Jokes aside, kudos to you for coming up with what's been the only available legal option for the past decade or so! Judging by this, your platform will still have some advantages:
> No Vods, Clips, or Highlights
> DJs opted into the program will not be able to save VODs, Clips, or Highlights to Twitch. VODs, Clips and Highlights involve different rights than live streams. We are creating additional promotional and discovery opportunities to extend the reach and impact of DJ content.
Additionally, Twitch isn't providing any features to help DJ creators make up for this loss in earnings, so this is effectively just a way for Twitch to avoid DMCA lawsuits while making it easier for DJs to stream.
Twitch is softening the earnings (and PR) blow by absorbing the costs for one year, after which DJ creators are going to be in for a rude awakening.
At least, when you consider anything in excess of a 30% platform fee, the amount Apple, Google, Steam etc. consider to be reasonable, price gouging.
From the music creators perspective, a DJ is a platform showcasing their music, so it makes sense they'd pay the DJ some fee.
If it's less of a service platform, and more like a retail store, than taking a larger amount like the 50-70% might be reasonable, but it feels like a bit of a stretch, as retail stores have very high overhead costs in comparison.
I wonder what the real calculation was to get to that 30-50%, and if the DJ's really do consider it to be a lot.
Proceeds to diminish DJs’s value. A mix isn’t a playlist, nor a platform. Comparing a DJ’s mix to a retail store hawking individual songs makes it seem like you don’t have much appreciation for mixes.
Odeza was nominated for a Grammy his stuff is so good. DJing has evolved into performances of live music production. Apache brings an orchestra with him, Illenium has a full band, Sullivan King writes and performs all his own licks and plays them during his performances, Griz's saxophone game was legendary.
My understanding is that this practice is still technically illegal (since live-broadcasting music without recording it is still something you need copyright permission for), but significantly more difficult for record companies to crack down on.
By law they can't be copyrighted since they were generated by AI.
Music is sold and consumed in single-song increments, and that's silly. That's what the industry wants, not all consumers. It's like if you could only eat one kind of food ingredient at a time. There are absolutely amazing artists taking these ingredients and, like a chef, chopping and mixing them together in wildly creative ways. However, accessing this entertainment is very challenging because there is no legitimate online business model for it. This leaves DJ's with a big incentive to only perform their best material live where they can monetize it. Once there is an online business model where they can get paid decently for this material, music consumption will change dramatically in this catagory.
Imagine being able to tune into or stream different Vegas club mixes for your party at home, or at a bar, or at the gym? Imagine a netflix of all the best DJ sets of all time?
Twitch is doing some of the "icebreaking" here, but music streaming is a huge business, and Spotify/apple, and all the others will follow, and there will likely be one or more services that specialize in this.
I use those all the time for different activities, like a playlist for working out, another one for relaxing, different ones for different board games, etc.
But I've never been to a club where a DJ plays (just not really my thing, too loud and not my kind of music). What do they do? Why might someone want to stream one instead of using a playlist?
Edit: there’s lots more to say about DJing of course, maybe someone else will chime in. One aspect to keep in mind is that DJing is important primarily in dance music. If you don’t go dancing at clubs you may not be aware how different dance music is to traditional music meant for listening. A lot of the focus of dance music is generating tension (“build”) and releasing it in a pleasant manner (“drop”). Doing that at a pace that works for the energy level of the crowd at that moment, without unexpected shifts in energy levels, is not trivial. It requires taste and experience, and aims to create a more cohesive and unified experience for the dancers than a playlist could.
Phew! Can you tell I recently got into DJing? ;-)
I'm now imagining a Netflix of the best DJ sets of all time. It doesn't make any money.
Musicians similarly have to "perform their best material live where they can monetize it". DJing really is part of a party, without the party, there's really next to nothing left, particularly now the technical aspect has been as good as automated thanks to CDJs.
We're also more than 40 years now since this was a skilled task: https://youtu.be/uapn-mknXVU?si=3Ulv9NMoil7kMRR6 DJs weren't on big money then either.
> DJs opted into the program will not be able to save VODs, Clips, or Highlights to Twitch. > Our program does not allow you to stream pre-release tracks
Those two conditions alone show you how much they have no clue what a DJ does and this new "program" is just a way for the majors to be even more greedy.
I also love how the problem they say they want to solve has the most meaningless description ever and is not actionable at all.
This seems like double-dipping.
Sounds great that seemingly it coves a lot of the mainstream music, but what's the procedure if I happen to stream something that isn't a part of that? And how can I check what songs from my library are cleared to play/stream without having to actually play them and "find out" after the fact? The pages about this program seem to miss something vital practical information.
> If you stream pre-release tracks, your channel may be subject to enforcement and penalties including termination of your stream and suspension of your channel.
What a shame... Half the fun is finding absolutely new tracks and playing those. But I guess overall this program is a step in the right direction.
TL;DR build sets out of the “twitch licensed works” catalog
> I don’t play major pop records or much major label music. Does this program apply to me?
> We're always looking to grow the Twitch DJ catalog. If you're interested in chatting with us about this, please reach out to dj-catalog-requests@justin.tv.
TL;DR Email them about the tracks you want added (and pray, probably).
> TL;DR Email them about the tracks you want added (and pray, probably).
I think that part is about labels/rights holders wanting to add tracks to the catalog from their side, not for DJs to request tracks to be added. But maybe I read that wrong, worth a try at least.
Thanks :)
It’s crazy to me that the misconception that DJs are playing original music is still around. Even DJs who also produce music play 90%+ records from other people.
