Twitch could find itself in a fair bit of legal trouble after some music licensing issues emerged this week. As reported by Engadget, the streaming company has faced over a dozen letter claiming Twitch has failed to get the proper licenses for its music.
Until now, the streaming service Twitch had been going from strength to strength. Most recently the service created a place where famous Twitch creators could watch movies and TV shows with fans.
It also came up with an agreement with Amazon which saw the tech giant add Twitch live stream to its music streaming app. This was a major coup for Twitch and did a lot to boost its profile.
Now the music licensing issues Twitch is facing could cause major issues for the company if they fail to resolve them amicably. It appears that over a dozen groups including RIAA, Recording Academy have written to Twitch about the issue.
Twitch facing music licensing issues
The groups which wrote to Twitch note that the company has taken no action after a number of copyright notices. They also claim the company has failed to acquire mechanical or synch licenses for much of the music on the platform. This means the company has allowed unlicensed music to be available on the platform.
Allegedly, Twitch has neglected “fundamental rights” of musicians and songwriters according to these groups.
The company has licenses from groups like SoundCloud, CD Baby and Monstercat. However, it does not have licenses for any major labels having failed to reach any agreements.
A Twitch spokesperson has commented on the issue. They point out that Twitch has partnerships with “dozens of labels, music distributors and promoters”.
Twitch streamers are likely to find themselves caught in between a rock and a hard place. Twitch does take action on some copyrighted music on the platform through muting it or issuing notices.
However, many broadcasters have become spooked by this news and do not know what to do next. They now face channel terminations after years without repercussions and with a total lack of transparency.
This has led to a number of creators deleting their entire clip history to be sure they stay safe. The main complaint is that Twitch does not seem to be doing enough for the creators out there in a time that has been very difficult for them.
How this issue gets resolved is the next step and a tricky one. It is unlikely the labels will back down on this and Twitch have little room to manoeuvre. Ultimately it does look like the creators are the ones who will bear the brunt of this.