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Twitch tackles use of copyrighted music

Some say it's the "death of the service".

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Twitch.tv, the worlds biggest video game streaming service, have implemented a new system which is much like Google's own DMCA takedown system. The system mutes music that is found to infringe on intellectual property of their owners.

The system "listens" to the music which the streamer uses and then mutes anything found to infringe the music of a copyright holder. This system currently only looks through archived footage on Twitch.tv and not live streams as they happen.

Users of the service are of course pretty lively about the implications behind a system such as this, specifically when it comes to what the system will recognises as infringing content. Some users even say that this is the death of the service, and that the whole system is flawed.

Not only are users of the service meet with streams that are like a silent movie, but even Valve's official DOTA 2 channel and Dreamhack's stream have both had content muted. Dreamhack even pays licensing fees to copyright holders to use their music. Ironically even Twitch themselves have had their own official "Twitch Weekly" hit by the mute button. The funny thing is that the system doesn't only block music played from services such as Spotify and Pandora, but it has also muted streams from people who only play music from the games they play.

Rumours have been flying the past months about a possible buyout of Twitch by tech-giant Google. This might be one step in that direction as Google is well known for removing copyrighted material fast from their video service Youtube. Twitch themselves say they are "voluntarily undertaking this effort to help protect both our broadcasters and copyright owners."

The company also announced that they will be removing the feature that lets users save their streamed content indefinitely. From now on the site will store streams for 60 days if you are a Twitch Turbo user or a member of their partner program. They have said that even with the "safe forever" feature gone, users will be able to store two hours of highlights indefinitely.

Twitch tackles use of copyrighted music
Twitch muted their own show.


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