In an interview with the channel TweakMusicTips, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy said DJ streamers on the platform will have to share revenue with music labels. As he posted Zach Bussey at X (ex-Twitter) Clancy said Twitch is working on a “structure” where DJs and the platform “will have to share money with labels.” He said that he has already talked to some DJs about it. The DJs, of course, realized they didn’t want to share their winnings. But Clancy said Twitch will pay off a portion of the debt owed to the labels, while the DJs will hand over a portion of their revenue.
Clancy’s statement was part of the host’s response to a question about the copyright situation of music publishers on the platform. The CEO responded that Twitch is talking to music labels about this in hopes of finding a stable solution so DJ streamers aren’t hit with DMCA takedown requests. He also said that the website currently has “a very good thing” about tags — “something” that apparently involves Twitch paying for them — but that it’s not a sustainable long-term solution. Plus, the labels are okay with this deal right now because they know Twitch is working on another solution that will make them (more) money.
Clancy also clarified that live streams and on-demand videos have different rules for playing copyrighted music, and the latter is definitely a problem. That’s why he suggests DJs mute pre-recorded videos on their own, as Twitch’s system doesn’t always detect copyrighted songs to mute them. The CEO said Twitch is close to signing deals with labels, but it’s unclear how the Amazon subsidiary intends to monitor live music streams and whether it already has the technology to do so.
