Twitch launches incubator program The Collective for musicians

Twitch has launched a live-streaming artist incubator known as The Collective.

The idea is to provide musicians with the skills to build their careers on the platform.

Twitch’s channel-based format has allowed musicians to foster relations with their fans and offered up new revenue streams.

In May the book Tarzan Economics claimed musicians could earn up to 15 times more on Twitch than music streaming platforms.

Tracey Chan, VP head of music at Twitch, said the platform has allowed music creators to monetise their work and grow a strong presence.

“Twitch is the best place for musicians, not only in giving them a stage for creativity – but also in building engaging communities of superfans that takes them to new heights,” Chan added.

Similar to Twitch’s support of stand-out gamers, musicians will be invited to join The Collective.

They are chosen based on the similarity of their music, backgrounds, and level of their careers.

They’ll work together to maximise time and money with their superfans.

Twitch has “top strategic industry partners” to source, educate, and highlight the musicians through workshops and mentoring.

They learn to identify livestream opportunities, craft their own channel and strategy, and learn to keep fan communities engaged and energised while getting publicity and editorial support from others.

These include Amazon Music, Discord, DistroKid, Rolling Stone, TuneCore and UnitedMasters.

TuneCore CEO, Andreea Gleeson, noted that Twitch has built a strong loyal community, and turning its attention to indie musos opens up limitless opportunities for the music industry.

“There is so much potential for emerging artists on Twitch,” according to Gleeson.

“Through livestreaming, they can earn revenue, find new audiences, connect directly with fans in real time, and build community.

“Our hope is that this program will lead to more TuneCore artists creating their own channels and growing their brands alongside their music in order to move forward in their careers.”

As each creator’s channel grows, they will receive ongoing support from Twitch.

The stand-outs will be chosen for further investment, promotion, discovery priorities and live activations from Twitch.

In February Twitch had 9.5 million active streamers, according to Twitch Tracker, but Twitch says it’s more about usage and engagement.

It users spend an average of 15.8 hours per week on the platform.

In comparison, according to Midia Research, YouTube’s clock in at 5.7 hours per week, Spotify’s is 6.4 hours and TikTok’s 1.9 hours.