Twitch begins copyright clampdown

[Dark Drakan]

Here we go again with the music industry & likely Google (after the takeover) pushing their weight around...

Twitch have teamed up with Audible Magic and made a number of major changes to its Video on Demand systems they announced yesterday. They have now had to introduce a YouTube-style copyright protection which blocks in-game music in videos. This new technology will detect the use of copyrighted music in stored videos (VODs) and mute all of the audio in sections of video which is deemed to be in violation, and volume controls for the addicted video will be turned off (we all know how this ended up on Youtube).

The statement from Twitch was as follows...

Past broadcasts and highlights with Flagged Content are exportable but will remain muted. The detection a muting process will also be rather imprecise - audio will be muted in 30-minute chunks. The Audible Magic technology will scan for third-party music in 30 minute blocks -- if Audible Magic does not detect its clients' music, that portion of the VOD will not be muted. If third party audio is detected anywhere in the 30-minute scanned block, the entire 30 minutes will be muted.

The tech will only scan VODs - live broadcasts will remain unaffected.

Whole statement can be read on the Twitch Blog HERE.​

 

[Gikoku]

Everyone said and knew that it was going to happen and it's still sad that it is. Google taking the cheap way out with an automatic blanketing system for copyright is not the answer, it didn't and still hasn't worked for Youtube, it won't for Twitch. Especially when it's not even remotely accurate when it flags people with legit permission. They clearly haven't learned anything.

It's nice to know that Google's sexy stacks of cash means more to Twitch than the convenience of its own users.

 

[Dark Drakan]

Everyone said and knew that it was going to happen and it's still sad that it is. Google taking the cheap way out with an automatic blanketing system for copyright is not the answer, it didn't and still hasn't worked for Youtube, it won't for Twitch. Especially when it's not even remotely accurate when it flags people with legit permission. They clearly haven't learned anything.

It's nice to know that Google's sexy stacks of cash means more to Twitch than the convenience of its own users.

Guess this gives some competitors a chance as many will want to switch using the services if they come across too many inconveniences. However really hard to find anything that is as easy to use and as accessible as Youtube and Twitch (despite these issues) so both will likely have you over a barrel in due time.

 

[Gikoku]

Guess this gives some competitors a chance as many will want to switch using the services if they come across too many inconveniences. However really hard to find anything that is as easy to use and as accessible as Youtube and Twitch (despite these issues) so both will likely have you over a barrel in due time.

Funny you should say that, as the day after the automated system went live, an influx of Twitch users jump shipped and overloaded the servers at HitBox due to all the registrations. I really hope more people continue to realize that no matter how powerful and rich these companies become, they still don't own you, they don't control you, without users they die. Just like that. Viewers aren't contractually obligated to visit Youtube or Twitch everyday and sooner or later that will bite these companies in the ass if they continue to do things like this.