How to find the best background music for your Twitch Streams

Twitch uses DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) strikes to handle the process of punishing users for illicitly using copyrighted material. Each time Twitch detects an improper use of music, the specific section will be muted, the video may be suspended, and upon further violations, the account may be permanently banned. 

DMCA Strikes

Channels which commit DMCA violations will be notified of their infringement and subsequent punishment via email, or when logging in to the website or software. It’s a three strike system:

• the first DMCA strike committed will result in a 24 hour ban to the Twitch channel 
• the second strike will leave an account banned from 1–7 days 
• the third strike results in the account being banned from Twitch forever.

These strikes stay on the account record permanently, so it’s best to avoid receiving them as much as possible.

Content Claims

Twitch has a system to report copyright infringement if an artist believes their work is being used illegally. These copyright claims will be made by the original owner of the material, which could be the artist, their record label or management, or even a fan. 

Twitch also scans videos with an algorithm to automatically detect and remove copyrighted material. Sections of videos containing unauthorised audio will be muted.

Sometimes the algorithm makes mistakes and incorrectly mutes videos. In this situation an appeal can be made to Twitch to reverse the strike. For full details on appealing copyright claims on Twitch, see this page.

Channel Bans 

Twitch accounts will be suspended for impermissibly playing copyrighted music, for the first two strikes. However, they will take this a step further if there are further infringements in the channel’s content. On the third DMCA violation, the account will be permanently and irretrievably banned.