Twitch ‘disappointed’ in music publishing sector after influx of copyright claims

Amazon’s popular live-streaming service Twitch has alerted users that it’s been struck with up to 1,000 copyright infringement claims from music publishers.

As detailed in an email to users last Friday (May 28), the streaming platform noted that the new Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices stemmed from the use of copyrighted music being played in the background of on-demand videos.

Throughout the email, Twitch stated that these copyright strikes marked the first contact they’d received from the music publishing sector, and highlighted the need to sort out a beneficial solution for both Twitch creators and publishing rights holders.

“We are actively speaking with music labels about solutions that could work for creators as well as rights holders,” the email to Twitch users reads.

“This is our first such contact from the music publishing industry (there can be several owners for a single piece of music), and we are disappointed that they decided to send takedowns when we were willing and ready to speak to them about solutions.”

Twitch was previously struck by a number of similar DMCA takedown requests in June last year targeting DJs and radio-style music listening shows, with another copyright crackdown subsequently taking place later that October.

According to Twitch’s moderation policy, users who are involved in multiple copyright violations on the platform may risk having their accounts indefinitely suspended.