All things considered, you have to admit that YouTube is pretty great. Not only is the platform a place where you can host your own videos for free but can even make money as part of the Partnership Program. That said, the site has had its share of issues and frustrations throughout the years. One recurring issue that strikes fear in the heart of creators everywhere can be summed up in one word: demonetization — or, more accurately, demonetization, revenue sharing, and copyright claims. And a common reason why creators might find that their video revenue is being claimed or split is due to the use of copyrighted music (even if they didn’t intend to use said music). So, while YouTube has attempted to offer some solutions to this problem before, they’re now gearing up to launch what could be their best tool yet.
Previously, when YouTube’s copyright detection tool found a piece of copyrighted music in your video, it would give you a few choices for removing it. This includes the ability to cut out the segment, mute it, or replace the song with one from YouTube’s free Audio Library. Unfortunately, the problem with each of these options is that any other audio included in the “offending” clip — such as people talking — would also be cut out or muted. That’s where YouTube’s upcoming Erase Song option could really make a difference.
According to YouTube, the Erase Song function will use AI to remove the song while doing its best to keep any other dialogue or sound effects intact. However, YouTube warns that this option may not be completely effective in erasing the song, noting that continued claims may happen “if the song is hard to remove.” In those cases, creators may need to resort to other means if they wish to avoid claims. Meanwhile, another interesting note is that, if your channel isn’t part of the YouTube Partner Program, you might not be able to make changes to videos that have more than 100,000 views. Lastly, something else creators should be aware of is that processing times for the current options are already tremendously slow — so I’m sure that this new Erase Song function will surely take quite a while to complete.
Personally, I think that this could be awesome news for YouTube creators. I’ll include myself in that even if my content isn’t the type that would normally encounter such issues. Then again, I can imagine scenarios where I might have to use it — such as travel vlogs where incidental music could get in the way.
Of course, judging how useful this tool ultimately ends up being will heavily depend on how effective the results are. If I had to guess, I’d imagine that most clips will turn out okay but that a sound difference will be noticeable to most viewers. Still, it’s a lot better to have some robotic-sounding voice clips than it is to pay part of your AdSense earnings because a song you didn’t intend on using happened to be playing in the background.
At this point, it’s not exactly clear when this Erase Song functionality will roll out or when it will be available to all Creators. Nevertheless, I look forward to its arrival in hopes that it will help YouTubers avoid copyright claims and allow them to keep more of their ad revenue. And, even if the tool isn’t perfect upon launch, I’m confident that it can be improved as technology evolves. So, we’ll have to wait and see how this new tool shapes up.