YouTube’s Updated Erase Song Feature Helps Remove Copyrighted Music From Videos

YouTube released an updated eraser tool last week designed to help creators resolve music copyright claims on their videos. Initially reported by TechCrunch, this revamped tool allows creators to effortlessly remove copyright-claimed music without impacting other audio elements, such as dialogue and sound effects.

The announcement about the revamped Erase Song feature was made public last week through a YouTube video and a post by YouTube CEO Neal Mohan on X (formerly Twitter). The post read, “Good news, creators: our updated Erase Song tool helps you easily remove copyright-claimed music from your video (while leaving the rest of your audio intact).”

Good news creators: our updated Erase Song tool helps you easily remove copyright-claimed music from your video (while leaving the rest of your audio intact). Learn more… https://t.co/KeWIw3RFeH

— Neal Mohan (@nealmohan) July 3, 2024

The company’s YouTube video revealed that the feature had been in beta for some time but was not publicly released earlier due to its inability to produce the desired results accurately. However, with the newly introduced AI-powered algorithm, creators can easily use the eraser tool to accurately detect and remove copyrighted content while keeping other audio in the segment intact.

YouTube also provides alternative options on its support page for cases where the algorithm fails to remove copyrighted content. “This edit might not work if the song is hard to remove. If this tool doesn’t successfully remove the claim on a video, you can try other editing options, such as muting all sound in the claimed segments or trimming out the claimed segments,” the article states.

The tool will be available on both the desktop and mobile versions of the app in the coming weeks.