What is a YouTube Short Preview?
YouTube Short Previews allow for tracks to be used in YouTube Shorts ahead of the release date. When a release goes live, YouTube automatically updates all of those YouTube Shorts so they link back to the official art track.
Preview art tracks won’t appear in YouTube Music, on Official Artist Channels, or on Artist profiles. They are however available in YouTube’s Audio Library.
Setting the Preview Time
Preview times can be set in the track editor within the release process. You'll find this option below the "Contributors" section when editing your track.
Simply drag and drop the red bar on the track. You can adjust the preview size by moving the red marker. Pressing the Play button will start playing the track from the same point the preview starts in stores.
By default, the preview time will begin at 0 seconds and last for 30 seconds.
Enable Short Previews
Short Previews can be enabled from the release process on the "Advanced Configurations" step. To enable the release for Short Previews, toggle the feature on.
Here you can configure the start date that the Short Preview should be me available for each track on the release. Click the “Configure” button next to each track to set the date.
On this screen you’ll be able to set the Start Date for the Short Preview and see the Preview Start and End time which was configured on the previous step. Select a date and then click “Confirm”.
Please note: The Short Preview must begin before the release date. If you have a pre-order configured for the release, you won’t be able to set the short preview before this date either.
Disable Short Previews
To disable Short Previews for the release all together, simply toggle the Short Previews option off. If you wish to disable a Short Preview for a specific track, head to the Short Preview section, click the “Configure” button next to the track. Click the “X” button in the Start Date field and then click “Confirm”.
Once saved, the Short Preview will be disabled for this track.
If your release has already been submitted, please contact our support team. They'll be able to assist with disabling this for you.