YouTube launches improved ‘eraser’ tool to remove music that would get a copyright strike

YouTube has launched an enhanced eraser tool to assist creators in removing copyrighted music with minimal impact to the poster’s video itself. 

The feature is designed to act fast to remove music soundtracks without affecting other audio such as dialogue or sound effects.

“Erase song” was previously available as a beta feature to remove protected content on the Google-owned video-sharing platform but it wasn’t quite up to the required performance standard. Improvements have been made, including the use of an AI-powered algorithm to identify and remove a particular song without any other changes.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan posted on X, formerly Twitter, to advise users of the improved feature.

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

Caution still advised with “Erase Song” tool

The platform, which is trying new techniques to block third-party apps that allow users to skip ads on videos, has warned that the new tool isn’t perfect and that sometimes the algorithm might fail to remove just the copyrighted track. 

Its support page states, “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.” 

Caution was advised as processing times can vary once the edit is made and users cannot make other edits if the browser window is closed during processing. Also, the changes may not save if the video has over 100,000 views but your channel is not signed up to the YouTube Partner Program service.

Another option is for creators to choose “Mute all sound in the claimed segments” to eradicate all audio from potentially copyrighted content. Once this happens, YouTube removes the content ID claim.

“Erase song” is set to be introduced to users in the coming weeks, on both desktop and mobile versions of YouTube Studio. 

Image credit: Via Idoegram