YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts is one of the fastest-growing platforms for music discovery, with billions of daily views from creators using songs to soundtrack their short-form videos. When your music is available in the YouTube Shorts library, any YouTube creator can search for it, add it to their Short, and introduce your music to a massive audience — while generating revenue for you.

This article explains how the Shorts library works, what's required to get your music into it, how you earn from it, and what to do when something isn't working as expected.

How YouTube Shorts Uses Your Music

There are two ways a creator can use music in a YouTube Short:

From the Shorts Audio Library (in-app picker): When a creator makes a Short inside the YouTube app, they can tap "Add Sound" and browse or search a library of available songs. This is the Shorts Audio Library. If your song is in this library, creators can find it by searching your artist name or song title and add a clip of it to their Short. This is the primary way music goes viral on Shorts and the main driver of Shorts-related revenue for artists.

By uploading a video that already contains audio: A creator can also upload a finished video that already has your music in it (for example, a fan using your song in a video they edited outside of YouTube). In this case, Content ID scans the audio and generates a standard claim. This is a separate workflow from the Shorts library and is covered in the Content ID section below.

Your goal as an artist or label is to make sure your music is available in the Shorts Audio Library so creators can discover and use it through the in-app picker.

What It Takes to Get Into the Shorts Audio Library

Getting your music into the Shorts library is not a separate submission or opt-in on your end. It happens automatically when a chain of requirements is met. Here's what needs to be in place:

1. Your release must be distributed to YouTube Music.
When we deliver your release to YouTube Music, YouTube creates an Art Track — an auto-generated video that displays your cover art with your audio. This Art Track is the foundation for everything else on YouTube. Without it, your music cannot appear in the Shorts library.

2. Your release must be enrolled in Content ID.
Content ID is YouTube's audio fingerprinting system. It creates a sound recording asset from your track and uses it to detect and claim videos across YouTube that contain your music. Your Art Track must embed this sound recording asset. Content ID enrollment is available under the Enrollments section in your dashboard.

3. Your sound recording asset must have a playable match policy.
If your asset's match policy is set to "block," your music will not be available in Shorts. The policy must be set to a playable option (such as monetize or track) for the song to appear in the library.

4. There must be no unresolved rights or publishing issues.
YouTube checks for rights clearance issues — including publishing conflicts — before making a song available in the Shorts library. If there are conflicting ownership claims on the composition side, or if publishing information is incomplete or disputed, YouTube may withhold the song from the library until the issue is resolved.

5. Ownership must be present in the relevant territories.
Your music will only be available in the Shorts library in territories where sound recording ownership is established. If ownership is missing in a specific territory, the song will not appear for creators in that region.

When all of these conditions are met, your music becomes searchable and usable in the Shorts Audio Library. There is no additional button to press or form to fill out.

Why Your Music Might Not Be Appearing in the Shorts Library

If your music is live on YouTube Music but you or your fans can't find it in the Shorts Audio Library, here are the most common reasons:

Timing. There can be a delay between when your Art Track goes live on YouTube Music and when the song surfaces in the Shorts creation tools. This is controlled by YouTube's systems, not by us. New releases may take several days to propagate.

Territory restrictions. Your music will not appear in the Shorts library in territories where it is not playable or where sound recording ownership is missing. If a fan in a specific country can't find your song, this is the likely reason.

Content ID is not enabled. If you have not opted into Content ID through your dashboard, YouTube has no sound recording asset to link to your Art Track, and the song cannot enter the Shorts library.

Match policy is set to block. If your Content ID match policy is set to block rather than monetize or track, the song is ineligible for Shorts.

Publishing or rights conflicts. If YouTube detects unresolved publishing issues — such as conflicting composition ownership from multiple parties, or a dispute with a performing rights organization — it may pull the song from the Shorts library until the conflict is resolved. This can happen silently, with no notification to you.

Content does not meet originality requirements. If your track contains samples, loops, downloaded beats, or other non-exclusive elements, it may not be eligible for Content ID in the first place, which means it cannot enter the Shorts library. Your content must be entirely original, or you must hold exclusive rights to all elements within it.

The Art Track is on a "Various Artists" page. When content is newly delivered, YouTube may temporarily place it on a "Various Artists" topic channel while its systems match the correct artist. This can take up to 30 days and may affect discoverability during that period.

Understanding Content ID and How It Relates to Shorts

Content ID is YouTube's automated audio fingerprinting system. When you enroll in Content ID through your dashboard, we deliver a reference file of your audio to YouTube. From that point forward, YouTube scans every video uploaded to the platform against your audio fingerprint. When a match is found, a claim is generated, and monetization is applied to that video on your behalf.

How Content ID connects to Shorts:

When a creator uses your song from the Shorts Audio Library (through the in-app picker), YouTube creates a special Shorts-specific Content ID claim. These claims are not visible to the creator and cannot be disputed — they exist so that you, as the rights holder, can track usage and earn revenue. This is the intended behavior and is part of the Shorts licensing framework.

When a creator uses your song in a Short without using the in-app picker (for example, by uploading a video that already contains your audio), that usage is subject to standard Content ID claims. These claims are visible to the creator and can be disputed through YouTube's normal process.

Content ID eligibility requirements:

Your content must meet these criteria to be enrolled in Content ID:

• The music must be entirely original. It must be free of samples, downloaded beats, production loops, content from music libraries or templates, public domain material, or any other copyrighted content you do not exclusively own.
• You must own or control 100% of the sound recording rights.
• The track must be longer than 20 seconds.
• If you used a purchased beat or instrumental, you must hold exclusive rights to it. Non-exclusive licenses (such as lease agreements) do not qualify, because the same beat may be used by other creators across YouTube, and Content ID would incorrectly claim their videos.

If your content does not meet these requirements, it is not eligible for Content ID, which means it also cannot appear in the Shorts Audio Library.

Publishing Administration and Its Impact on Shorts

Publishing refers to the composition side of your music — the underlying song (melody and lyrics), as opposed to the sound recording (the specific audio file). Every song has two layers of rights: the sound recording (master) and the composition (publishing). They are managed separately.

When you enroll in our publishing administration service, we register your composition with YouTube and collect publishing royalties on your behalf. This means that when your song is used in a video, you can earn both sound recording revenue (through Content ID) and composition revenue (through publishing administration).

Why this matters for Shorts: YouTube evaluates publishing rights when determining Shorts library eligibility. If there are conflicting or unresolved publishing claims on your composition — for example, if a co-writer's publisher has registered a competing claim, or if your PRO (performing rights organization) and our publishing administration are both asserting ownership — YouTube may withhold the song from the Shorts library until the conflict is resolved.

To avoid this, make sure that:

• All co-writers and their respective publishers are aligned on who is administering what share of the composition on YouTube.
• You are not simultaneously registering the same composition through multiple administrators on YouTube.
• If you use our publishing administration service, your PRO registration and our registration do not create duplicate or conflicting claims.

If you suspect a publishing conflict is blocking your Shorts availability, contact our support team with the details of all parties involved in the composition.

How You Earn Revenue from Shorts

There are three separate revenue streams related to YouTube, and they each work differently:

YouTube Music streaming revenue: Earned when listeners stream your Art Track on YouTube Music, either as subscribers or ad-supported listeners. This works like Spotify or Apple Music — you earn based on streams.

Content ID revenue: Earned when your music is detected in user-uploaded videos across YouTube (outside of the Shorts Audio Library workflow). When Content ID claims a video, monetization is applied and you earn a share of the ad revenue from that specific video.

Shorts revenue (from the Shorts Audio Library): This works through a revenue pool model. All advertising revenue generated from ads displayed in the Shorts feed is collected into a single pool. YouTube first deducts music licensing costs to compensate rights holders. The remaining pool is then allocated to creators based on their share of total Shorts views. Creators receive 45% of their allocated share.

As a rights holder, your compensation comes from the music licensing deduction that YouTube takes before distributing the creator pool. The amount you earn depends on how frequently your music is used in Shorts, across how many Shorts, and in which territories those Shorts are viewed.

These three revenue streams are reported separately and should not be confused with one another.

Still Have Questions?

If you've reviewed this article and your issue is not resolved, please open a support ticket and include the following information so we can investigate efficiently:

• Song title and artist name
• UPC and/or ISRC
• The specific issue (e.g., "song not appearing in Shorts library," "incorrect Art Track metadata," "Content ID claim on my own channel")
• Territory where the issue is occurring (if applicable)
• Any relevant URLs (your YouTube channel, the Art Track URL, the video URL in question)

Providing this information upfront helps us resolve your issue faster and avoids unnecessary back-and-forth.