Twitch Announces DJ Programme

Streaming service Twitch will launch its new programme for DJs streaming on the platform in July or August. The programme has been in the works for several years, with hundreds of deals signed with all the majors and many indie labels.

The significance of this move for Twitch and the DJ community on the streaming service was demonstrated by a live stream on the day of the announcement, in which Twitch CEO Dan Clancy spoke with DJ Jazzy Jeff about the background. It quickly became clear that the DJs' streaming channels on Twitch would not have been sustainable in the long term if the development of the programme had failed. According to Clancy, Twitch has been working closely and intensively with the music industry behind the scenes on this programme for the past three years, signing hundreds of deals with all the majors, including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music, as well as many indies and rights holders in the music industry, led by Merlin.

The result is a solution where Twitch retains a portion of the revenue generated by the DJ channels to distribute to the musicians. As the exact cost will depend on monetisation, it appears that an agreement has been reached whereby Twitch will share the cost of music used by most streamers on a 50:50 basis, with Twitch initially bearing a higher proportion of the cost. For DJs who are not yet monetising on Twitch, Twitch will cover the costs.

However, the agreements only apply to DJ streamers and only to those who have signed up for the programme. Anyone who streams music without registering or music that is not covered by the programme risks being held accountable for copyright infringement and banned from Twitch.

"One of our core values as a company is that we support creators of all types. When DJs use music created by others, it’s important that any revenue generated on Twitch also be shared with those musicians," writes Clancy in his blog post announcing the programme.

According to Twitch, music streaming on the platform has experienced a boom since the coronavirus pandemic, which has not subsided even after the pandemic. Over 15,000 creators have built up a community in the music category and streamed a total of 162 million hours of content in 2023. The figures have thus multiplied since before the coronavirus pandemic.

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