Instagram announced on Thursday, that it will allow users to remix any public video content on the app, not just short-form reel videos. And this only applies to videos that were made public as of yesterday, not to content created prior to the day it was announced.
The company had officially launched Remix, its version of TikTok Duets, last March. This feature avails users the opportunity to record their reels video alongside a video from another user, as a means of interacting, reacting, collaborating or highlighting other content on the Instagram Reels platform.
According to the company, the expansion made sense after seeing how well Remix was accepted by Reels users. It wanted to offer more opportunities for creators to “reinvent their content” and collaborate with others.
When remixing a non-Reels video, creators will still have access to Reels’ set of creative tools, including Collabs, Voiceover, Effects and Audio Tools.
To access the new feature, users can tap the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner of any public Instagram video published after the update. From there, select “Remix this video” and record your response or upload a video from your phone’s camera roll.
Creator’s can remix all or a portion of another person’s video and download it as part of the remix. The final remixed video will be visible wherever you share your reels.
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Although the feature’s expansion might inspire more remixing as expected by the company, resulting in more content for Instagram Reels, not all Instagram creators will be open to the idea of having their video content remixed.
“Those who don’t want to participate will need to opt out of having their videos remixed from their account settings. This is available under the “Reels and Remix Controls” setting, which now allows you to toggle on or off remixes for both reels and feed videos,” the company said.
However, all users are being defaulted to “on” for the new feature. For creators who want to allow some of their videos to be remixed and others not, they will be able to disable remixes on a per-video basis if they choose to leave the setting on.
With the launch of remixes for public videos, Instagram hopes that everyone with a public account intends to be a “creator” and is open to the idea of having their content repurposed by other users.
The new feature by Instagram is similar to YouTube Shorts which allows creators to sample audio from other people’s videos for use on their own.
