Video gaming online video leader Twitch has launched two new music products – working with artists and labels to host royalty-free music for its video creators to license.
The Twitch Music Library (hosted at music.twitch.tv), is a library of songs pre-cleared for Twitch broadcasters to use live and with VODs (past broadcasts/highlights).
Last year, Twitch implemented an audio recognition system that would detect when users were infringing copyright material.
The firm said that the Twitch Music Library was ‘born to offer safe passage through the less-than-clear legal landscape when it comes to audio rights’.
It features a catalogue of more than 500 songs provided by labels including Mad Decent, Dim Mak, Spinnin’ Records, OWSLA, Monstercat, Fool’s Gold, and many more.
Meanwhile, Twitch has also launched its Music category beta – a platform for musicians to use for creating, performing, and presenting original music.
Artists such as Deadmau5, Steve Aoki, Porter Robinson and Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit have already used Twitch to launch gaming-related channels.
DJ Steve Aoki launched his own Twitch channel with a live performance. The broadcast had more than 400,000 total views – and Twitch says it was responsible for half the click-through to pre-order links for his Neon Future album.
Twitch will now host more performances (e.g., concerts, music festivals) by professional artists and showcase “radio shows” created by approved labels.
Its first stab at this new strategy is working with Monstercat’s new 24-hour Twitch music channel called Monstercat FM.
Monstercat has been experimenting with Twitch broadcasters to use the Monstercat channel as a new radio-style music player during their broadcasts.
A Twitch spokesperson said: “While the initial launch lineup is focused on EDM, our intention is to add music from all genres to our library.”
They warned users: “Performing music created by a musician other than yourself may make your content liable to a DMCA takedown request and may make you liable to a claim from the copyright owner.”Music Business Worldwide
