Twitch VoDs and music flagging.

That said, in principle I dont have a problem with it, but in practice I can guarantee it'll screw up, by the sounds of it, it already has. There's already a system to allow copyright holders to handle this stuff if they actually want to, it's called the DMCA. If that's not doing it's job then perhaps the push needs to be to update archaic copyright law to properly accommodate the digital age. Some streamers brought this on us in the first place by streaming so much copyright music. Had that not happened, we might never be in a position where this kind of system would be necessary, but let's be honest, there's no guarantee that it wouldn't have come in anyway. Never underestimate the music industry when it comes to overzealous copyright enforcement.

There's plenty of blame to go around for the current situation and nothing good will come of it when it comes to VoDs, but can we also please remember that Twitch is primarily a livestreaming platform and that VoDs are of limited value? Most people export the VoDs to Youtube if they have any sense and apply some editing to make them suitable for on-demand. Twitchs VoD system is godawful and always has been. We've been doing it for years, I mean who the hell wants to have commercial breaks and downtime left in a Youtube VoD right? Maybe my view on this issue is a little coloured because I've been dealing with much stricter copyright stuff on Youtube for years, but at no point did anyone say "Yeah it's totally ok to put on your Spotify and play whatever you want". That's never been how the law worked and that should have been clear to everyone. It was only a matter of time before somebody took notice that this was going on and pressure was applied to get action taken. This shouldn't surprise people, how many times have I and others said that this would happen?

The current implementation sucks, obviously. It's false-flagging, heck it hilariously even tagged one of Twitchs own shows. Speedrunners are getting hit hard by both this and the new VoD restrictions and I feel for them on that I really do. The 30 minute thing needs to go and I have a suspicion that it's entirely due to the way that FLV is archived in 30 min chunks. Maybe if they moved over to a different format they could be more specific, who knows. Whatever the case, did anyone really think this would last? Go to a competitor if you feel the need to, that's GOOD. The more competition Twitch has the more they'll be pushed to improve, but in reality you'll only be delaying the inevitable.

I hope everyone that got hit by this unfairly gets it resolved. If you were playing commercial music, well at least you got prior warning by just having your VoDs hit. On Youtube your channel and earnings would be gone before you knew it in these kind of circumstances, so ya kinda got off easy.

Full discussion coming on tomorrows Content Patch.