Video live-streaming service Twitch has offered an explanation and apologetic reflection on the recent swathe of music-related DMCA troubles.

Twitch issued a statement on their blog today giving a better insight into their actions around the recent DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedowns. Check out our blog post for more information on this here. The service states that it had begun receiving thousands of DMCA notifications every week and, in order to be able to comply with DMCA guidelines, had to take swift action in removing the claimed content.

In order to allow users to be able to manage this influx of notifications, Twitch explains that they paused the processing of strikes associated with batched notifications and are focussing on providing education for users around music related copyright and educational programs for streamers. Twitch regret not providing sufficient information to users initially and not providing appropriate tools for users to deal with the situation. The service has apologised and vows to “do better” going forward.

More than 99% of DMCA notifications came from tracks that streamers were playing in the background. The current recommendation from Twitch is

1) if you play recorded music on your stream, you need to stop doing that and 2) if you haven’t already, you should review your historical VODs and Clips that may have music in them and delete any archives that might. 

It’s fair to say that adding music to a livestream provides atmosphere and adds entertainment value, meaning that forfeiting the use of it altogether may not be the most favoured approach. Fortunately, when you sign up to Synchedin you have access to playlists available for use in your livestreams and are guaranteed not to receive any copyright claims, strikes or takedowns with your content, and have full claims control!