Twitch Outlines New Music Copyright Plans

Twitch shared new insights into its plans for addressing copyright strikes against content creators' accounts and how streamers can better manage their content to avoid these sorts of strikes before they happen. The addressing of the issue from Twitch follows a flurry of DMCA notification levied against content creators. Twitch said 99% of those notifications dealt with background music being played during past streams, and to help avoid such problems, Twitch is working on new tools for streamers and is speaking with "major record labels" to discuss improved licensing options.

The conversation about DMCA takedowns and strikes against channels began with Twitch sharing a "we hear you" post where the streaming platform responded to users' complaints about the ongoing copyright strikes. The Twitch team said it was as surprised as streamers were about the "avalanche of notifications" and said almost all of those notices dealt with background music.

Your frustration and confusion with recent music-related copyright issues is completely justified. Things can–and should–be better for creators than they have been recently. The next few tweets will outline our plan for being better partners to creators. https://t.co/Ebk1rFlBOM pic.twitter.com/fiFitaZgD5

— Twitch (@Twitch) November 11, 2020

"We have analyzed the notifications we received during that period from the end of May through the middle of October," Twitch said. "What we found is that more than 99% of the notifications were for tracks that streamers were playing in the background of their stream."

Though Twitch would delete the streams or VODs that contained infringing music, it hopes to give content creators a better opportunity to manage their channels to avoid these types of situations. The first advice the Twitch team had for content creators was to not play recorded music during streams in the first place. As for past videos which may contain that kind of music, Twitch is working on a tool that'll allow creators to mass delete clips and better manage archives.

Twitch also said it's working on giving streamers more context and clarity whenever a DMCA notification happens sot that the creators can know what the issue is, what specific clips or videos are effected, and where the claim came from. That way if streamers do in fact have a license for certain music or want to counter the claim, they can do so.

As for future licenses, Twitch said it's exploring options currently with major labels.

"Some of you have asked why we don't have a license covering any and all uses of recorded music," Twitch said. "We are actively speaking with the major record labels about potential approaches to additional licenses that would be appropriate for the Twitch service."

Twitch should have more to share on these in-progress tools and processes in the future.