When appealing muted music on a VOD, add an option for "Claimant Is Not Actually the Copyright Holder"
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.
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Boto66y commented
Recently got muted audio because someone had reposted super mario sunshine music as a Tiktok sound.
Extremely annoying. I can understand and deal with muted audio from the rights holder, but not from some rando thats reuploading it. -
WuskyT commented
This is unfortunately still going on, I just had the Undertale song It's Raining Somewhere Else get muted in my VOD because of someone I've never heard of who sampled it
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TheRamsWay commented
Yup, that's definitely an issue and an infuriating one.
I had the same issue as @SapphireDrew with Splatoon music getting copyrighted by a "Will Hilton". I did get a reply from the label telling me they were aware of that and working on getting it deleted, a few weeks later I had sound on my VODs again even tho the video manager still tells me there's muted music.
Now it's happening again with Super Mario Bros Wonder getting copyrighted by some "Roli" guy. Turns out it's already been taken care of since their illegal reuploads aren't online anymore, but Twitch hasn't received the memo and in the meantime I still can't create a highlight for my VODs without them getting muted, I can't download them and reupload them later since you have to be an affiliate for that, but I can waste my time sending an appeal for each and every VOD (which seems to have a legal value, why do I need to fill a legal form to tell Twitch that their bot is muting something that the "copyright holder" doesn't even own?) and probably never get a reply.
We need Twitch to actually make sure that random people can't just claim whatever they want and cause issues to everyone on the platform, or give us actual options to counteract that. I know what gets played on my stream, I don't need Twitch to run a bot muting random bits on my VODs and to disable auto VOD publishing, and it shouldn't be so hard for me to restore that audio. These people are exploiting the fact that everything on platforms like Twitch is automated, and that it's not done well, I guess to get some money from their claims, and it makes no sense that Twitch doesn't take action against that.
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MaikDeM commented
Seconding with my own similar issue.
On a Yakuza stream, "Baka Mitai" was claimed for copyright and muted. If it were Sega or RGG Studios or something, totally fine, but the claim calls it:
"I'm Baka Mitaing Ova ***** & They Tryin 2 Deepfake Me Again
Viper"Searching returns plenty of results, but absolutely nothing to relating to Yakuza/Like A Dragon or ownership of "Baka Mitai". Just this scam.
There needs to be a specific Appeal option for this scenario.
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Oshimia_ commented
Currently having half of my videos getting muted sections because I'm using copyright free music from Pixabay (which specifically does not allow people to claim copyright on the music they publish) that has been effectively stolen by someone calling themselves "Join Hiddlestone". It appears that this person is doing this a lot and has *lots* of tracks that appear to be nothing more than repackaged free music from places like Pixabay. Going by the comment list this appears to be a growing problem and Twitch needs to do something about it.
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TuuliKauri commented
Twitch, please take action and report this ongoing situation to your vendor. You are receiving poor service from them that does not uphold copyright. They are allowing false claimants to exist in their system, and not taking action to remedy it.
In addition, Twitch would receive better service if Creators were able to report these false claimants as this userVoice suggests, and then Twitch can advocate on behalf of Creators and Viewers for better copyright services.
This is an ongoing issue. I am using CCBYSA music in my intro, which is muted every time due to a false attribution error to another artist in the database. This means I need to Appeal Muted Audio for every stream, which I have been doing; and the appeal has been granted every time. However the music continues to be automatically detected and muted, despite it being the exact same as the granted appeals every time.
I have also now received an email from Twitch "Warning: Copyrighted audio detected in your VOD(s)". This email states that due to my repeated muted audio, VODs are unpublished and clips deleted. This is to protect against possible DMCA claims. There's also a link "You can learn more about copyrighted audio warnings in this help article." but the page 404's. https://help.twitch.tv/s/article/audible-magic
I have been in touch with the true artist and copyright holder, who is also attempting to have their music released from these false claims. I have provided them info about the copyright detection.
I have been in touch with the 3rd party vendor "Audible Magic" that Twitch uses, in order to report this false claim - the info exists in their database, and the detection is provided by them. Possibly it was through a fraudulent claim submission by the false claimant. However I reached out to them through a general support channel and they have not responded.
I also cannot find a copy of the supposed song that is being infringed - it does not appear to have been published online.
This whole situation is really an example of how the bigger system (beyond Twitch) is broken. BUT I sincerely hope that Twitch takes the issue on-board. By advocating for better copyright protection, and putting in place tools that help to do that (like reports of false claims), you are helping creators, musicians, and upholding Creative Commons music rights. I'm just one streamer. The musician who's music is falsely claimed is just one musician. But Twitch could collect these reports and submit thousands of them on behalf of musicians and in support of creative and legal use of music.
Thanks.
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HeadHunterrjr commented
ive had near enough half my streams muted while playing Sunkenland cause apparently it picked up Dreamy ocean waves with bonfire flames sounds from Sounds of planet earth??? xD
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Alirien14 commented
I've had a track from Epidemic Sound be continually muted in recent weeks as Twitch believes it to be a differently titled song by a Noah Oliver, the only result for which that I can find is a TikTok audio with a distorted voice layered over the first 10-20 seconds. The rest of the song is identical. I haven't bothered appealing because it hasn't truly been a problem for me, and I'm going to alert ES to the issue, but I agree that "Inaccurate Content ID" or "Claimant is Incorrect Copyright Holder" should be options for appeals.
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Farnham__TheDrunk commented
This is indeed a great issue... EVERY TIME i play Terranigma (SNES), some weirdo artist (Jo $upreme) claims its his song.... Its beyond annoying!!! Just because he sampled the music from the game does NOT make it his!!! It becomes even more annoying when Twitch does not let me submit an appeal... like i literally cannot click on "Submit" !!!
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Sup_Droths commented
another case of lets call it by name - stealing copyrights - original author Catiso - Skyline stolen by Down To Earth mesiino. Appeal wronly resolved in favor of theifs
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Drone1ofall commented
And again legally used CC-Soundtrack is claimed by a band. This is getting ridiculous.
In this up to date example: I use "Quinn's Song: First Night" by Kevin MacLeod licensed under "CC BY 4.0 Deed" but it is identified as "Holier Than You" licensed by Arborescence of Wrath. And my appeal is wrongfully resolved in favor for the that band that's not holding the license of the soundtrack I use. What's wrong with you Twitch? Why do my VOD's get muted?
This is seriously an ever growing and growing problem. -
TexErnie commented
This seriously needs to be considered. I have been using a particular song from Miracle of Sound for most of my streaming days. All of a sudden it gets flagged as being copyrighted. MoS's own website states that it is a valid usage of his music to stream on Twitch. There also needs to be a way of providing some type of proof as to why we, as streamers, think the music is allowed. In my case, a web page from a blog from the actual owner stating it is free for use on streams. Maybe the ones creating the claims need to go through some type of screening and not be automatically trusted?
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ThornHawthorne commented
I just played one of my own piano performances on my stream and got a copyright claim from someone who had reuploaded MY VIDEO to THEIR youtube channel.
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Rinvelo commented
I'm getting copyright warnings & audio muted because someone who made YouTube walkthroughs of the games is claiming copyright over the in-game music that their walkthrough videos included. You don't get to claim copyright over a game's music just because you make a walkthrough video on YouTube - and you shouldn't be permitted to submit DMCA claims against Twitch VODs because someone played the same game you did. It's idiotic and there needs to be a way to report these frauds, not legitimize them with the current DMCA dispute process.
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mvtl33_Co commented
I have been an entertainment industry professional for over 30 years, and what streaming platforms choose to interpret as copyright law is atrocious. I DJ on Twitch now, and two of my videos have had audio blanking despite the scrolling message coming from my LICENSED COPY OF VIRTUAL DJ that i ALSO HAVE A PRS LICENSE under FATAL FLOOR PRODUCTIONS, which is a NOT FOR PROFIT LLC. What is frustrating is that there is NO WAY of preventing these incorrect censorships, nor does one have a line of communication to refute such erroneous, and sometimes downright fraudulent claims; FURTHERMORE, this is causing MORE HARM to the artists themselves, who see no proportional revenue from streamers due to censorship, as repeated airplay of their song is supposed to generate revenue - which is WHAT THE PRS are for! I have the lawful and legal right to not only play music under this license, but there should also be no given reason why they should censor the recording, since I am playing the song ON MP3, at a different pitch, different speed, and NOT CLAIMING TO OWN THEIR MATERIAL AT ALL!
Twitch, you have the option to lead the way, here; in no way is a streamer claiming to own a song - they are just sharing it. If that streamer has a PRS license, why is there no option to tell you that? This way feels more like corporate supression of the revenues of artists...which is currently forming a very large picket line in Hollywood right now.
Copyright law is NOT that confusing. Not when you own and run a production company.
FOLLOW ME FOR MORE TIPS, TWITCH. Lee "Mutlee" Smith, Fatal Floor Productions NFP LLC
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FaeofWolfPackGamers commented
Correction, It's been muted like 3 or 4 more times by the same person. It's getting tiring to appeal a song that is not even owned by the claiment.
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FaeofWolfPackGamers commented
My friend and I use the same song for our starting soon screen and have used the song many times for YouTube videos. We got the song from YouTube audio library. Someone tried to claim the song as their own and when I did research they put it that they created the song November of 2022. I'm sorry, if you created the song in 2022, how did we use the song back in our first video in 2020. Once I appealed it, it didn't get copyrighted again but I was annoyed. My friend had to appeal it in her side as well.
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frogge_gamer commented
I use the same song for every stream I do for the "Starting Soon" and "AFK" screen, and sometimes it'll get claimed by 3 separate people.
None of them own the song. I got it FOR FREE from YouTube's Audio Library. Completely free to use, no rights or attributions needed.
I've appealed every time they strike it, but honestly getting tired of these CLOWNS saying it's theirs. Lemme flag them as untrustworthy so they can't be doing this **** to everyone else.
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FaeofWolfPackGamers commented
We had our intro song muted because someone used it in their video even though even in their description they are not the artist. Its a DMCA free Song
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NapalmX5 commented
I've had my War Thunder stream get a portion muted for some random nobody's song that absolutely never appeared in the stream. I just recently had my OoT stream muted three times for the Lost Woods, two of them coming from Zay NNA and the last coming from someone named Damon White. Neither of those has any real claim on Legend of Zelda music that Twitch's bot could hit with mutes over, I'm quite certain Nintendo would agree.