish to remix into a Short, touch the "Remix" button, and select one of the four tools. You won't be able to remix any music video since, according to YouTube, an artist or music company may have chosen not to allow Shorts producers to remix their music videos.

"On YouTube, you can watch the music video on repeat, check out other Shorts 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," wrote Sarah Ali, YouTube's senior director of product management, in a blog post. "All of that can happen in one place and it's only on YouTube."

According to Ali, Shorts provides a feature that other companies such as TikTok and Meta's Reels do not, providing it a competitive advantage.

The announcement comes a few months after Google reported that YouTube Shorts has reached 70 billion daily views. The business earlier reported 50 billion daily views in February 2023. Although the data show a solid increase, daily views on Shorts continue to lag behind Reels. Last October, Meta showed that Reels received 140 billion daily views across both social networks.

Meanwhile, YouTube Shorts continues to chase TikTok, which is still widely regarded as the most popular short-form video platform.