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Playing Music on Twitch

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There are several misunderstandings when it comes to Twitch music and DMCA guidelines. Many streamers are frustrated with the platform for the “new” system without realizing that the system has been in place for decades and the internet just largely ignored it.

Now that technology allows the music industry to easily find when their music is being played without permission, they are making strikes on accounts that are breaking copyright law. Twitch (and other streaming platforms) have to take measures more seriously or risk being sued by the music industry themselves.

This post will cover some of the questions and concerns that streamers have about music on Twitch.

Find Royalty-Free Music

To ensure that you won’t get a strike and eventually be banned, you will need to make sure that you only play royalty-free music for Twitch. The owners of royalty-free music allow their music to be played without having to pay fees for their usage. Occasionally, they will ask for you to give them credit.

There are several places online where you can find royalty-free music. One of the best places is Epidemic Sound. They offer over 30,000 tracks in many popular genres that will allow you to create your own playlists. You can even use a portion of a song when creating a gaming intro for YouTube.

epidemic sounds genres

The music is royalty-free and you won’t have to worry about DMCA strikes. In fact, the platform won’t strike or make any claims on your content for anything you create while having a membership even after you quit being a member.

Each week, Epidemic adds more music to their database, meaning you will always be able to find tunes that you and your audience would love. They also offer a 30 free trial before you have to commit to anything. Can You Play Video Game Music on Twitch?

Spotify Rules for Twitch

Another commonly asked question is if you can play Spotify on Twitch. A misconception about copyright laws is that if you buy (or lease through Spotify) a song then you have the right to play it in content creation. You do not. Regardless of where you get the copyrighted music, you can’t play without purchasing the rights from the record label.

The exception to this rule is that there are a few Spotify channels that hold the rights to some music that allow these playlists to be used royalty free. Here are three such lists:

How to Show What Song You’re Playing on Stream

You can easily show what song you are playing on stream through one of several Twitch extensions. You can upload your royalty-free music to a private Spotify playlist and sync it with one of the Spotify music extensions to show what is currently playing or what has recently played.

Here are two that will work:

About the Author

Luci

Luci is a novelist, freelance writer, and active blogger. A journalist at heart, she loves nothing more than interviewing the outliers of the gaming community who are blazing a trail with entertaining original content. When she’s not penning an article, coffee in hand, she can be found gearing her shieldmaiden or playing with her son at the beach.

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