There has been a recent wave of Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedowns across the streaming platform.
The majority of strikes appear to be on videos from 2019. Although no immediate connection between songs are apparent, it seems the majority of copyright claims are from RIAA.
The platform’s rules on music streaming have been in place for years, but it appears they’re being more proactively enforced as of 7 June. In the space of 24 hours, many streamers were hit with takedown notices.
I’ve been issued 2 copyright strikes on my channel (both from clips over a year old) in the past week and told that if they find one more violation in my clips, my twitch account will be permabanned. (1/4) pic.twitter.com/y8pft3spdq
— fuslie (@fuslie) June 7, 2020
Twitch is legally obligated to follow through on these takedown notices, with some of the strikes dating back as far as 2017.
Some streamers have over 100,000 clips featuring copyrighted music, as streamer Jake Abramson pointed out.
Any other streamers get hit with some copyright stuff recently? The heckkkkkkk we supposed to do? :(
I can't go through 100,000 clips and delete anything that has some music in it.
Scary.If things continue this way doesn't that mean 90% of the streamers on Twitch are donezo? pic.twitter.com/ZXywc9PznV
— Jake'n'Bake @ LA 🇺🇸 (@jakenbakeLIVE) June 7, 2020
Streamer Fuslie shared the issues she faced when attempting to delete such clips.
“On top of it being near impossible for me to delete >100,000 clips, the creator dashboard isn’t loading any of my old clips,” she wrote. “How am I supposed to protect myself here?”
Have talked with multiple @Twitch staff all telling me my best option is to delete all of my clips ever.
On top of it being near impossible for me to delete >100,000 clips, the creator dashboard isn’t loading any of my old clips. How am I supposed to protect myself here? (2/4) pic.twitter.com/dWnvfiIkGC
— fuslie (@fuslie) June 7, 2020
The discussion online appears to fall into two camps: those who feel they were not informed of Twitch’s policies regarding use of copyrighted music, and those who feel streamers should have been aware of the policy, as it’s been in place for some time.
The notices have resulted in calls for Twitch to offer an option for streamers to remove multiple clips and videos with ease.
This is the first time we have received mass DMCA claims against clips. We understand this has been stressful for affected creators and are working on solutions, including examining how we can give you more control over your clips.
— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) June 8, 2020
Twitch responded publicly to the copyright strikes via its Twitch Support Twitter account, writing:
“This is the first time we have received mass DMCA claims against clips. We understand this has been stressful for affected creators and are working on solutions, including examining how we can give you more control over your clips.
“We adhere to the DMCA, which requires that we take action on content and streamer accounts upon notice from rights holders, as happened this week.”
Twitch’s music usage rules can be found via the platform’s community guidelines.
Want More?
Read about Twitch removing the TwitchCop emote in an attempt to prevent potential abuse. Alternatively, you could read about YouTube’s monetisation policy for self-certification.
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