Twitch broadcasting is probably the best way to get yourself noticed in the wide world of video game live streaming, with the service hosting thousands of popular channels that can be viewed on your PC, as well as mobile devices with iOS and Android. A recent update for the Android version which added enhanced user profiles went live just a few weeks ago.
Many of the best and most well known streamers play a little music in the background while they’re wowing the audience with their amazing play. It serves a twofold purpose, entertaining the audience, plus also aiding in concentration for the player by adding a little atmosphere.
However this isn’t going down too well with the music industry, as recently Twitch has backed down after frequent demands to ‘censor’ audio which contains copyrighted songs by famous artists. Apparently this redistribution is hurting artists, because, you know, everyone totally goes onto Twitch because of the free music.
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The streaming service has entered into a partnership with software provider Audible Magic which uses very sensitive software to “to scan past and future [videos-on-demand] for music owned or controlled by” those who pay them large amounts of money. Combined with a music industry that jealously guards hit songs from any kind of free distribution and you have a recipe for disaster, a disaster that has now swept up Twitch with it.
Thankfully, Twitch has confirmed that the blocking will only roll out on pre recorded broadcasts, meaning audio from live streams won’t be affected. However, if you’re looking to catch up on some of the biggest gaming events of the year (such as Valve’s Dota 2 tournament, The International) you’ll find that large parts of the audio are missing.
It’s not all doom and gloom, as Twitch has offered users some free-to-use music alternatives, plus a chance at unflagging your videos if they have been wrongly censored, in a recent blog post, you can find it here.
Another blow to Twitch users was the recent announcement that users can no longer save their broadcasters for ever on the site. Previously broadcasts could remain on a user’s profile indefinitely, but now Twitch Turbo users and partner streamers will only see their videos saved for 60 days. Saving videos forever will remain in a small capacity, with anything saved being capped at two hours.
Source: Twitch