It is very common for twitch streamers to want to play music in their streams because this can make their twitch stream more interesting. However, many issues can arise when attempting to do this. But worry not, because you technically can play music during your streams, you just have to be careful when choosing!
To answer if you can play Spotify on Twitch: sadly, by paying for Spotify you still aren’t a right holder and therefore cannot play Spotify music on Twitch without committing copyright infringement.
Let’s see what you can do instead and not get banned.
Table of Contents
Why Streaming Music Isn’t Allowed?
To explain this the DMCA or the digital millennium copyright act must be explained. This law protects music artists and allows them to identify unfair use of their content. After doing so, they either ask for financial compensation or for the content in which their music is played to be taken down.
In the past, twitch didn’t pay much attention to copyright laws, but in recent years they do. With twitch streams and twitch as an app becoming more and more popular, they had to add some limitations when it comes to using copyrighted music.
The Dangers Of Using Copyrighted Music
If you choose to test your luck and use music on twitch streams, several things could happen. Seeing as twitch works based on content strikes, the first thing that could happen if you decide to, once your stream is finished, upload it to Youtube is that your video can get claimed or taken down. The result is a part of your stream becomes silent as the music gets removed.
The second thing that could happen is less common, but still possible. Your channel gets banned for 24 hours. This happens when the person who is in ownership of the music you used in your stream files a DMCA takedown request against you.
You could get a maximum of three strikes before your account gets banned for violating community guidelines.
The most affected by this law are musicians performing cover music, DJs that set up live dance channels, or who have the opportunity to order music to play on their site using special functions for their donors.
Music That Can Be Used While Live Streaming
- Music owned by you/original music-make sure you check that you possess all the rights to your music if you worked with a label on making it
- Music licensed to you-this special license is the most frequent solution for avoiding takedowns
- Music provided through a playlist called “Soundtrack by Twitch” which includes:-Epidemic Sound-royalty free music for streaming platforms, an affordable option with a wide variety of genres to choose from-Own3d-sound effects included, LoFi and Synthwave songs; it is forbidden to play Spotify on this broadcasting software, but you can use extensions to integrate and create your Twitch Spotify playlist-Jingle Punks Music-specifically designed for broadcasters; professionally curated tunes in a large library-Pretzel Rocks-premium package is priced at $4.99-Incompetech-premium package is priced at $20-StreamBeats-royalty free music made by Harris Heller who recorded more than 6 hours of music for streamers to use-Monstercat-monthly fee is $5 if you plan on monetizing your channel, an affiliate with Twitch
- Twitch Music Library– this library can be accessed and the music from there can be used without worrying about copyright infringement
The only way for you to use trademarked music without owning a license is if you decided to play it live and give a live concert on Twitch Sings. You can even sing a song as a karaoke performance if the song is a part of the game you’re playing.
Music That Can’t Be Used While Streaming
- Radio style music listening show- you cannot play music in your stream that you neither own or have a license for
- DJ set-using pre-recorded music tracks that incorporate music that isn’t in your ownership to mix and make remixes that you play in your streams
- Lip synch performance-it is not allowed to act as if you are singing to music that you don’t own as this isn’t an original cover performance of a song
- Karaoke performance- it is prohibited to sing or perform to a song that is turned into a karaoke recording, provided that this recording isn’t a performance as a part of the game licensed to you
- A cover song performance-performing a song that is owned by somebody else, except for giving a live performance of that particular song on your Twitch stream; you should make a good faith effort to perform the songs as close as possible to the songwriter’s vision of it and create all audio elements yourself
- Visual music depiction- a visual depiction of copyrighted music isn’t allowed; for example lyrics, music, notation, or tablature, except for the music that is in your ownership or for which you are licensed to share
So, Can I Play Spotify Music On Twitch?
The short answer is no, but here’s an explanation. When you decide to buy music from platforms such as Spotify music you only have the permit to listen to said music, not distribute it.
Copyrighted music is therefore still owned by either the artist or the record label, so your best option is to opt for one of the options mentioned earlier as the use of music streaming services isn’t supported by twitch’s terms of use.
Issue With The Digital Millennium Copyright Act Law
This law is 20 years old, and even some lawyers claim that it is outdated. A lot of twitch streamers are getting copyright strikes and this seems to be a big issue for Twitch, and we all hope that the law can somehow be updated so that this can be resolved!
How To Avoid Paying For Licensed Music
A company called Royalty free music is stepping in to help streamers in this situation. They do so by buying music from artists and establishing a contractual relationship with them and then selling said bought music to twitch streamers.
Tips for choosing music suitable for your twitch channel
- Choose a genre of music most suitable for your channel
- Decide if you prefer instrumental tracks or tracks with vocals
- Decide how much you are willing to invest in choosing your twitch music
Conclusion
To sum up, twitch music rules can be a bit confusing and you should be careful when you play music there. The music industry has harsh rules when it comes to copyrighted songs and if you plan to play any type of music during a twitch stream you should be familiar with them. Every twitch streamer is allowed to use music that is royalty free or that they own, which leaves room for you to still have music in your stream!
If you decide to perform a song live as a cover song performance, it cannot be copyrighted as you are singing the song and giving a karaoke performance of it.
FAQ
Can you play music while streaming on Twitch?
Yes! If you don’t play copyrighted music that a record label or a music label owns.
Can you get copyrighted on Twitch for Spotify?
Absolutely, because royalty is still owned by the music label itself, the music streaming sites don’t own them. It’s not allowed to play music on your Twitch streams.
Is Spotify DMCA free?
No, even when you pay for Spotify premium you can still get a copyright strike if you use music that isn’t owned by you.
