Given the amount of trouble that TikTok has been dealing with in regards to the music being featured in their users’ posts, it should come as no surprise that a similar plight is hitting Twitch. In this instance, however, Twitch has no intentions of waiting as long as TikTok did to deal with the situation.
In a new interview with TweakMusicTips, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy confirmed that the platform was on the cusp of an agreement which will require both DJs and Twitch “to share money with the labels.”
“It doesn’t come for free,” Clancy said during the interview, although he clarified that Twitch would pay a sum of money for what labels are owed. “We’re going to pay a portion of it, and the streamer will need to contribute a portion in terms of the revenue."
Per Engadget's coverage of the interview, Clancy explained that Twitch has been talking to music labels in hopes of finding a stable solution so that DJ streamers don't get hit with DMCA takedown requests, which is precisely the situation that TikTok found itself in. Clancy added that Twitch has what he described as a "pretty good thing" going with labels at present, but it's not one that's sustainable for the long haul, at least in part because the labels are aware of Twitch's efforts to find a more cost-effective solution.
On Twitch's official community guidelines, the following instructions are currently offered up about using music within the streaming service:
"Put simply, you should only include music in your Twitch channel if you’re sure you have the necessary rights or authority to do so. Using unauthorized music on Twitch may result in a rights holder sending a takedown request under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) or similar laws or through a separate contractual process. If a rights holder sends Twitch one of these takedown requests against content on your Twitch channel, it can result in enforcement against your channel, up to and including account termination.
"Please note that subscribing to a music streaming service or buying a CD or MP3 typically does not grant you rights to share that music on Twitch. Such a purchase or subscription typically grants you a personal license to access the content only for your personal and private playback. We encourage you to review each service’s terms of use and other relevant legal pages before including music from that service in your Twitch streams."
Described as a “guitar-playing, folk music-loving CEO” by Bloomberg, Clancy's enjoyment of a good tune is well-documented. Indeed, he's even gone so far as to croon a few online.
After taking over at CEO for Twitch last year, Clancy made the spontaneous decision to go online after hours and offer up a brief concert. Armed with a microphone and a keyboard, he launched into a version of John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads." Admittedly, he only had about 70 viewers at the time, but a clip of the performance that was tweeted out has since enjoyed more than five million views.
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