How to Play Music Safely on Twitch and YouTube

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a US law passed in 1998. It makes it illegal to reproduce or use content you do not own or have the appropriate licenses for, specifically, but not limited to, online use.

More importantly for streamers: the DMCA defines the rights and obligations of platforms like Twitch and YouTube when infringing content appears on their services.

The DMCA covers all forms of copyrighted digital media, including:

• Music and audio (including short clips, samples, and stream alert sounds)
• Video
• Images and graphics
• Written content
• Digital art

If it's creative work that someone made, it's likely protected.

Two things:

First, the DMCA protects your content too. If someone uses your stream footage or clips without permission, the DMCA gives you legal recourse.

Second, the part most streamers are here for, the DMCA means you cannot use content (music, graphics, characters, etc.) that you don't own or haven't obtained proper licenses for.

The DMCA's primary purpose is to protect platforms from liability for what their users post. It shields Twitch from being sued for what you stream. In exchange, Twitch is required to enforce copyright rules against their users, which means against you.

These three terms are constantly confused, and the confusion leads to bad decisions:

DMCA take-down notice: A formal, written request from a copyright holder (or their authorized representative) demanding that infringing content be removed. Only copyright holders or their agents can issue these. Not Twitch. Not Audible Magic.

DMCA strike / Copyright strike: An infraction issued to you by the platform after they receive and process a take-down notice. This is platform-specific policy, not law. Twitch calls these DMCA strikes; YouTube calls them Copyright strikes. The law doesn't define them.

Content ID claim (YouTube only): YouTube's automated system that claims revenue from videos containing copyrighted material. This is not a DMCA take-down notice and is not a copyright strike, though it's frequently treated as one.

Twitch uses Audible Magic, a third-party content recognition tool, to scan VODs. When Audible Magic flags something, your VOD gets muted automatically.

VOD mutes are not DMCA take-down notices. Audible Magic cannot issue DMCA take-downs; only copyright holders can. The mute system is imperfect: some properly licensed music gets muted, and some unlicensed music doesn't get flagged. This is a known problem with no clean solution.

One important thing to know: Twitch stores un-muted and even deleted VODs on their servers, and those files are searchable by content detection systems. A muted or deleted VOD can still receive a DMCA take-down notice.

YouTube's Content ID is separate from the DMCA process. When copyrighted music is detected on YouTube, the content is “claimed”, and ad revenue from that video can be split between the copyright holder and you. A Content ID claim is not a copyright strike, and receiving one does not automatically mean you've done something wrong.

That said, you can still receive a separate DMCA take-down notice on YouTube regardless of a Content ID claim. They are independent processes.

Rights holders tend to prefer Content ID on YouTube because they earn more money through revenue claiming than through licensing, which is why it's harder to find properly licensed music for YouTube than for Twitch.

If you receive a DMCA take-down notice that you believe is wrong, you can file a Counter Notice with the platform. You'll need:

1. A written notice (hardcopy or digital)
2. Identification of the removed content and where it appeared, links and timestamps
3. A statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for your judicial district
4. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that you believe the removal was a mistake or misidentification
5. Your full legal name, email address, physical address, and phone number
6. Your signature

For Twitch: Submit your counterclaim to their DMCA agent via email or postal mail. Details at Twitch's DMCA Guidelines.

For YouTube: Submit a counter notification through YouTube Studio.

After a valid counterclaim is received, the platform has 10–14 days to restore the content. If the copyright holder wants to keep it down, they must initiate legal action.

Important: Filing a false counterclaim is a criminal offense, perjury. The same applies to false take-down notices.

To play music as background audio on your stream, you need licenses from all rights holders for every track you use. For most streamers, the practical path is to use a service that has already secured these licenses.

See our full comparison of stream-safe music services, including free options.

In-game music is a grey area. A game may have licensed music for inclusion in the game, and you may have the right to stream that game, but neither of those automatically grants you the right to broadcast the music within it. Streaming rights for in-game audio require additional licensing that the game developer may or may not have obtained.

The right to stream in-game music varies by game. Check the EULA (End-User License Agreement) for each game. Look specifically for sections on “broadcast,” “streaming,” or “intellectual property.” Some publishers address this directly on their websites.

When in doubt, turn off in-game music. Some games, like Rebel Galaxy, have added in-game options specifically for disabling music that isn't licensed for broadcast.

A widely followed rule of thumb: games with in-game radio stations (Fallout, Grand Theft Auto) typically don't have broadcast licensing for that music. Turn the radio off before going live.

Coversare complicated because the required licenses depend on what you're doing:

• Performing over an original recording (e.g., playing guitar over a backing track): you need mechanical rights, composition rights, and a sync license for streaming.
• Performing over an instrumental only (no original recording): you still need composition rights and a sync license.

In all cases, a live stream performance also typically requires a public performance license, which is separate from the sync license.

Parodyis a narrower category than most people realize. For content to be protected as fair use parody, it must actually parody the song or the artist, not simply use the song's tune with different lyrics about an unrelated topic. Fair use is determined by a judge on a case-by-case basis. It will not stop you from receiving a take-down notice, but it may protect you in a successful counterclaim.

Potentially permitted, but only if you hold proper licenses for every track you play. This includes mechanical, master use, and sync licenses. You may be able to DJ using catalogs from licensed music providers (Monstercat, Pretzel, StreamBeats) if doing so doesn't violate those providers' Terms of Service.

Twitch's Terms of Service explicitly state that live DJ sets are not permitted unless all content is properly licensed.

Alerts can absolutely trigger DMCA take-downs. In November 2020, Twitch streamer LadyDevann received a DMCA take-down notice and a temporary ban for a sub alert that used a short remix of Cartoon Network's Adventure Time “Bacon Pancakes” mixed with Alicia Keys' “New York.”

There is no “safe” length. Thirty seconds is not safe. Five seconds is not safe. If audio is not properly licensed, any amount of it creates liability. Use alert sound packs that are explicitly cleared for streaming.

If you streamed copyrighted music in old VODs without proper licensing, those VODs carry ongoing risk. Twitch has stated that content deleted through their mass deletion tool should not be subject to DMCA strikes, but they've acknowledged they cannot confirm whether third-party archiving tools have captured that content before deletion.

There's no guaranteed safe outcome for past content. The approach most streamers take: delete VODs that you know contain unlicensed music, particularly older ones with high view counts that are more likely to have been indexed by content detection systems.

No. Mutes come from Audible Magic's automated scanning, not from copyright holders. A muted VOD means the audio was flagged in Audible Magic's database, nothing more. The copyright holder has not been notified or involved. They retain the right to issue a take-down notice regardless of whether your VOD is muted.

It's also worth knowing that some properly licensed music gets muted due to inaccurate Audible Magic database entries, and some unlicensed music doesn't get muted at all. The mute system is not a reliable indicator of what's safe.