In the dog-eat-dog world of social platform innovation, you have to take any advantage that you can, even if that means kicking a fellow competitor while they’re down.

Today, YouTube has announced a range of new music remix options for Shorts, which comes just as TikTok loses access to tracks from Universal Music due to a payments dispute.

As you can see in this example, YouTube users can now tap the “Remix” button on any music video clip in the app, which will then take you to the Shorts composer, where you can choose from four different options for creating your own rendition of an accompanying clip.

The four Remix options are:

• Sound - Take just the sound from the video and use it in your Short
• Collab - Create a Short right alongside the video, so you and your friends can do the choreography side-by-side with the artist.
• Green Screen - Use the video as the background to your Short, so you can film your realtime reaction to your very first listen.
• Cut - Can’t get over a specific scene from a music video? Cut that 5 second clip and add it to your Short so you can relive it as often as you like.

Here’s how the process looks and sounds in video form:

The process adds another way to engage with your favorite tracks and artists, while also leaning into music sharing trends within short-form clips.

Which, as noted, also coincides with TikTok losing access to a heap of popular tracks due to a dispute with Universal Music, which has also seen many users lose audio in their previously uploaded clips. Given the critical role that music plays in the app, that’s been a huge blow for many creators, but now, YouTube’s looking to fill that void.

Note: YouTube does still have an active agreement with Universal Music.

Which is a point that it’s looking to highlight in its announcement:

“On YouTube, you can watch the music video on repeat, check out other Shorts that have been created from the same song by fellow fans, and discover deep catalog cuts from your favorite artists and relive those moments by remixing them as your own. All of that can happen in one place and it’s ONLY on YouTube!”

Only on YouTube, which can also be read as “you can’t do this on TikTok”.

I mean, presumably, TikTok will eventually work out a new deal with Universal and get its music options back. But right now, YouTube has a key advantage, and it’s looking to push that with these new tools.

Which could help to make Shorts a bigger consideration.