Streamers such as LIRIK, Gronkh, or MontanaBlack are now deleting all their clips and videos from Twitch for fear of being banned from the platform. The background is the dispute with the music industry over the use of copyrighted music. A threat from Twitch regarding a two-and-a-half-year-old clip set the wave in motion.
In such cases, streamers violate copyright:
- Streamers have used music in recent years to create ambiance
- the “in-game music” that is copyrighted could be heard in gaming streams: For example, in sports games like FIFA or NBA2k
- Streamers encountered music during “IRL” streams when they filmed with their phones on the go
All of this is actually forbidden, but for years it was not pursued. However, this changed in recent days.
Music Industry Overwhelms Twitch with Complaints
This is the backstory: About two weeks ago, we reported on MeinMMO that Twitch deleted thousands of clips that contained copyrighted music. Twitch also warned hundreds of streamers.
The streaming platform had passed on the pressure from the music industry: Their accusation was that streamers used copyrighted music without having a license for it.
The music industry has now raised serious allegations against Twitch: They are indifferent to the rights of the artists, which is why they allow the rights of the artists to be violated every day on their platform.
Then copyright complaints came in large waves to Twitch. The first wave came in June 2020, the last one a few weeks ago.
In June, streamers like MontanaBlack took the warning and the outbreak lightly, as no rules had changed; an old rule was simply being enforced:
Twitch then told the streamers that they should clean up their archives – now they wanted to pursue these violations. At that time, it was not clear what would happen if streamers had more such clips in their archives that violated rights.
Thus, many streamers hesitated two weeks ago about how things would proceed. This now seems clear: A ban from Twitch is looming.
The motto now is: Delete everything. “Nuke it all.”
A 2.5-Year-Old Clip Prompts a “We Ban You” Warning
This incident sets the wave in motion:
On October 30, streamer Jake’N Bake shared a Twitter message from Twitch:
- He had violated copyright with a clip from May 2018
- The clip will now be deleted
- If he has more such clips on his channel that violate copyright, his channel could be temporarily suspended or completely banned
The streamer says: This is a 30-second clip, probably he walked past a store where music was playing.
And for that, he could now lose everything. He asks: How can this even be realistic?
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Streamers Delete Their History on Twitch
This is what happened afterwards: After they received further copyright strikes, some streamers decided to delete all their saved videos and clips.
Streamer LIRIK has been on Twitch since 2011. He cursed and complained as he deleted everything. It hurt him so much, but it had to be done.
This is how German streamers react:
- The German streamer Marcel “MontanaBlack” Eris announced: He would delete all clips and videos on Twitch and no longer save anything. The risk of being banned on Twitch due to music is too high. Currently, there are only 5 clips from the last 7 hours and a 7-hour video of the last live stream on MontanaBlack’s channel. Everything else has been deleted on Twitch.
- Gronkh announced that he would also delete everything on Twitch and eventually upload his archive to YouTube.
- The German streamer and comedian, Kaya Yanar, had already ” nuked” his channel during the first wave in June 2020.
Prior to deletion, many streamers expressed how hard it would be for them to delete “their archives.” Because in doing so, they erase many memories and ultimately their life’s work of the past few years.
The conflict over copyright violations has been escalating for 2 weeks and is heavily affecting the mood on the Twitch streaming platform. The streamers apparently wanted a different solution than simply deleting everything:
Twitch starts a cool advertising campaign, but streamers are currently just annoyed.
