Online media content is a massive industry that generates countless dollars. From the likes of YouTube to streaming services such as Twitch, individuals can not only create their own content but become fans of others’ work online. I know that most of my content watching has strayed away from the likes of premium subscription services and instead geared towards YouTube channels and Twitch streamers.
Twitch in general has become such a big media medium for me. While I don’t stream content, I thoroughly enjoy some streamers. I’ve made real friendships and spend time in communities that were crafted up by fans and streamers alike. However, a change has started to come with Twitch that has resulted in some difficult decisions. We’re sure that you’re familiar with the DMCA takedown notices that were sent out back during the summer of this year.
For years, Twitch streamers were able to stream music from various online media platforms while they chat or play video games. It’s made more or less as background noise and while it can help set to tone or vibe of the channel, streamers were forced to make a big change. DMCA notices started to get sent out which resulted in streamers changing their music source from the likes of Spotify to copyright-free playlists curated on YouTube.
That’s a big bummer for everyone but it’s something that was expected. The same issue happened with YouTube and now the service is quick to spot copyright material. While things seemed to have eased up, a new slew of DMCA notices swarmed Twitch which the team decided to take matters into their own hands. Rather than sending these notices out, Twitch has reportedly deleted the content targeted without giving a warning to the streamer. As you can imagine, this has resulted in some backlash by Twitch users, but it seems to be the easiest way to remove the copyrighted material and sway users to refrain from using music that they do not own.
This will be a bigger problem going forward when video game music is caught. After all, Twitch is mainly a streaming platform that curates to the gameplay. For now, it seems that this is just the new norm, but we’re uncertain what this could mean for those that continue to get hit by DMCA from past broadcasts or clips.
