In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, many musicians and DJs have chosen Twitch as an alternative to live shows – which have all but disappeared amid worldwide restrictions imposed to contain the pandemic. With that mass migration from live to live stream came a slew of copyright and licensing issues, mainly brought on by the unrestricted use of major label-owned and copyrighted music.

As a response, Twitch partnered with non-major labels like Anjunabeats and Monstercat to launch Soundtrack, an initiative that would license said labels’ works for clearance during streaming. Major labels, however, were not included, and a lot of music being played by Twitch users in music streams remained unlicensed.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and other industry groups came together to write an open letter, claiming that “Twitch appears to do nothing in response to the thousands of notices of music infringement that it has received nor does it currently even acknowledge that it received them, as it has done in the past.”

“Neither synch nor mechanical licenses are necessary for its Soundtrack tool,” the letter continued. “We are also deeply disappointed that Twitch continues to allow and enable its streamers to use our respective members’ music without authorization, in violation of Twitch’s music guidelines.”

Twitch denied these claims, as well as the RIAA’s claims that the platform had failed to secure adequate licensure that extends to publishers.

“We’re also proud of the work we are doing around recorded music on Twitch through Soundtrack,” reads a statement from the streaming platform. “Soundtrack is a fully licensed service. Twitch has entered into agreements with rights holders for the recordings and compositions included in the service. Soundtrack is not only a fully-licensed way for streamers to play great music in their live streams but also an important discovery tool for independent artists and labels.”

As the struggle continues between the RIAA and Twitch, DJs and performers continue to favor the streaming platform for use during the pandemic.

Variety has outlined the full open letter from the RIAA and industry associates, as well as Twitch’s response in this article. 

Soundtrack offers live streamers genre-specific playlists and stations comprised of 100% copyright-cleared music. At the time of writing, label partners include Ninja Tune, Future Classic, Anjunabeats and Monstercat. SoundCloud and DistroKid are among the distributors involved; each platform’s “Twitch Creator” feature means that their releases will be given priority by curators. Over 1 million tracks have been licensed so far, and Twitch hopes to satisfy as many niches as possible by adding new playlists and stations in the coming months.

Live Stream Race

While Soundtrack looks to open up monetization opportunities for electronic musicians, it will have little bearing on live streams of DJ sets themselves. Twitch still forbids content creators such as disc jockeys from incorporating copyright-protected music into their streams without authorization, and it doesn’t have a blanket license a la Mixcloud.

The average DJ may still fare better on Twitch than Facebook, however. After much confusion about how the latter platform’s October 1st update would affect DJ live streams, a spokesperson clarified that existing policies that have caused many content creators’ feeds to be muted will remain in effect for the foreseeable future.

Live streamers can sign up to test out the Soundtrack by Twitch beta on this waitlist.

After a content creator connects their Twitch channel via Amazon Music for Artists, their Twitch live streams will now appear on their artist page in the app. Users can sign up to receive updates when one of the artists they follow goes live, and the new service also has its own dedicated page. Variety reports that more than 1,000 streamers signed up for the service in its first day.

“This new feature couldn’t arrive at a more crucial time in the industry,” said Amazon Music Director Ryan Redington. “Together with Twitch, we’re making it possible for artists across all genres, at all moments of their careers, to harness the social power of live streaming to create more engagement with their recorded catalogue.”

More information on the Twitch integration can be found on the Amazon Music website.

Image credit: Caspar Camille Rubin