Twitch warns creators after receiving 1,000 DMCA claims from record labels

Twitch’s copyright problem won’t go away. In an email shared by esports consultant Rod Breslau, the company warns that it recently received a batch of approximately 1,000 individual DMCA takedown notices. All of the claims involve archived broadcasts, with most featuring streamers listening to music in the background while playing a game or talking to their viewers. In the same message, Twitch says it believes publishers used automated tools to generate the requests, suggesting more are on the way.

“We recently received a batch of DMCA takedown notifications with about 1,000 individual claims from music publishers,” a Twitch spokesperson told Engadget, echoing the email the company sent out. “All of the claims are against VODs, and the vast majority of claims target streamers listening to background music while playing video games or IRL streaming. We want to ensure our creator community is aware that the only way to protect themselves from DMCA notifications is to not stream music — or other copyrighted material — they do not have rights to.”

DMCA takedowns have been an ongoing headache for the Twitch community. It all started last summer when the company said it saw a “sudden influx” of takedown notifications. As with this latest episode, most of those involved clips that have been up on the website for several years. Twitch has tried to address the problem first by expanding the amount of free-to-use songs it offers to streamers. It then published a blog post explicitly urging them not to use copyrighted music. As each notice represents a potential strike against an account, another wave of bans could be on the horizon.

Update 4:39PM ET: Added comment from Twitch.