YouTube is adding a new capability to its Dream Track AI tool that lets creators restyle licensed music for use in their YouTube Shorts. With this experimental tool, a select group of creators can now use AI prompts to manipulate various licensed song elements, adjusting aspects like mood and genre to create unique 30-second soundtracks.
In May 2024, YouTube added a text-to-instrumental feature in Dream Track that can help users to create custom music.
The Dream Track feature allows creators to input prompts specifying how they want a song to sound. The tool can also generate complete songs mimicking the styles of renowned artists like Charlie Puth, Demi Lovato, Sia, and T-Pain.
To create a YouTube Shorts video, creators enter a prompt that describes the type of music they desire, select their preferred artist, and the tool will generate the song accordingly.
“If you’re a creator in the experiment group, you can select an eligible song > describe how you want to restyle it > then generate a unique 30-second soundtrack to use in your Short,” YouTube explained.
For instance, a creator might use just a few lines of prompting to transform an upbeat pop song into a ballad or country song.
It remains unclear what the extent of YouTube’s collaboration is. The platform hasn’t disclosed the specific songs available in this testing phase. However, several media outlets reported that YouTube approached major music labels to license tracks as part of a broader push to develop AI models trained on high-quality audio content.
Dream Track is accessible only to a small, unnamed group of creators, and YouTube has yet to confirm whether the feature will become widely available. The company has also not specified which music labels or artists could be included in future expansions.
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