Twitch Does Music With New Library And Broadcasting Option
Perhaps taking a cue from YouTube's recent foray into the realm of music, Twitch.tv, more known for its game-related streaming videos, is now dipping its toes into that medium as well. But no, Twitch isn't going to start showing music videos, at least not in the same way. Putting at slight twist to the category, Twitch is offering two types of music channels, one with a library of hassle-free music for live broadcasts, and another for actually broadcasting original music content.
Twitch offering music might be a harder pill to swallow than YouTube's new musical interest. The service, which is now owned by Amazon, has been strict in allowing only gaming-related content on their channels. Twitch assures its followers that it remains committed to its main focus and that the new venture doesn't in any way detract from its priorities. Well and good, but it doesn't exactly say why it's doing so.
At least one of the new features, the Twitch Music Library, is a bit easier to grasp in that context. Last year, Twitch started muting the audio of videos that played copyrighted music in the background, which went against the service's terms of use. But music-less broadcasts are boring, so Twitch has come up with a library of songs that users can use in their live streams or video-on-demand. If you've ever been at a loss on which music will pass Twitch's scrutiny, then this library should be your main resource. At the moment, the library is filled with EDM, though Twitch says it plans to expand that to more genres eventually.
The second musical offering, a new Music Category, might be a bit more perplexing. This channel basically lets musicians broadcast their original music using Twitch, which clearly diverges from the previous gaming-only philosophy. Twitch mentions that a few popular artists are already on Twitch live streaming their games, so now they can also use Twitch to live stream their performances. Perhaps this provides a hint towards Twitch's motivation, trying to bring in artists and musicians into the fold. That said, those performers should ensure that they are only broadcasting content that they are legally allowed to, that is their own, lest they suffer the same fate as other muted videos.
Interestingly, there is another sub-category to this new music channel, that is currently available only to a very select few. Twitch is playing around with the idea of radio-style music playing, starting off with Monstercat's Monstercat FM 24-hour show but is only available for a very limited number of approved music labels.
SOURCE: Twitch