So, Twitch is now autoflagging videos and muting them

[AJ]

Not sure how many people here stream, but whoops, good luck viewing any past broadcasts !!

http://www.polygon.com/2014/8/6/5976565/twitch-music-content-id-dmca

They secretly slid this in under the radar, and are flagging videos for music that is licensed to mute it. Everything, even the commentary. Which is absolute bullshit.

It's such a broken system, that on my channel, last night we played Mario Galaxy for a while. 29 minutes into the broadcast it gets muted. FOR THIRTY MINUTES. All of it. Why? It says it is flagging it for the content, but the catch is that the only audio is from the game and us talking. Nothing else, we don't play music, we just hold conversations. This was in a MARIO game, so games where the soundtrack has licensed songs are certainly doomed. And goodbye to any Crypt of the Necrodancer streams.

It doesn't effect LIVE streams, but it does effect all past broadcasts, so if you miss your favorite streamers thing, too bad, you can't ever watch it now unless you want it to be a silent film.

You could essentially switch services, but it's tedious to do that when that means losing your followers, for a service that is a lot less known. There's a reason there isn't another "YouTube" out there, even with all of their bullshit. What a mess.

[Keith Stack]

Hotbox is very quick and easy to switch over to, and a lot of Twitch speed runners have already moved over.

My username on Hitbox is ThickSteak if you want to be Hitbox buddies.

[Southbird]

Yeah, I don't do streaming myself, but I've gotten into Vinesauce, and the community is reeling from this. Especially since Vinesauce streamers tend to play Big Label music either at the beginning or during their streams. (They see this as "free promotion" of bands, rather than some kind of unauthorized use, which is probably how it SHOULD be seen.)

But okay, I know Big Label music has been exercising the shit out of DMCA for a while, and it's no surprise to me that they're blocking that stuff. But the video game music? On a site that does mainly video game streaming? That just can't work. I'm positive that unless they figure this out better, Twitch's user base is going to collapse, whether immediately or over time as people get fed up with it. YouTube does do muting sometimes (seems to depend on who is the client), but most often a commercial song just gets an accreditation (This is "X" by "Y", buy it from "Z".) This seems like a much more sane solution. It directs the user to a place the interested party can purchase the music and is basically free advertising. Again, as it probably should be seen.

I did find it amusing that HitBox claimed they were having problems from a sudden influx of new users...

[Sofox]

From what I've heard, Twitch is doing this to prepare for being taken over by Google.

In retrospect, maybe doing something that will cause droves of your users to leave isn't the best idea.

Incidentally, I've heard that Nintendo is also marking their use of music as infringement, which explains AJ's Mario stream and also means that Nintendo game streams are can be muted just for playing their own music. As a guy with a game music radio show, this concerns me as I've always depended on game companies not being as possessive over their music as record companies are. Most of the time, the artists are thankful for the good publicity, I even got a good reception from one of the guys on the Sonic Chronicles soundtrack.

Thankfully, I haven't played much Nintendo music on my show, so we'll see how things go.

[Southbird]

From what I've heard, Twitch is doing this to prepare for being taken over by Google.

I'm sure this is the case, but still, Twitch is not YouTube, and they should try to do this better to serve their user base, or else they have to just come forward and say "We can't serve you guys anymore because of the Googles."

Incidentally, I've heard that Nintendo is also marking their use of music as infringement, which explains AJ's Mario stream and also means that Nintendo game streams are can be muted just for playing their own music.

Yeah, this has really surprised me, as usually video game music doesn't usually define a large segment of income in the US. And unlike Big Label music, the music in a video game is just sort of a component. I could understand people who are giving away ISOs of the entire game, which is somewhat like giving downloads to MP3s of Big Label music. I don't know, I don't like where any of this is going, and I understand the motives less and less every day.

As a guy with a game music radio show, this concerns me as I've always depended on game companies not being as possessive over their music as record companies are. Most of the time, the artists are thankful for the good publicity, I even got a good reception from one of the guys on the Sonic Chronicles soundtrack.

That's neat that you get positive feedback, and that's how it should be, in my opinion. It seems to me that all music should be allowed use as long as the streamer is kind enough to nudge people into buying it (certainly not just downloading it.) Too bad this isn't the world we live in.

[Vexiss]

money money money money

[Keith Stack]

Muuuuuuuh neeeey.

[Josie]

From what I've heard, Twitch is doing this to prepare for being taken over by Google.

Which wouldn't make any damn sense.

[Sofox]

Actually, that link makes sense. This feels more like the result of an acquisition falling through than being prepared for. Still not sure where the copyright fits into it. The post still brings up Nintendo games (Punch Out music? Seriously?), so.... I dunno? A legal battle where they need to acquiesce and save legal money by cutting services? Just speculating.

[Southbird]

From what I've heard, Twitch is doing this to prepare for being taken over by Google.

Which wouldn't make any damn sense.

I learned recently that the Google acquisition may have been a rumor or gun-jumping. As for what's actually going on at Twitch, I don't know, but it's not good in any case.

Actually, that link makes sense. This feels more like the result of an acquisition falling through than being prepared for. Still not sure where the copyright fits into it. The post still brings up Nintendo games (Punch Out music? Seriously?), so.... I dunno? A legal battle where they need to acquiesce and save legal money by cutting services? Just speculating.

Yeah, Nintendo seems to have recently ramped up its detection and squashing of its game music, but it seems like it's applied inconsistently.