Photo Credit: techcrunch.com
After the recent rise in the popularity of Twitch, a video live streaming platform that was originally launched in June 2011, the Universal Music Group (UMG) has been enforcing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) laws more heavily on the platform. The DMCA Act is a copyright law passed by Congress in 1998 that prohibits producing and disseminating devices, services, or technology that tries to avoid measures that control access of copyrighted works. Many streamers often play music in the background of their streams while playing video games or sit and talk to other gamers in the chat. Some streamers have even started doing reaction streams to popular music albums that have been releasing lately and have been profiting off of the thousands of people who want to listen to the album as well.
Many streamers were sent a notice about the DMCA laws, while others have had their channels suspended. For many people, this is their livelihood and they cannot risk the chance of losing their only source of income. This has caused many of the streamers to delete past streams as well as any meaningful clips that have happened throughout their time on Twitch. However, this has not rectified the situation for some streamers as a few channels have still been suspended, even though clips and previous streams were deleted.
Many streamers are upset and feel as though these DMCA strikes are unfair and strict. A popular streamer who goes by the name of Tray, who has almost 6.5 thousand followers had this to say about the rules, “The DMCA rules are outdated and the restrictions are overly aggressive towards streamers especially when the idea of fair use comes into play.” This seems to be a general consensus between many streamers who are on the platform. They feel as though some artists and industries are receiving free promo from their streams as many artists are gaining massive exposure to thousands of new listeners whenever a song is played.
Some streamers have different views on the topic and do not see any problem with DMCA laws being enforced. A content creator by the name of 3MGLIVE who has close to 16.2 thousand followers states “It doesn’t upset me because Twitch has been trying to get around it but they have to abide by DMCA rules, they have [to] protect themselves first.”
Multiple big content creators have already stated that in order to keep going and avoid these problems, many streamers must adapt or be forced to risk losing their channels for good. A content creator by the name of xChasemoney who does stream on Twitch, in addition to having a career of making videos and streaming on Youtube has been dealing with DMCA laws for years. “Me personally, I wouldn’t wait around to fix the overly aggressive system and instead use alternative means like royalty-free music.” This is a great way for many channels to keep music in their streams without the risk of companies striking their channels.
