YouTube is going to let creators remix music videos from some of the world’s biggest names and labels including titles from Universal Music Group (UMG) for their Shorts, which is basically the Google-owned platform’s answer to TikTok. It’s befitting to say that YouTube is striking while the iron is hot with the announcement coming hot on the heels of TikTok’s current predicament with UMG.
TikTok and UMG are in the midst of a licensing dispute with the latter accusing the ByteDance-owned platform of trying to bully it into a bad deal after expiry of their last contract. The duo hasn’t renewed the contract yet and so TikTok users have lost access to some popular tracks from artists like Taylor Swift and Drake (existing videos using the tracks have gone silent).
And while all this is happening, YouTube is out with a new feature that allows Shorts creators to remix music videos in all sorts of whacky ways from borrowing sound and even the background (as well as cut out specific scenes) from music videos from artists like Beyoncé and Maggie Rogers and incorporate them into their own videos. Collaborations are also available for these remixes.
TikTok doesn’t offer a music video remix option currently and then when you factor in its ongoing music licensing battle, it seems like its advantage Google’s YouTube —for now.
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