YouTube is rolling out a new tool called Music Assistant to its Creator Music marketplace. Music Assistant uses generative AI to automatically add royalty-free instrumental background music to long-form videos. Accessed via a dedicated tab in Creator Music, Music Assistant provides more control over things like the style, mood and instruments of the desired music, which is requested via text prompts. Creator Music is available in the U.S. to creators enrolled in the YouTube Partner Program. YouTube is also experimenting with a Shorts feature that automatically synchronizes audio for short-form video creators.

YouTube says Music Assistant “is being ‘gradually’ rolled out to creators who have access to Creator Music, the platform’s commercial music licensing resource launched in 2023,” writes TechCrunch, explaining that the Creator Music marketplace “was designed to make it easier for creators to find music to add to their videos and understand the costs involved in doing so. AI music, however, will give them another free option.”

YouTube shared the news of Music Assistant via its weekly Creator Insider video news series.

Android Police grabbed some screenshots, illustrating how “users can also use pre-made prompts like ‘Calm and peaceful music with acoustic guitar and flowing piano,’ or ‘Give me happy mood songs with good beats, or songs I can dance to.”

Suggested prompts will auto populate below the text entry box to help with ideas.

Music Assistant will provide several options for each request, “all of which are completely free-to-use, and come without any copyright hassle,” Android Police says, noting the option adds relief to ears weary of the public domain tracks available under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.

“We’re experimenting with the ability for creators to automatically match content they’ve imported into Shorts with the audio they choose,” the clip’s host explains, adding that when multiple photos and videos from your phone’s gallery are selected, “you’ll now have the option to automatically create a short video synced to music — just choose the media, pick a song, and it will arrange your clips to match the beat.”

“YouTube had earlier tested a similar generative AI feature called ‘Dream Track’ powered by DeepMind’s Lyria, which allowed people to create 30-second music tracks in the style of a famous artist,” TechCrunch reports, adding that “currently, the ‘Dream Track’ feature is only focused on instrumental music.”