Select creators can now “restyle” songs using YouTube’s experimental AI toolLast year, YouTube rolled out Dream Track, an AI tool powered by Google DeepMind’s “most advanced music generation model to date”, Lyria. The feature allowed users to create songs using AI voice emulations of famous artists, with John Legend, Charlie Puth, Sia, T-Pain, and Charli XCX among those who’ve agreed to ‘lend their voices’.
Now, the platform is adding a new feature that allows creators to remix tracks into the style they want. All you have to do is select an eligible song, enter the prompt for how you would like to restyle it, and generate a 30-second soundtrack — which can then be used in your Short.

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“For example, if you want to give a song a different genre or mood, you simply enter your vision into the ‘Restyle a track’ prompt and you’ll soon have a customised soundtrack that reimagines the music while maintaining the essence of the original song’s vocals and lyrics,” YouTube states.
Given that the feature is still in its “experimental” stage, creators in the test group are limited to a selection of official songs “made available by select music partners”.
The company also notes that all restyled soundtracks will have “clear attribution to the original song” through the Short itself and the Shorts audio pivot page, and will also clearly indicate that the track was restyled using AI.
Earlier this year, it was reported that YouTube was offering “lump sums of cash” to the “big three” major labels in hopes of rolling out AI music licensing deals with them.
According to sources who have been in contact with The Financial Times, the tech giant — which is owned by Google — has been in talks with Sony, Warner and Universal to try to convince more artists to allow their music to be used in training AI software.
But those proposals are reportedly being met with scepticism: “The industry is wrestling with this. Technically the companies have the copyrights, but we have to think through how to play it,” an executive ‘at a large music company’ told FT. “We don’t want to be seen as a Luddite.”
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