Let's make sure we understand the claims you are receiving. Below we'll talk briefly about DMCA takedowns, YouTube Content ID claims and Twitch VOD muting.

DMCA Takedown

All Songtradr tracks provided to Streamlabs are DMCA cleared, so their streamers will never receive a DMCA takedown claim requiring them to remove their video(s). However, with YouTube Content ID claims, an artist has the right to monetize at any time. 

Click here to learn more about The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) >

YouTube Content ID Claims

Content ID claims are not takedown alerts and do not affect streamer videos or account status. They simply mean that the artist decided to monetize usages of their music. This can happen at any time, with any video online. In addition, we do not suggest disputing claims, as this may have a negative impact on your channel if the claim is lost. 

If you wish to remove a Copyright claim, and cannot provide a license for a track to properly dispute, it's best to mute the track from your video or edit the video to replace the track.

Click here to learn more about YouTube Content ID claims >

Twitch VOD Mutes

You may have received the following message from Twitch:

Twitch Message sent regarding copyrighted audio warnings.

In hindsight, nothing has changed with regard to muting.

What’s different now is Twitch is sending warnings when they mute the VODs and are making changes to your channel settings to default your VODs to unlisted when multiple instances of “copyrighted audio” are detected on your channel.

Twitch will mute VODs regardless of if the music is licensed or not, forcing your channel VODs into unpublished when they detect copyrighted audio. It doesn’t matter if the music is from Spotify, Songtradr — or even music directly in the game itself.

But I thought Songtradr was safe to use?

It is. Songtradr music is DMCA-safe.

All music in Songtradr's catalog is fully licensed by the record labels and music publishers for use on Twitch. We don’t take any shortcuts, every single track delivered to Streamlabs has legal agreements in place with all relevant rightsholders.

Because Songtradr's music is DMCA-safe, that means you will never receive a DMCA takedown for music from Songtradr. If a rightsholder were to issue a DMCA takedown, they would be in breach of the legal agreement they signed with Songtradr, and Songtradr would step in to defend our broadcasters.

You can be confident that Songtradr has all proper legal agreements and relationships with the rightsholders to keep your channels and your livelihoods safe.

So if Songtradr is “safe” why am I still getting VOD mutes and copyrighted audio notifications?

Songtradr reviews the VOD mute submissions and removes the track from Streamlabs until we can work with the rightsholders to fix the issue. Please contact support@songtradr.com with your VOD mute details to submit for review.

This generally means that we need the rightsholder to reach out to Audible Magic, and request that their music be set to “allow” on Twitch.

This system is reactive, incredibly time-consuming for our customer support team, puts a huge burden on our broadcasters, and overall is just not a great experience.

A better system for Twitch VOD Mutes

So, what we need is a system that can be proactive and automatically check the VOD muting status of a song on Twitch. Unfortunately, Twitch does not currently provide a VOD muting or appeals API for developers to work with… so we have to build our own.

We are prioritizing a new VOD mute detection system for Songtradr, that will proactively give us the ability to know if a track will mute on Twitch prior to us making it available in the player. We will then notify the rightsholders that we cannot make their music available in Streamlabs until the mute has been cleared.

This system will significantly improve the experience of broadcasters using Songtradr-licensed music in their streams, and remove the headache of Twitch VOD mutes and panic generated by receiving copyrighted audio warnings.

What about this scary notice that I received from Twitch that says DMCA?

If you use Songtradr music only, it was likely a “copyrighted audio warning” and not a DMCA takedown. The following message is a copyrighted audio warning:

Twitch copyrighted audio warning notification

Let's point out the first line in the second paragraph:

To be clear, this action did not result from a DMCA notification, and no copyright strikes were issued to your account

If you only received a VOD Mute and warning, or receive an actual DMCA takedown for content from Songtradr, please contact support@songtradr.com with your notification details to submit for review.

Note: Songtradr tracks through Streamlabs are not licenses. Although our catalog can avoid DMCA takedowns, it does not provide a valid license for every streamer to stop claims. If you wish to explore some licensing options through Songtradr, click here >

To learn more about the Streamlabs and Songtradr partnership, click here >

If you have further questions, please email support@songtradr.com.