The big live event marking the end of Season 4 on Fortnite was streamed on over 132,000 channels on Twitch. However, Twitch later made a recommendation: People should rather not take risks and delete all clips and videos of the event. Because the clips could contain copyright violations, leading to a DMCA strike and, in the worst case, a Twitch ban.
What happened yesterday? Last night, on December 1st, the world of Fortnite came crashing down again. Season 4 of Fortnite ended in a gigantic final battle against the Marvel supervillain Galactus.
For the event, Fortnite reached a high peak on Twitch. According to the site Twitchtracker , at the peak of the live event, 132,973 channels were live on Twitch, streaming Fortnite. This is the highest value ever recorded. The previous record was set in June 2020 – when the “Doomsday Event” happened.
So much Fortnite was too much for Twitch, the service even crashed.
Consider deleting all clips and videos to avoid risks
This is what Twitch recommended to the streamers: After the event, Twitch support reached out via Twitter
“If you streamed the Fortnite event “Nexus War” and want to be cautious about risking a copyright strike for the music during the event, consider exporting/downloading the videos and clips and then deleting everything.”
Twitch referred to its own FAQ regarding these copyright strikes. There, it is stated that “repeat offenders” will be banned from Twitch, meaning people who have violated copyright multiple times.
This is no joke, in recent weeks, these DMCA strikes have already spread fear and terror on Twitch. Even summit1g was quite scared of being permanently banned from Twitch. And he is one of the biggest streamers on the platform.
This is the reaction: Twitch’s recommendation seems a bit odd to the streamers.
- A user asks: “Are you saying it’s okay to stream copyrighted music and then just delete the evidence? You’re sending mixed signals here.” (via twitter)
- Another user demands: “You as a company need to come up with a solution. Sometimes you bite off more than you can chew and need to find a solution. Just providing a platform is not enough. I love you guys, but you need to step up your game.” (via twitter)
- A third user says: “So you’re telling me that because a game I’m playing uses copyrighted music at its own event, I could still get a copyright strike? Come on… that’s quite something.” (via twitter)
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The music industry apparently wants to see money
This is what’s behind it: Currently, Twitch is in a difficult position. During the pandemic, Twitch has come into the spotlight of the music industry. Suddenly, “copyrighted music on Twitch” is a major topic.
This has been a major, unresolved field simmering for years. Twitch said: They never received more than 50 copyright complaints a year – now they receive thousands every month. Twitch is obligated to follow up on these complaints and take action.
As long as the problem is not definitively resolved, Twitch is passing the music industry’s pressure onto the streamers. The music industry is urging Twitch to find a solution, which apparently involves compensating musicians appropriately and sharing in the revenue.
The music industry wants to participate in the tremendous growth of Twitch. But Twitch seems to have not yet found a solution.
The music industry has urged Twitch in an open letter to finally resolve the issues with copyrighted music. In this letter, the dramatic situation of musicians and artists during the Corona pandemic was emphasized:
The music industry writes a strict letter to Twitch: A matter of life and death
