In 2020, many streamers got hit by a wave of DMCA takedown requests for old clips and VODs which affected the streamer's standing.
Since Twitch is currently using a three-strike rule similar to YouTube and other platforms, this put some streamers on the verge of being banned.

My proposal is to let such takedowns "expire" after a period of e.g. 90 days, i.e. they don't affect Good Standing after that period.
Since takedowns (regardless of whether justified or not) can appear on years-old content and even live content, this would introduce a fair solution to streamers and Twitch, and is already being successfully used on similar platforms.

The musical atmosphere being an important part for the creation of content on the platform, and to limit future problems with the DMCA as we can see now.

I propose an extension (or a feature) in partnership with the main music streaming software that would allow music to be broadcast directly on the live page and not integrated into the video stream.

If we take the example of Spotify, having to link its twitch page with spotify so that the viewers can hear the music we add to our stream in real time

And of course find a way for the music to be broadcast in the headphones of the streamer without it being picked up by the streaming software in a simple way (with audio channel management)

This would simply allow music to be streamed without copyright issues knowing that users would listen to them directly via partner streaming platforms.

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L'ambiance musical étant une partie important pour la création de contenue sur la plateforme, et pour limiter a l'avenir des problème avec le DMCA comme l'on peux voir actuellement,.

Je propose une extention (ou une feature) en partenatiat avec les princiaux logiciel de streaming musical que permetterait de diffuser la musique directement sur la page du live et non pas intégré au flux vidéo.

Si l'on prend l'exemple de Spotify, devoir lier sa page twitch avec spotify afin que la diffusion le viewers entende en temps réelle la musique que l'on ajoute a notre stream.

Et bien sur trouver un moyen pour que la musique soit diffuser dans le casque du streamer sans que cela soit capté par les logiciel de streaming de façon simple (avec une gestion des canal audio)

Cela permettrait simplement de diffuser de la musique sans problème de droit d'auteur sachant que les utilisateurs les ecouterait directement via les platforme de streaming partenaire

I recently had a GB Tetris stream get muted because the copyright bot's song IDing listed "Ikon Ringtones" as the owner of the song.

I can say with full confidence that "Ikon Ringtones" does NOT own Hirokazu Tanaka's 8-bit rendition of a Russian folk song. And that's been the problem for years - bad actors clowning around with copyright claims for video game music they don't own. Not only do establishments like "Ikon Ringtones" get away with it for using video game music as ringtone options, insignificant nobody DJs have also been known to do it when they sample music from a video game and then streamers get muted for nothing more than playing a video game.

It's high time Twitch allows us to appeal muted streams based on the supposed claimant clearly not owning the rights to the music, and puts more manual effort into identifying these bad actors and disqualifying them from further copyright claims without definitive proof that they are the owner of the copyrighted work.

Evidence of the situation I describe will be at the end of this description.

Twitch streamers are being DMCA'd despite deleting all of their old VODs and clips that they were told to delete. For those that aren't aware, that media never actually got deleted, just taken off of Twitch. Every old VOD and clip that has ever existed (yes that includes banned streamers) are still stored on a server that Twitch owns.

Now you may be wondering why this is an issue, and more importantly, why is this only an issue now? Well here's the thing: The server hosting this content is completely public.

Because this server is public, DMCA bots have found their way into it, and despite the streamers deleting everything like they were told, they are STILL getting DMCA takedowns because of this server's current state. This is of no fault of their own.

I am not suggesting we nuke every last second of content on the server. Twitch just needs to make the server not public so that streamers don't get struck down for content that they tried to delete.

Context and evidence for those that are not aware of the situation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKJ2QUPffIg

Accounts from other streamers claiming this happened to them:

https://twitter.com/DevinNash/status/1324686842298470400

https://twitter.com/GassyMexican/status/1324481422762061826

https://twitter.com/Heelmike/status/1324168743434493952

Recently a lot of streamers have been getting DMCA notices for streams that are 2-3 years old. 50 Cent - In Da Club has been flagged on many channels along with other music from RIAA. This is a problem because streamers are now scared of getting punished or banned off the platform for listening to the music they want to listen to. This is not good for the longevity of the platform if it wants to survive the entertainment industry.

To be brutally honest, Twitch is not good for the music industry at all. If a streamer has 10,000 viewers and is listening to a song it only counts for one single stream/play/view instead of 10,000 which is what the music industry wants. They want to be able to claim more streams and plays on their songs as that's how they make money.

Twitch is owned by Amazon, which also owns Amazon Music. Amazon needs to purchase rights to a larger range of music for their Music platform. Amazon is a TRILLION DOLLAR market cap company so I think they have more than enough funds to be able to purchase some streaming rights to more songs.

With a wider range of music to play on the Music app, Twitch could implement Amazon Music within a broadcast and can then count viewers towards streams for the Music played.

This will only work if the streamer is listening to the music through Amazon Music. If they are listening to a copyrighted song that's not on Amazon Music, then they should not broadcast unless they want the possibility of getting a DMCA notice. Amazon and Twitch can only enforce what is within their control.

Another solution would be for Twitch to implement and use other music platforms such as Spotify, Soundcloud, Apple Music and their streaming rights for music.

Another solution is to use audio fingerprint matchers like Shazam to identify what music is being played in the background. Then counting the streamers viewers as listeners to whatever song is being played.

Overall, Twitch needs to be able to match the music that's being played in a live stream and count the number of viewers/listeners the streamer has. If they cannot solve this streamers will not be able to broadcast while listening to their favorite music without getting a DMCA.

I do not believe anyone within the past few weeks should have any sort of strike or punishment on their channel for past music DMCA/copyright notices.

I recently had a GB Tetris stream get muted because the copyright bot's song IDing listed "Ikon Ringtones" as the owner of the song.

I can say with full confidence that "Ikon Ringtones" does NOT own Hirokazu Tanaka's 8-bit rendition of a Russian folk song. And that's been the problem for years - bad actors clowning around with copyright claims for video game music they don't own. Not only do establishments like "Ikon Ringtones" get away with it for using video game music as ringtone options, insignificant nobody DJs have also been known to do it when they sample music from a video game and then streamers get muted for nothing more than playing a video game.

It's high time Twitch allows us to appeal muted streams based on the supposed claimant clearly not owning the rights to the music, and puts more manual effort into identifying these bad actors and disqualifying them from further copyright claims without definitive proof that they are the owner of the copyrighted work.

Here's a bunch of ideas of mine that should work if taken into consideration.

As for when I was back on YouTube Gaming , YouTube would block the stream temporarily while copyrighted music is playing that didn't allow revenue ( adrev ) to be given to the holder - no strike is given unless it is video related like a movie/tv show.

Example of money going to copyright holder on YouTube ( doesn't get blocked from a vod ) - https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/474829729128513536/776142264358535188/unknown.png

Blocked music ( this would be completely blocked from the stream ) -
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/474829729128513536/776142610455855146/unknown.png

When it might get blocked if you continue the song :
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/474829729128513536/776143537594564638/Maybe_Blocked.png

When your stream does get blocked :
normally just shows like a little symbol saying. Hey this stream has been temporarily blocked due to copyright concerns, then after about 30 seconds the stream comes back after it finds out if the song holder can get ad revenue.

As for Facebook Gaming as of recently allowing multiple big companies licensing there is a little warning on the dashboard when you can't play curtain song but no strike is given. They teamed up with multiple big companies like Sony Warner and some bigger companies

More details on that : https://www.facebook.com/fbgaminghome/blog/making-music-and-streaming-easier

( not gonna lie if Facebook can do it Twitch can do it better )

I also personally feel a secondary Audio channel would help streamers as well , as long as it doesn't go into the actual VOD of the livestream sorta like how twitch soundtrack works. ( would be great especially on games that require the songs to play sorta like beat saber , just dance ext. - since that game has a lot of copyright ) - Two volume controllers since you never know how loud things will be.

Spotify Integration? Make it so your audience can connect their Twitch up to Spotify sorta like how Discord has theirs. ( maybe even build it into the app )

Any vods/clips before October 23rd 2020 ( since this is when normal DMCA takedowns started to happen ) this should be allowed to be removed without strikes since you guys said you would without any issues.

One of my friends recently got a strike from a clip from 3 years ago even though this tweet happened saying - First, we will begin the work to extend our use of Audible Magic to identify existing clips that may contain copyrighted music and delete them for you without penalty. Over the coming months, this will cover newly created clips as well.

OG Tweet : https://twitter.com/TwitchSupport/status/1270875683787624449?s=20

If everyone who wanted to use recorded music paid a fee, like $10-$20 a month then there should be no issue with streaming copyrighted music. As a Dj i belong to "record pools" where we pay a fee every month to get music. Spotify charges you as well as apple and amazon music so what's the difference. I stream my dj sets for all my truck friends and the music is in the background while we watch videos. Im not making money and dont care to just using the chat and having fun, so for me id pay a respectable monthly fee to play whatever music i wanted

The automated muting of VODs is unevenly applied and mutes too much.

During a recent co-op stream, me and the other streamer both listened to a song that was posted in one of our chats. My VOD was muted for copyrighted music (which is fair, I'm not disputing that). However, there are two problems with this:

1. My VOD was muted, but the other streamer was not, even though we listened to the >exact< same song.




2. Way too much of my VOD was muted. The muted section of the VOD goes on for far longer than it actually played on the stream (and longer than the actual song itself is, too).

If the muted sections were only when the identified content >actually played<, I'd have no problem with that. I could just cut up the highlights in parts, leaving out the muted section. Before I would do pretty much the same, but uploading my local recording instead to fix the VOD.

Now my only recourse is to edit out the section from my local recording and re-stream the entire thing.

When disputing claimed misuse of copyrighted music, there NEEDS to be a free text field to explain WHY I have a right to include the music I have. You cannot possibly create dropdowns including all the possible explanations, and the current three options are woefully inadequate. In particular, for a platform claiming to be welcoming to musician streamers, it is APPALLING that you fail to allow for performances by the streamer (in which the performance rights therefore belong to the streamer) of compositions which are either traditional or anonymous, or upon which the copyright has expired (in which therefore no party owns the copyright on the composition) where there is a different recording of the same composition in which the performance rights are owned by a different party. This needs sorting as the current situation is denying performer streamers their legal right to do as they choose with their intellectual property, namely their performances of compositions which are not copyrighted by someone else.

I have license to play music from Monstercat. I have a playlist with content creator tracks (no non-licensable tracks). My past 6 streams, I get muted audio. I know exactly what the muted audio is used for, which is muting "copyrighted songs". Which is true, but I pay license to play them. Now, I edit my streams, music still in my videos, and upload them on YouTube, but I don't get claimed there. This is all in Twitch's end. I hope this can be fixed, because I pay money to pay money so I don't get claimed, or muted audio, and I'm getting muted audio.

With the wave of mass-deletion we have found that the methods for reviewing DMCA claims and taking appropriate action has been like trying to change a light bulb with no hands.

I propose:

Since all deleted content is held in archives, it should become viewable to only the streamer who can selectively re-publish content that does not have DMCA strikes. Furthermore, they can take action to mute content, appeal or delete the content totally.

Any content with a DMCA strike goes into the "hidden" directory that the creator can access. They will then have some options for how to handle it. The portions of video with DMCA strikes will be highlighted but can be adjusted and sent for review. This is to combat the auto-mute system from over-muting a video.

From this dashboard, a creator can either upload their license and documentation or send an appeal with reasoning.

I also suggest that Twitch add the name of the rightsholder and the song/sound. That way a user can fact check on their own end and make an informed appeal if necessary.

Twitch should also make available a list of games that are frequently DMCA'd due to their in-game soundtrack. Some companies care and others don't. We'd like to know beforehand which games to spend money and time on.

Dear Twitch Overlords and Emperors (and maybe Mr. Bezos himself),

My name is Rob and I hail from a band called Psychostick, and we've been active professionally since about 2005. We've gone through the gamut of the music business in our own way and have learned quite a bit about the inner workings of the industry.

The DCMA thing is something us artists respect and appreciate, however since this takedown drama started happening, I believe there's a simple (but probably not easy) solution to this problem that terrestrial radio stations have been abiding by since music became an "industry."

Bars, venues, and radio stations all have to pay royalties to labels/artists for playing copyrighted recordings. These payments typically go to BMI or ASCAP, both of which exist to make sure that artists and labels are being fairly compensated for the use of their music.

Furthermore, other internet-based royalty collection services have crept up, such as SoundExchange.

My suggestion is that Twitch as a whole look into royalty collection services for streamers.

My other suggestion for this would be to charge streamers what a "spin" of a song would be. For example, if a streamer were to play a Michael Jackson song, the song-sniffing algorithms would pick up on this, report it to Twitch and whichever royalty collection service they would partner up with, and then charge the streamer PER SPIN of each song.

If playing a recording of a Michael Jackson song costs the streamer something like five cents, charge the streamer five cents and pay the royalty collection service accordingly.

I can say, with complete confidence, that the vast majority of streamers would gladly pay royalties to spin these songs on their stream. It's a win/win - the labels and artists are compensated, and the streamer gets to play ANY MUSIC THEY WANT without worrying about DCMA takedowns.

Please consider a solution like this. I'm sure you might have already.

Thank you!

• Rob and Psychostick

Twitch has become a lifeline for many streamers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular club and mobile DJs whose only source of income has been cut off in recent months. Therefore, it is essential that streaming services like Twitch remain a viable outlet for music users, while providing fair compensation to songwriters, recording artists, and record labels.

Unfortunately, U.S. copyright law is still vastly out of touch within the marketplace for independent DJs, many of whom make little or no income from their online broadcasts. This certainly presents a unique challenge in the case of Twitch. DJs either run the risk of DCMA takedown notices from rightsholders or else they must clear all the nececssary performance rights themselves.

Needless to say, negotiating individual licenses can be extremely costly and time-consuming even with a team of lawyers. And that doesn't guarantee that the rights in all musical works and sound recordings both domestic and foreign will be cleared for use, particularly in the case of unsigned artists and record labels with a much smaller catalog.

The current statutory license, administered by SoundExchange, is also cost prohibitive at $500 minimum annual fee per channel. For a streaming service like Twitch where the predominant content is not music, that is hardly a viable alternative to securing individual licensing from rightsholders. Of course, it's also questionable whether existing copyright law even accounts for the interactive multimedia nature of a streaming service like Twitch, with animated video overlays, live camera feeds, etc.

Therefore, I propose a two-fold solution:

a) We need a one-stop licensing collective for independent online DJs to efficiently and economically secure the performance rights in sound recordings. This is something I'd long been interested in pursuing under the moniker of "Bitwax". Now more than ever I believe this may prove vital to the interests of recording artists, so many of whom are losing a significant revenue stream from lack of in-person concerts.

b) We must work diligently with lawmakers and the RIAA to introduce a statutory license specially catering to independent DJs for their limited commercial use of sound recordings in online broadcasts, including a reasonable royalty rate and recordkeeping requirements. This could be expanded with a secondary licensing tier to accommodate live streaming of video games, in which the music serves only as an ancillary component of the broadcast.

In 2006, I launched the Small Webcaster Community Initiative, in which I helped to lobby for the interests of small commercial Webcasters in association of SaveNetRadio and other industry partners under CARP. In light of these recent events, however, I am thinking it would be well worth reviving that coalition as an industry trade group, not only to protect the interests of streaming services like Twitch but also to finally give independent DJs (and gamers) a viable means in which to support the musicians that they know and love.

Leslie Krause
www.smallwebcaster.org