Twitch Has Teamed With Merlin, A Music Licensing Firm That Specializes On Indie Music
Twitch has teamed with Merlin, a music licensing firm that specializes on indie music
Amazon-owned livestreaming platform Twitch has announced a partnership with independent digital music licensing provider Merlin, marking the company's latest effort to court the recording industry.
Through this relationship, Merlin's independent artists have demonstrated their ability to harness Twitch's livestreaming ecosystem, thereby supporting Twitch's goal of expanding its reach beyond video game entertainment.
The agreement between Merlin and Twitch, according to the companies, would "unlock live experiences throughout the world" and provide Merlin members with new marketing opportunities, including through Twitch's musical incubator, The Collective.
Merlin represents tens of thousands of independent record labels around the world, including Anjunabeats, Armada Music, Beggars Group, Empire, MNRK Music Group, Epitaph Records, Lex Records, Mad Decent, Secret City, and Sub Pop.
Twitch has recently reinforced its ties with a number of large music organizations, which had previously criticized the company for its lax attitude toward copyright protection and enforcement. After establishing a bad reputation for being inactive, the firm changed its tune and began taking a hard stance against users who were caught streaming unauthorized music.
According to recent reports, Twitch is now looking to strike a medium ground by negotiating preliminary deals that fall short of comprehensive music license agreements. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed by the parties.
What Merlin CEO said
In an interview, Merlin CEO Jeremy Sirota said, "Merlin and our members are excited to deepen our involvement with Twitch." As with any cooperation, the beginning is the most important element, and we look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration between Twitch and Merlin members and their artists."
Because of this, an increasing number of DJs and musicians turned to Twitch to expand and engage their audiences as the virus spread over the world. In a statement, the companies stated that the agreement would create new opportunities for their artists to thrive on Twitch by providing them with "particular assistance."
Tracy Chan, Twitch's Head of Music, stated in a statement that the company's partnership with Merlin "provides an onramp for their members' independent musicians to our passionate and engaged Twitch community."
Last week, Amazon and Universal Music announced a partnership that will provide Amazon Music users enhanced access to high-definition music from Universal's huge catalog of recordings. Also in the works is a collaboration between Twitch and Universal to enable "commercial possibilities" for its artists to engage with their fans, as well as the development of artist and label channels on the livestreaming site.
A similar agreement with Warner Music Group was signed in September, with the business adding saying that it will also provide Warner and other music rights holders with a new strategy to managing streams that transmit unlicensed music. Despite the fact that Twitch's agreements with Merlin, Warner, and Universal have not yet resulted in an expansion of the repertoire of licensed music available to its producers, they may pave the way for more fruitful collaborations in the future.
Two years ago, Twitch launched Soundtrack to assist streamers with accessing licensed music, despite the company's lack of collaborations with major record labels at the time. The program was developed to drive broadcasters toward a small pool of allowed music, hence minimizing the number of VOD archives that are muted or removed, as well as the number of account suspensions due to the use of illegal audio.
Twitch has been subjected to a slew of DMCA takedowns since 2020, when unauthorized music began showing in creators' feeds, according to the company. Twitch's handling of those requests has sparked debate, with broadcasters chastising the company for removing their previously stored films without warning without notice. Streamers on Twitch complained that they had no method of establishing which pieces of content had infringed music licensing restrictions upon receipt of a DMCA notice following one of these enforcement actions on the service in late 2020.
In Conclusion
The firm approach was taken in response to mounting pressure from major stakeholders in the music industry. While major labels were at a breaking point in 2020, when tensions between Twitch and major labels were at an all-time high, the RIAA CEO Mitch Glazier stated, "Twitch continues to turn a blind eye to the same users who breach the law repeatedly while pocketing the proceeds of large unauthorized usage of recorded music."
Following a September agreement between Twitch and the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), a "more flexible and forgiving" system will be implemented for reporting streamers who are not purposefully using music they do not own the rights to, with a greater emphasis placed on "flagrant" violations such as livestreaming a concert, rather than focusing on "inconsistent" violations such as livestreaming a concert. Streamers who commit unintentional offences will receive warnings before being subjected to account-level penalties under the new approach of enforcement.
