YouTube will now allow creators to monetize their videos with licensed music

YouTube is developing a new program that will allow creators to monetize their longform videos that feature licensed music.

During today’s Made on YouTube event, the company announced Creator Music, which allows content creators to use popular music in their films without losing monetization.

As a creator, one will be allowed to buy affordable, high-quality music licenses that offer them full monetizing potential and they will keep the same revenue share they’d usually make on videos without any music.

For creators who don’t want to buy a license up front, they’ll be able to use songs and share revenue with the track’s artist and associated rights holders.

Previously, YouTube creators had to utilize royalty-free music to prevent their videos from being demonetized. Even using a small amount of a major artist’s tune without authorization resulted in a video being removed or a portion of it being muted.

Last week, YouTube said that it was discontinuing the creator fund and instead launching an ad revenue sharing program to compete with TikTok on Shorts, the platform’s TikTok clone.

The income share for shortform videos will be 45 percent, with YouTube keeping 55 percent – the inverse of the revenue share for longform videos.

“Starting in early 2023, Shorts-focused creators can apply to YouTube Partners Program by meeting a threshold of 1,000 subscribers and 10M Shorts views over 90 days.” YouTube said in a blog post.