For years now, the video gaming industry has been growing thanks to the prevalence of video game streamers who live stream old, new, and upcoming video games for websites like Twitch. Twitch is currently one of the most popular video game streaming websites, with 220,000 affiliate streamers and 27,000 partnered streamers gaining a large audience through the site alone.
Streamers often use music as background noise for the stream, but if they use copyrighted music, their videos or channels can be taken down through a DMCA strike. How do they get their music for Twitch without risking the ire of other music companies? Read on for advice on how to get the best royalty free music for Twitch.
Rules For Twitch
Streaming copyrighted music may not automatically get your stream taken down. But, if you have an archived video of a previously recorded stream, or VoD (Video On Demand), that VoD will likely get muted so no one can hear its audio. More guidelines related to what type of music can be streamed is available on Twitch’s website.
Copyrighted Vs. Royalty Music For Twitch
There are a few differences between copyrighted music vs. royalty free music. When it comes to music for Twitch or other websites like YouTube, the main reason live streams or channels get taken down is that a streamer uses copyrighted music that has been claimed under the DMCA.
When using copyrighted music, no one except the song’s original creator can use it unless they have the creator’s permission. If the copyrighted song is used without the creator’s permission, legal action can be pursued by the creator.
With royalty free music, you’re not required to pay royalties to the song’s creator for using it. If you do use royalty free music, you may need to give attribution or pay a fee. Attribution can be placed in links in the video’s bio or through an automated bot like Nightbot or Streamlabs Chatbot.
Types of Music You Can Use
There are three main choices you can go with when it comes to finding the best Twitch music if you don’t want to worry about getting a copyright strike.
1. Music in the Public Domain
For starters, music made before 1924 (as of 2020) is part of the public domain. Either that, or the creator of the song must permit the song’s copyright to end on purpose for the intention of going into public domain. But be careful! Just because the original song is now in the public domain doesn’t mean the recording you find on Spotify can be used. The actual recording of that public domain work can be claimed by whoever created and/or distributed it.
Creative Commons licenses are a type of license that allows the creator the ability to permit others using their content for personal, creative, or commercial use. Meanwhile, the creator gets to protect their rights and make sure they get credit for their content. Because there are multiple Creative Commons licenses available for use, you must carefully read any license terms.
3. Royalty Free Music
Royalty free music for gaming is typically found using a specialized gaming music library like Pretzel, which is a curated collections of music made especially for online content creators (in this case, Twitch streamers). Twitch itself has a music library of their own that can be used in exchange for link attribution at music.twitch.tv.
As you can see, there are many routes and websites you can take when it comes to choosing the best royalty free music for Twitch. Any streamer on Twitch wants to choose audio that will both fit their personal aesthetic and please their growing audiences. If the audience likes it, they will listen to the music and watch the stream at the same time. Depending on the time and effort you want to expend trying to find the right royalty free music, there’s a wide variety of audio that is already available for you to use.
How to Play Royalty Free Music On A Stream
As previously mentioned, automated bots can be used on Twitch streams in order to give attribution for any royalty free music and play it at the same time as the video. One of the most popular bots to use for this purpose is Nightbot.
To use Nightbot on your stream,
- Link your Twitch account and Nightbot together when logging in
- Go to Nightbot’s dashboard and click “join channel” on the right side of the screen
- Go to the current live stream on your channel and type “/mod nightbot” to make Nightbot a moderator on your channel
- On the left side of the screen on Nightbot, there’s a section called “Song Requests”. The main options there are “AutoDJ” and “playlist”. Clicking “AutoDJ” will allow music to automatically play.
There are other options you can use to personalize your music streaming experience on Twitch. Be sure to use royalty free music for it!
Do You Need Royalty Free Music For Twitch?
Finding gaming music for Twitch can be tricky when it comes to avoiding copyrighted music and many amateur creators may not always know the best websites to use when looking for royalty free music.
If you are looking for royalty free music for Twitch streaming, check out our site. Our music fits any mood a Twitch streamer could want and do so at an affordable price. Let us help fulfill your music needs for the next time you live stream!