Twitch apologizes for deletions, but gives little hope for the future

Twitch has apologized to users for the way it has been deleting their music, but has confirmed that they should stop playing recordings on their streams and review their historical VODs and clips.

Earlier this year, the live streaming service began receiving a barrage of copyright removal notices from the music industry, in some cases thousands in a single week.

At the end of last month, it responded by deleting thousands of videos, leaving users in a state of confusion.

Now, in a blog post, the company has attempted to shed light on the matter, although it has to be said in low light.

“If you play music recorded on your stream, you should stop,” he says, adding, “If you haven’t already, you should review your VODs and Historical Clips that may have music and delete any files that might.”

Twitch has analyzed the notifications it received between the end of May and mid-October, and concluded that more than 99% of the notifications were for tracks that streamers were playing in the background of their stream.

But even though he was forced to remove the clips under the DCMA, he now apologizes for the way he communicated with users.

“The warning email that many of you received did not include all of the information that you would normally receive in a DMCA notification (typically, when we receive a DMCA notification against your channel, we send you an email that includes information about the alleged work violation , who the complainant is, how the complainant can be contacted, and possible penalties under our repeat offender policy, so that you can make an informed decision about whether to submit a counter-notification or request a retraction, “it says.

“We listened to your feedback on the little information we provided and should have made that warning email much more informative and helpful.

It also apologized for the fact that it did not provide users with any admin tools apart from a bulk removal tool and only provided this with a three day notice.

Now, he says, he is introducing technology to detect copyrighted audio and giving users more granular ways to manage their file than the offensive ‘delete all’ option. It also plans to make it easier to monitor the audio of live broadcasts shown in recorded content and to review allegedly infringing content and, if necessary, provide counter-notifications where it is believed to be legitimate.

Beyond this, however, there is not much convenience for users. The company says it is ‘actively talking’ to major record labels about some kind of licensing model.

However, he adds, the types of licenses the tags use for other services, which generally take a chunk of creators’ revenue, make less sense for Twitch.

“The vast majority of our creators do not have recorded music as part of their broadcasts, and the revenue implications for creators of such an arrangement are substantial,” the company cautions.

“We are open-minded to new structures that could work for the exclusive Twitch service, but we must be clear that they may take some time to materialize or never happen.”