Rhythm gamers on Twitch, known for live streaming games like “Beat Saber,” are speaking out after Twitch issued new guidelines for creators who use music in their streams.
Recently, Twitch rolled out its new DJ program. The initiative allows creators to play copyrighted music from participating musicians on their streams.
But being the platform’s disc jockeys quite literally comes at a cost. Twitch sets aside an undisclosed portion of DJ creators’ streaming revenue to share with musicians. In addition, some creators have reservations about exactly whom Twitch intends the program to be for as it promotes the program across the platform.
Now, it seems some wider changes are coming to Twitch as a byproduct of the new DJ program. In a post on X, news creator Zach Bussey shared some of these developments, with a seemingly revamped penalty system.
Among other things, the rules prohibit streams where “recorded music is the focus of or integral to the stream,” something rhythm gamers specifically take issue with. As the name implies, music is integral to rhythm games.
Twitch CEO Dan Clancy responded to the thread to clarify that these rules surrounding copyrighted music existed before the DJ program. But that didn’t stop creators from airing their concerns.
“As primarily a rhythm game streamer, this is really scary for me,” creator @niwwu said in an X post. “I cannot afford to risk my Twitch channel being suspended because this policy is too vague to interpret.”
As @niwwu appeals for Twitch to shed light on this policy, she isn’t the only rhythm gamer concerned.
“I’ve been so worried about this as rhythm games are nearly the ONLY gaming content I stream, and these are entire official categories hosted by Twitch that have existed forever,” another creator claimed. “It wouldn’t make sense for it to be against [Twitch’s terms of service] to stream in them!”
