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Business News Digital
YouTube Shorts pilot rolling out in the US
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 22 March 2021
YouTube last week announced that it is now rolling out the beta run of its TikTok rival Shorts into the US market. It began piloting the mobile app that allows users to more easily “create short, catchy videos” in India last September.
In a blog post last week, YouTube stated: “With our Shorts beta in India, we had foundational creation tools, like a multi-segment camera to string multiple video clips together, the ability to record with music, control speed settings, and more. And today we’re adding more features, like the ability to add text to specific points in your video. You’ll also be able to sample audio from other Shorts so you can remix it into your own creation”.
“In the coming months”, it added, “we’ll launch the ability to use audio from videos across YouTube – which includes billions of videos worldwide – unlocking a new playground of creativity like never before. This means you can give your own creative spin on the content you love to watch on YouTube and help find it a new audience – whether it’s reacting to your favourite jokes, trying your hand at a creator’s latest recipe, or re-enacting comedic skits”.
Good times! Although, YouTube was keen to note, creators on its main platform will be able to opt out of this Shorts adventure, if they’d rather not have their audio being grabbed and reworked on the new-fangled app.
As with TikTok and Instagram Reels, music is pretty key to Shorts, of course. “We’ve also worked alongside our music partners to make sure artists and creators have a large library of songs to use in their Shorts”, YouTube also added of the American roll out.
“As we launch our beta in the US, we’ll have millions of songs (and growing), music catalogues from over 250 labels and publishers, including Universal Music Group’s labels and publishing companies, Sony Music Entertainment and Publishing, Warner Music Group and Warner Chappell Music, Believe, Merlin, 300 Entertainment, Kobalt, Beggars, CD Baby, Empire, Peer, Reservoir, OneRPM and more. As we expand Shorts, the library and number of partners will continue to grow”.
Will the good times never cease? This just in: they will.
