There is music that is best paired with other activities like meditating, running, and gaming. Music just really plays an important role in the lives of many people that it is so easy to pair it up with so many things. The videos or content that you watch online can definitely be boring without music.
When it comes to gaming, streaming is becoming popular and if you’ve seen streams before, you know that music is also part of it. However, if you ask streamers, they are always careful about the music that they play. It doesn’t matter what games they play, RPGs, online casino games, or even mobile games. They are always and will always be careful about getting copyrighted.
Ryan Weller, a Twitch streamer, recently talked about this in an interview with CNN. He said that he recently received a notice from Twitch via email that his account is alleged to have a copyright infringement. This claim apparently came from the Recording Industry Association of America concerning a clip that was recorded two years ago with the song ‘In Da Club’ by 50 Cent.
According to Weller, he didn’t know that clips saved by his fans can also be subject to copyright infringement. Saving a “clip” is an option that viewers can do while watching a stream if they want to save a few seconds or minutes of a stream for any reason. The reported clip that got called out by RIAA is now deleted.
When an account on Twitch gets this type of notice, it can potentially lead to the disablement of the account. For Twitch, streamers are given three strikes. However, they can dispute or appeal the strikes that they receive.
Weller talked about this and said, “Mentally and emotionally, I’ve been a freaking wreck. “If I get two more, I lose my livelihood. I’ve already told my community that if I receive one more strike then I’m gonna’ have to move forward and nuke basically everything.”
This type of notice from the RIAA is not exactly new to Twitch. There have been a few of these notices issued to streamers back then, but it’s just really now that it seems like the RIAA has gotten more thorough about this.
According to video game attorney and Evolved CEO Ryan Morrison who represents pro esports players and Twitch streamers and content creators, it was only in June when there seems to be an influx in copyright notices.
Morrison said, “What I genuinely believe happened is that these record labels have only recently truly caught wind of what Twitch is and saw the money-making opportunity there.”
Twitch also tweeted about this in June. Twitch said that there is a sudden influx of DMCA takedown requests for clips with background music that are saved from 2017 to 2019. The tweet said, “This week, we’ve had a sudden influx of DMCA takedown requests for clips with background music from 2017-19. If you’re unsure about rights to the audio in past streams, we advise removing those clips. We know many of you have large archives, and we’re working to make this easier.
“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.”
The platform will still terminate the accounts of repeat offenders. They could also limit access to its service or terminate an account regardless of repeat infringement at its sole discretion.
Marcus Graham, the head of creator development of the platform said, “This is something every streamer should understand intimately. If you drive a truck, know the laws of the road. If you stream content, know the laws of the internet.” However, Graham also said in a tweet that the DMCA is already outdated as it was created before streaming platforms as Twitch and YouTube existed.
Twitch so far, only said that they are working on tools that could help users delete infringing clips. However, there are streamers that appear to not be happy about this and are not willing to delete clips on their accounts. They are saying that they will just wait for Twitch to take the action against them.
Even viewers aren’t exactly happy about it. According to some streamers, the rules set for clips regarding this were never exactly clear and they were just surprised about it. It is likely that notices will be continuously issued regarding these clips. It’s all up to the streamers for now if they will comply or not.
