After outcries from major music-industry organisations for turning a blind eye to the use of unlicensed songs on its service, streaming platform Twitch has issued its first official guidance on the issue.
Until May, Twitch streamers received fewer than 50 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) claims in total each year. Since then, reps for major record labels have filed thousands of claims each week, largely focused on short excerpts of songs in clips (i.e. snippets of streams).
Twitch has deleted many of the clips in question from streamers’ profiles, and DMCA notifications prompted many users to purge years’ worth of old broadcasts and clips.
Twitch said streamers should only play songs from the Soundtrack by Twitch tool or other cleared libraries, including Soundstripe, Monstercat Gold, Chillhop, Epidemic Sound and NCS. It also suggested streamers check End User License Agreements in case games with recorded music prohibit streaming in any way. Meanwhile, artists who perform their own music on Twitch are in the clear.