The subject of copyright often comes up around many popular different services that rely on the use of third-party content to promote or push certain services – a common example of this is often used in different online gaming platforms particularly in online casinos as characters or themes are used to draw newer players in – the bigger the figure, the bigger the draw. More attention has been paid toward this recently too as surging players in online casinos and betting sites not on gamstop continue to grow as regulation adjustments shift to reduce these same players – the latest news in copyrighting isn’t focussed on these platforms however, and instead once again on the popular streaming service of Twitch as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act strikes once again.
Earlier in the year similar issues were found, content creators who had been using platforms such as Spotify in the background for music were issued with a series of copyright claims for this music and it caused a huge stir in the scene as these content creators were required to seek for alternate audio to start using during their broadcasts, this also led to thousands of hours of footage needing to be deleted to avoid future strikes and future claims. But the claims have come back with a vengeance once more, as the strikes have started again causing yet more controversy within the gaming and content creation scene.
(Image from talkinginfluence.com)
The creative director for Google Stadia recently came under fire following a comment made that content creators should be paying for the licensing rights for the games they play much like had been expected with the requirement for licensing on music suggesting that the creators benefit more than the game studios themselves – as the games don’t fall under the same copyright concerns this is likely to be less of an issue, but it has led to some creative approaches needed by streamers to avoid past VODs or future streams from being hit by a strike as many have already found short term bans for not being diligent.
It’s certainly a complex issue, and something that will surely be addressed moving forward as it has larger implications for the entertainment industry as a whole – many of these content channels have become multi-million dollar businesses and as such it’s clear to see why they’ve become a target in recent years after being allowed to operate in the way they had been for years up until this point. This may also mean that it presents certain challenges for newer streamers looking to find their start too, as now additional care will be needed to ensure that no copyright issues are being broken and that they don’t risk early strikes on their channel which could result in a ban or channel deletion. Perhaps regulation will adjust in time and different licensing will allow for more ease of use, but for now millions of hours of stored content has been lost, and for many a huge catalogue of streaming history too.
