The Twitch DMCA issues have returned, but perhaps in a more controversial and comical way than ever before. Blizzcon went digital this year, which was a wise decision in light of the health concerns with COVID-19. Much of the announcements and celebrations were made on Twitch, the largest video game streaming platform in existence. But the platform is not without its faults.
Twitch has struggled with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) law and fairly implementing it to its content creators. In fact, Twitch’s CEO recently apologized for the DMCA controversies and how it has affected both streamers and fans. But apparently, that apology has not yet come with wholesale change for the platform. During Blizzcon, the heavy metal band Metallica took the stage to perform and the results were confounding.
Almost immediately after James Hetfield and company started playing, generic 8-bit style music replaced the heavy metal rock tunes of Metallica. This royalty-free type of music is a far cry from the jams that fans have come to love from a band that is one of the most popular of all time. What is very interesting is that this occurred on the Twitch Gaming Channel. Twitch seemingly automatically recognized the famous tunes and wanted to avoid DMCA claims from the band that was currently playing so it quickly replaced it. There was once a video game in development based on Metallica, so it is clear that the band enjoys gaming as well. Playing during Blizzcon may have been a fun opportunity, but that was quickly replaced by 8-bit folk tunes.
What is also interesting about the situation is that the music was only replaced on the official Twitch Gaming Channel, not other locations such as Blizzard’s Twitch. YouTube has not been cracking down quite as hard on DMCA issues either, so Blizzard’s YouTube stream also maintained the Metallica music as well.
The idea that Metallica would have hit Blizzard and Twitch with DMCA claims for playing its music during a live stream when it was the one performing the music is downright laughable. There have been Twitch streamers banned for DMCA strikes, so it is understandable that the platform is being careful, but it also would seem that a platform as big as Twitch would come up with better solutions.
There are new laws put in place on a regular basis to protect intellectual properties and those who create them, and perhaps for good reason. But that does make life more difficult for streamers and content creators on places like Twitch or YouTube. And those laws are certainly not supposed to circle back and create a more difficult situation for the creators of the property in the first place; in this case Metallica itself.
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