Twitch CEO Dan Clancy stated that DJ streamers on the site will have to split their earnings with music companies in an interview with the channel TweakMusicTips. Clancy added that Twitch is developing a “structure,” according to a post made by Zach Bussey on X (formerly Twitter), where DJs and the platform “are going to have to share money with the labels.”” He claimed to have discussed it with a few DJs already. Naturally, the DJs discovered that they’d prefer not to give away their earnings. However, according to Clancy, DJs would give up a share of their earnings, and Twitch will cover a portion of the companies’ debt.
In answer to the host’s inquiry regarding the copyright status of music streamers on the site, Clancy made the following reply. In response, the CEO said that Twitch has been in discussions with record labels about the matter in an effort to find a long-term solution that will spare DJ streamers from being served with takedown notices from the DMCA. Additionally, he stated that while the website is currently involved in a “pretty good thing” with labels—a “thing” that reportedly entails Twitch paying them money—it is not a long-term, viable answer. Furthermore, the labels are only amenable to that arrangement at this time because they are aware that Twitch is developing an alternative that will bring in (more) revenue.
Clancy also clarified that live streams and videos on demand have different sets of rules for playing copyrighted music, and the latter is definitely a problem. That’s why he suggests that DJs should mute pre-recorded videos on their own, because Twitch’s system doesn’t always detect copyrighted songs to mute them. The CEO said Twitch is close to signing the deal with labels, but it’s unclear how the Amazon subsidiary intends to monitor live music streams and if it already has the technology to do so.
