YouTube is expanding its Creator Music marketplace with a new AI-powered tool that allows creators to generate customized instrumental backing tracks on demand — with no licensing or copyright headaches required.
Dubbed the Music Assistant, the feature uses text-based prompts to craft copyright-free music tailored to any video’s mood, instrumentation, or context provided by its user in a near-instant. The newly launched tool is gradually rolling out to eligible US-based members of YouTube’s partner program and can be found within the Creator Music hub, which stands as the commercial licensing marketplace of the platform that was first launched in 2023.
The AI-powered tool was first announced through YouTube’s Creator Insider channel, which states that the update introduces a dedicated Music Assistant tab for users who have access to the feature. Creators can then input free-form descriptions or prompts for the kind of track they want and then receive downloadable instrumentals, which are cleared for use without attribution or claims. For those who are unsure or have difficulty looking for where to start, YouTube also offers suggestions to help facilitate the use of this tool.
The launch follows YouTube’s earlier experiment with Dream Track, a generative AI project developed in collaboration with Google DeepMind’s Lyria. While Dream Track focused on creating 30-second clips in the style of major artists, the newly unveiled Music Assistant marks a shift toward more functional, rights-safe background music that is designed specifically for creator content.
For now, the new tool supports only instrumental compositions, however, it represents another step in YouTube’s broader strategy to integrate generative AI tools directly into its creative ecosystem.
As we anticipate its larger rollout worldwide in the near future, check out YouTube’s Creator Insider video that introduces the newly launched tool below: