The DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedowns that characterised the second half of 2020 have created some serious confusion regarding which music that’s safe to use on Twitch.

In October 2020, Twitch deleted a lot of content violating music copyright laws, following a wave of DMCA takedown requests. As Twitch uses a three-strike policy for its users – if you get three strikes, you’re banned – streamers were not happy about the news.

So are you allowed to play music on Twitch? Yes, as long as you follow the rules. There are three different categories of music that can be used in Twitch streams:

• Music owned by you. This is music that you create or produce yourself or music that you have played live and recorded.
• Music licensed to you. This is by far the most common solution to avoid the issue. Epidemic Sound gives you access to a library of tracks and sound effects that you can use freely on Twitch, and YouTube if you want to upload your recorded streams.
• Music provided through ‘Soundtrack by Twitch.’

If you use one of the above, you don’t have to worry about copyrights again.

If you do play copyrighted music you will, your content will be claimed or taken down. It can escalate to a 24-hour, 7 days or complete ban of your channel.

To stay safe and on the platform, the best option is for streamers to use a direct music license.