There is great news today for streamers as Twitch begins to roll out Soundtrack, a new collection of free music that can be used while broadcasting that is fully licensed, removing the potential for copyright claims. The new tool is a great addition for all streamers and offers a new way for artists to be discovered by audiences.
Soundtrack will provide streamers with two options, Playlists and Stations. The first are a set of tracks that will be updated regularly, while the second will offer a larger pool of rotating tracks from certain genres. Both will be curated by Twitch music staff, streamers, and industry partners to provide access to a diverse set of artists and genres.
Twitch is framing its new tool as the best way to “stream worry-free”, as the music from Soundtrack will always remain separate in an audio channel separate from your broadcast. This means that archives will not be at risk of suddenly becoming muted or receiving a copyright strike and is one more way to simplify the overall process of content creation for Twitch streamers.
At the start of the beta program, Soundtrack will feature over one million tracks from over 30 independent labels and distributors, including Alpha Pup, Anjunabeats, Chillhop, DistroKid, EMPIRE, Future Classic, Monstercat, Nuclear Blast, Soundcloud, and United Masters.
While streaming with Soundtrack, viewers will see all the relevant information about the music playing. A company called Linkfire will handle this task with a music promotion feature that lets viewers interact with currently playing songs, and to then add those songs to their favorite music streaming services.
Twitch streamers can grab the Soundtrack tool right away, with an early version available today and another that will work with OBS Studio v26.0 later for PC, and Twitch Studio & Streamlabs OBS compatibility is coming soon.
The announcement for Soundtrack comes less than a month after news that Twitch Sings is closing January 1. In a blog post, it was stated, “we have decided to invest in broader tools and services that will help support and grow the entire music community on Twitch.” Whether Soundtrack falls into this broader tool was not mentioned in the announcement, but it does seem to generally fit.
Source: blog.twitch.tv