Twitch is starting with a small group of labels and distribution platforms - including indie favorites like Dim Mak, along with bigger players like SoundCloud and DistroKid. The implications of that particular decision are wild. View of the Soundtrack application Image: Twitch

It also links to the artist’s Spotify page and their Twitch channel, if they happen to have one. At the bottom of the stream, there’s a widget that shows what song is currently playing, which updates live. So, if you’re watching a streamer who’s using Soundtrack in their broadcast, you’ll see some thoughtful additions from the Twitch product team. (In a word: it solves the desktop audio problem.) That integration allows Twitch to automatically strip the music from the VOD of your live stream - because songs that are cleared for live use aren’t necessarily also cleared for use in recordings - and at the same time allows the site to do a lot of cool platform-side things with the music itself. Soundtrack separates the music stream into its own channel and broadcasts it simultaneously but, crucially, separately. It’s a separate application that interfaces with your streaming software - it currently supports OBS and Streamlabs OBS, for now. Which is why what Twitch’s Soundtrack actually does is super interesting. (It’s also worth noting that VODs are automatically muted if they’re found to contain copyrighted music.) Twitch streamers were also hit with a wave of copy strikes from labels back in June, sometimes from years-old clips they had no hand in making. Three strikes mean a permanent ban from Twitch. If viewers make clips from that broadcast, however, or the VOD of the stream is left online, it’s possible that the streamer will get a copyright strike from the original rights holder.

If you do happen to use copyrighted music during a broadcast, there’s not a whole lot Twitch can necessarily do because it’s being played live.

The issue that Soundtrack is solving is pretty simple: if music is copyrighted, you can’t use it while you’re streaming unless you have the rights to those songs. It might change how you think about using music on Twitch entirely. If the product works the way Twitch says it does, Soundtrack will be much more than just a way to play rights-cleared music while you’re broadcasting. Today, Twitch releases Soundtrack, a new product that allows streamers to play music while they’re live - or, at least, that’s the simplest way to explain it.

Sound clips for streamers