The Twitch DMCAs just keep coming

Illustration for article titled The Twitch DMCAs Just Get On

picture:: Twitching / igamesnews

Listen to me if you’ve heard this before: the music industry is aim at TwitchThis time in the amount of “around 1,000 individual claims”, according to the company. Twitch’s solution? Second verse, the same as the first: Delete, delete, delete.

in the An email sent to streamers earlier todayTwitch stated that “all claims apply to VoDs” and that music publishers have used automated tools to locate them, which means “they will likely send more communications”. As in the other cases, Twitch recommends that streamers remove any content that may contain offensive material. For some Streamers are large parts of their professionals Stories.

“If you know that you have unauthorized music or other copyrighted material in your previous VoDs or clips, we strongly recommend that you permanently delete anything that contains that material,” Twitch wrote. “For your remaining VoDs, we recommend that you use the publish all feature and check all content for unauthorized music or other copyrighted material.”

Twitch went on to say that it is working to further mitigate this problem by providing solutions such as “Training developers and providing resources to understand the rules and risks of using music on Twitch, as well as developing new product features (such as the ability) to unpublish VoDs, see the number of your strikes, view strike notifications in the Creator Dashboard, get multi-track audio support for OBS and more, invest in proactive detection and mute, and work with rightsholders on longer term solutions. “

The problem with many of Twitch’s previous solutions is that they represent loopholes or maneuvers from the music industry’s perspective restrictive music rights. Twitch and music companies are stuck in a dead end, each using their respective creators as bargaining chips. in the an open letter published last yearSeveral major US music organizations, including the RIAA, found Twitch’s solutions unsatisfactory, saying that for songwriters and performers, “fair royalties on a growing platform like Twitch can literally be a matter of life and death – the difference between living and living Homelessness and access to medical care or being uninsured. “In today’s email, Twitch attempted to act like the Creators’ sole ally in this conflict:” This is our first such contact in the music publishing industry (there can be multiple owners for a single piece of music), and so are we Disappointed, they decided to send takedowns when we are ready and willing to talk to them about solutions, ”the company wrote.

The problem with that rationale is that both Twitch and the music industry make the rules here, and if they really didn’t want the creators to suffer, they could prioritize Compromise through their path (or at least they could better pay their respective creators instead of acting as if matters like “life and death” were out of their hands).

At this point, streamers are fed up with the DMCA-tasteful status quo.

“I just got a DMCA strike on a VOD over ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ that played on a March 2019 video that no one but grubby music companies can access.” Minecraft Streamer Sneegsnag said on twitter. “If you can go in and see it, so should I. This system is miserable. “

“So I got another email from twitch reminding me of DMCA shutdowns that were happening. That means I’ll be deleting all of my clips and VoDs again.” said Twitch partner Shenpai. “I am so angry.”

DMCAs on Twitch are based on more than just music, despite Twitch’s music-centric messaging on that front. Late last year, streamers said they had automated audio mutes and notifications for VoDs that contain in-game audio and other sounds that are not strictly music. Others have said they received live DMCAs– that is, shutdowns that occur before a stream has even ended – via TV and film content. Kotaku Contact Twitch to learn more about how to deal with live DMCAs that appear to be from a different industry. However, no additional information could be provided at this point.

After nearly a year of DMCA suffering, streamers don’t have much confidence that Twitch will do what’s right for them soon – or, in fact, that so much can be done as long as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act remains the law of the country.

“Streamers and YouTubers should come together and bribe politicians to change these ridiculous and outdated laws.” said popular Impressive Streamer Asmongold. “It’s embarrassing that the internet still follows a 1998 law.”

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