For years, YouTube creators have been caught in soundscape purgatory. Finding the right music meant wrestling with complex licensing, risking demonetization, or settling for generic tracks that didn't quite fit their vision. The dream of high-quality, custom audio often felt out of reach, especially for those without big budgets.
But now, with YouTube rolling out its own AI music generator, George Karalexis and Donna Budica, co-founders of TEN2 Media, say the platform is aiming to change the tune—offering creators unprecedented freedom, while simultaneously dialing up the urgency on an already strained rights management ecosystem.
No more middlemen?: "Music, in terms of the hierarchy of assets, dictates monetization," says CEO Karalexis. "YouTube's realizing that instead of having all these middlemen siphon away revenue, they're just offering it themselves. So it allows a creator who might not have a large budget to make and tailor music that fits within the content that they're creating." In the wake of YouTube’s new move, music creation could be dramatically simplified, but the question of audience impact still remains.
The original UGC platform: According to COO Budica, "AI is a hot buzzword right now—but the point is how do we keep audiences on the platform for longer, and how do we output better content more effectively while lowering the barrier to entry directly between creator and audience?”
Budica advocates for a stronger connection between audiences and creatives, all while ensuring creatives are compensated for their work. “YouTube is the original User-Generated Content platform, and all of these tools and native featzres that are being built-in help to facilitate that and expedite it."
Adaptation is Key: While AI can be a loaded term, sparking fears of artist displacement, Karalexis isn't sounding the immediate alarm. "Is AI a threat to musicians? I don't really think so. Maybe in 10, 20 years. But it's just like when MIDI got created and Pro Tools and all these things at your fingertips, it's still the execution and the output. So sure, anybody can make AI music. Whether it's good, that's another question. But if you embrace it and you allow it to take a good idea and iterate, I think it's a positive thing."
Budica concurs, viewing it as an evolutionary step. "Very few things are really unprecedented. At every wave of advancement, whether in music, or AI, or this tech, or that tech, the evolution of media and technology, the way the user consumes, and the way the creators create, is kind of the same. And from a threat standpoint? I think it's a threat if you're not able to adapt.”
The Elephant in the Room: A newfound ease and volume, however, brings a colossal challenge into sharp focus. Karalexis points to the "insane" daily influx of new music. "The sheer volume creates a huge problem because if there is copyright infringement, or if I'm taking someone’s song, speeding it up, and distributing it as if it was mine, the safeguards and the positions for rights management haven't caught up," he warns.
Iterate or Die: As AI tools become more embedded, the industry faces tough questions. "As content creation becomes democratized and more people are able to create higher level content at a quicker pace for less money, our high-level thought is: how do we put those tools in our clients' hands to increase their output and elevate their content?" Karalexis says. "But then how do we continue to police, patrol, protect and think about IP?"
For Budica, the mantra is clear: "Iterate or die." The challenge isn't just about embracing new creative tools; it's about building robust systems and fostering an environment of respect and understanding for artists as the industry faces massive change.