Twitch has recently been, by and large, a pretty safe place to livestream your DJ sets – as long as you don’t want to keep the recording afterwards.
But it looks like it is continuing to head in the right direction, thanks to a new feature called “Soundtrack”, which is a collection of over a million tracks from over 30 independent labels and distributors, in genres such as “dance”, “electronic”, “rap” and more – with more promised.
All tracks in Soundtrack can be used in streams, free of any come-back or issues. Artists include Above & Beyond, mxmtoon, Porter Robinson, RAC, SwuM, and many others.
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It is aimed at gamers, not DJs, and works using a plugin for OBS that separates the music audio stream and the actual livestream, presumably so the whole stream isn’t affected if there are copyright issues.
The feature has launched and will roll out to all Twitch users over the coming weeks.
What this means for DJs
While in itself this doesn’t help DJs who want to livestream DJ sets, one thing you could infer from it is that if you’re an “underground” DJ, you may find Twitch a far safer place to stream than previously, because so many of the labels you like appear to be signing up to this, and so they would be unlikely to cause issues with your streams.
However, as there are no deals with the major labels, this won’t change anything at all for more mainstream DJs.
But the biggest point here appears to be the direction this demonstrates Twitch to be moving in, as the company places increasing importance on music.
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Twitch poached a top exec from Spotify awhile back, and there has been high-profile programming from the likes of SoundCloud and Beatport recently, with more announced.
Dance labels and artists quotes by Twitch appeared enthusiastic about the changes.
Anjunabeats said: “We’re thrilled to bring a selection of our catalogue to Soundtrack. The crossover between gaming and dance music runs deep, and it’s a thrill for us when fans discover our catalogue through a Twitch creator.”
Don Diablo added: “I believe that the best moments in life bring us together. Great moments deserve great music. I am grateful and excited to contribute to the Twitch community by making my music available on Soundtrack to fuel new memories.”
• Learn more on the Twitch blog.
Phil Morse
