By Peyton Reed

 

Twitch is an online streaming platform owned by Amazon that allows creators to host watch parties. While creators can make a variety of content, from cooking classes to wildlife cameras, it is most popular for game streaming. Hundreds of thousands of viewers tune in to see top twitch streamers play popular games like Among Us or Minecraft. [1] Twitch’s popularity has seen a slow but consistent growth since the site’s creation in 2011.[2] In 2018, monthly broadcasters nearly doubled. [3] A survey by GlobalWebIndex shows that 42% of young adults have watched a twitch stream recently.[4]

 

Twitch is popular for both amateur and professional game streamers. After building a successful following, the creator can join the Twitch Affiliate Program.[5] To be eligible, Affiliates need at least 50 followers and to meet specific viewer milestones over a 30 day period. [6] The top-performing creators are able to become a Twitch Partner.[7] Both Affiliates and Partners can charge subscription prices and earn income from their streaming services.

 

In June, Twitch began to crack down on copyright violations and issue Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) take down notifications.[8]  The most frequently tagged content for DMCA violations are clips. Clips are short, sixty second highlight reels for longer gaming sessions that contain the most exciting parts of the stream.[9]

 

A new wave of DMCA notices rolled out in late October, but this time Twitch has taken additional measures.[10] Typically, DMCA takedown notices give the recipient the ability to file a counter notice to keep up the flagged content. Rather than giving creators an opportunity to file a counternotice, Twitch decided to delete the content instead. Rod Breslau, an esports and gaming consultant, tweeted a portion of the email Twitch creators received after the content was deleted from their video archives.[11] The email reads “We recognize that by deleting this content, we are not giving you the option to file a counter-notification or seek a retraction from the rights holder. In consideration of this, we have processed these notifications and are issuing you a one-time warning to give you the chance to learn about copyright law and the tools available to manage the content on your channel.”

 

This new wave of DMCA crack downs has created a lot of fear and anger. Affiliates and Partners are concerned because the Twitch Terms of Service threaten to ban repeat copyright infringers.[12] Not only are creators losing their content, but their livelihoods are at stake for those who rely on their streaming income. One of the biggest complaints is that the email notifications do not specifically identify what content is in violation of copyright law. Devin Nash, the former CEO of CLG CEO and Twitch streamer, is highly critical of Twitch’s approach.[13] Nash call’s Twitch’s solution to DMCA “pure, gross negligence.”[14]

 

Twitch streamers are beginning to respond to the DMCA take downs in creative ways. In response to Twitch’s suggestion to mute in-game audio, one user posted a video on Twitter playing Skyrim using her own sound effects. She reads the lines, makes sound effect, and even sings the Skyrim theme song.[15] Her video has over 300,000 views.[16] In the coming months, it will be interesting to watch Twitch streamers adapt to the copyright crackdowns and watch how it effects content creation on the site.

 

[1] Twitch, https://www.twitch.tv/p/en/about/ (last visited Nov. 19, 2020).

[2] Mansoor Iqbal, Twitch Revenue and Usage Statistics (2020), Business of Apps (Last Updated Oct. 30, 2020), https://www.businessofapps.com/data/twitch-statistics/#1

[3] Id.

[4] Duncan Kavanagh, Watch and Learn: The Meteoric Rise of Twitch, GlobalWebIndex (Aug. 20, 2019), https://blog.globalwebindex.com/chart-of-the-week/the-rise-of-twitch/

[5] Twitch Affiliate Program, https://affiliate.twitch.tv/ (last visited Nov. 19, 2020).

[6] Id.

[7] Twitch Partner Program, https://www.twitch.tv/p/partners/ (last visited Nov. 19, 2020).

[8] Bijan Stephen, Twitch streamers are getting blindsided by years-old copyright notices, The Verge (Jun 8, 2020), https://www.theverge.com/21284287/twitch-dmca-copyright-takedowns-clips-controversy-broken-system

[9] Id.

[10] Bijan Stephen, Twitch streamers are getting DMCA takedown notices (again), The Verge (Oct. 20, 2020), https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/20/21525481/twitch-streamers-dmca-takedown-notices-riaa-copyright

[11] Rod Breslau (@Slasher), Twitter (Oct. 20, 2020, 2:26 PM), https://twitter.com/Slasher/status/1318619536191594502?s=20

[12] Twitch: Digital Millennium Copyright Act Notification Guidelines, https://www.twitch.tv/p/legal/dmca-guidelines/ (last visited Nov. 19, 2020).

[13] Alan Bernal, Twitch streamers outraged as new DMCA warning forces them to delete clips, Dexerto (Oct. 21, 2020), https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/twitch-streamers-outraged-as-new-dmca-warning-forces-them-to-delete-clips-1436293/.

[14] Id.

[15] Jambo All The Way (@PlayWithJambo), Twitter (Nov. 12, 2020, 8:55 PM), https://twitter.com/PlayWithJambo/status/1327067580163645445.

[16] Id.

 

Image Source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/49d92f8a-2767-4325-97e4-95c626f4a414