Twitch under fire for unlicensed music

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Twitch is put under watch as the platform’s owner is accused of “willful blindness” by music right owners.

During the big tech icons congress hearing, Jeff Bezos faced a grilling in front of the US Congress last month. During the trial, issues about Twitch were raised. A question of should the service consider “proactive licensing” of music instead of “retroactively” adhering to takedown notices. The Amazon Boss said that he does not know if Twitch pays any royalties for streaming.

ARA (Artist Rights Alliance) have since singled out Mr Bezos for failing to take action. They have asked for a public answer to how he plans to stop unlicensed music being played on Twitch and ensure artist are paid for their work.

What does this mean for DJ’s live streaming on Twitch?

We still do not have any official word on what actions Twitch will take; however, a couple of things could happen. Twitch can start to monitor their users intensely and stop live streams that are playing unlicensed music to meet the terms. Another action, although unlikely, is to start licencing music and pay royalties which will accrue a cost for the company. This cost could be made back by having users pay if they are going to use music in their streams.