YouTube unveils major changes to its partner program, announcing that creators will soon be able to earn ad revenue off of Shorts, its TikTok competitor.
Until now, creators typically used royalty-free music or risked having their videos taken down for copyright violations.
"We believe Creator Music will mean more creator-artist collabs, more tunes in viewers' playlists and more ways for artists to break through — all while continuing to put money in creators' pockets," Hanif wrote. For videos posted to Shorts, YouTube will add up the entirety of the revenue from ads run between videos on its Shorts Feed to"reward Shorts creators and help cover the cost of music licensing." Creators will receive 45% of the total revenue, distributed based on their shares of total Shorts views. The share will remain the same regardless of whether they use licensed music.
"...since Music fuels some of our most vibrant and memorable Shorts, it simplifies the complexities of music licensing, so that creators don’t have to worry about whether or not they use music in their Short," Hanif wrote.