Key Takeaways
- YouTube’s AI-powered feature allows eligible users to restyle licensed tracks for Shorts.
- The tool lets users create custom background tracks by selecting a track to modify, and entering a prompt defining the style.
- We hope YouTube makes music restyling available to all users and Shorts creators in the future.
YouTube is one of the best entertainment apps on Android popularized by long-format video uploaded by users, but one could argue the integrated Shorts are among the most important factors that help user retention. However, the short-format video space is extremely competitive, filled with big players like ByteDance’s TikTok and Instagram Reels. To stay on top, YouTube has been experimenting with AI-powered features for a handful of creators, and a new feature was just added to the test, letting eligible users restyle a handful of licensed tracks for use in Shorts.
The Google-owned media platform is constantly running experiments hoping to enhance the user experience, but in the last couple of years Google has focused on AI advancements, and it has had a cascading effect on YouTube as well. The company introduced the Dream Track experiment in November, to help creators make Shorts more engaging with AI-generated background music.
Dream Tracks helps a few testers create custom background tracks using an AI-generated voiceover from eminent artists such as Charlie Puth, Charli XCX, Demi Lovato, and T-Pain. The process is fairly automatic, where the user just enters a prompt, selects a voice, and lets AI do the heavy lifting. Now, The Verge spotted YouTube adding another feature to Dream Tracks, this time focused on customizable music generation for Shorts content.
Create your own version of licensed music
Custom music made easy
Like the original Dream Tracks feature, this extension of the test gives the testers a handful of licensed music to choose from, followed by a prompt window where they can describe how to stylize it. The AI then takes over to create a 30-second long audio clip. This way, you can convert tracks into different genres or moods, like making One Dance a Rock number.
YouTube says the tool will retain the original track’s lyrics and vocals, and will be attributed to the original music’s artists for Shorts viewers. The page will also make it clear the track was restyled with AI. While on the one hand, this feels like AI butchering perfectly good songs, it’s worth noting the testers can’t use this Dream Track experiment for any song, and the original license owners likely consented to such application of their work. Moreover, AI adds a plethora of possibilities to the mix, and we are excited to see what comes of this experiment.
For now, YouTube isn’t saying when music restyling will be available to all its users and Shorts creators, but we can hope.
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