Help me stream music legally
April 7, 2019 8:33 PM Subscribe
So I have an itch I'm trying to scratch. Seeing that there are DJs on Twitch I got to thinking, I'd love to do essentially a radio show on Twitch. Basically it'd be an excuse for me to play my records and talk about them, especially late at night when my insomnia is acting up. Twitch's interactive elements are really nice here, in that the chat would allow for more of a "just hanging out and listening to music with a friend" vibe.
The catch, of course, is that I want to do this all legally. It feels like every direction I turn, there's some sort of catch to doing this right. Twitch seems to allow for this IF you have the rights to stream. SoundExchange seems to have the rights I need, but doesn't allow for a video component (video in this case would almost certainly be just the spinning record. For CDs and MP3s, likely just a static image for the case or album art, with potentially a second video window of me setting stuff up). Chew.tv is like 90% of what I want, but seems to be exclusively for electronic music, which is fine, but not for me. Live365 covers audio and digital rights, but maybe not analog sources or video.
To sum up: The most important features here are community and interaction, ability to use analog sources for audio, and video, I'd say in that order. Chew and Live365 covers copyright, which would be super awesome, but I'd be super happy to explore licensing.
Of course, I could just try to fly under the radar and hope that Twitch doesn't notice. But I'd rather not.
Is this just undoable? Is there no way to do this right? Has anyone tried to do something like this successfully?
(I know, if it comes to it, you are not my lawyer)
The catch, of course, is that I want to do this all legally. It feels like every direction I turn, there's some sort of catch to doing this right. Twitch seems to allow for this IF you have the rights to stream. SoundExchange seems to have the rights I need, but doesn't allow for a video component (video in this case would almost certainly be just the spinning record. For CDs and MP3s, likely just a static image for the case or album art, with potentially a second video window of me setting stuff up). Chew.tv is like 90% of what I want, but seems to be exclusively for electronic music, which is fine, but not for me. Live365 covers audio and digital rights, but maybe not analog sources or video.
To sum up: The most important features here are community and interaction, ability to use analog sources for audio, and video, I'd say in that order. Chew and Live365 covers copyright, which would be super awesome, but I'd be super happy to explore licensing.
Of course, I could just try to fly under the radar and hope that Twitch doesn't notice. But I'd rather not.
Is this just undoable? Is there no way to do this right? Has anyone tried to do something like this successfully?
(I know, if it comes to it, you are not my lawyer)
I don't think this will be possible - that any service could allow you to stream any random records you like and shield / cover you for copyright licenses. Taking Chew as an example, although they say "Chew is unlike many other live streaming platforms, as we're built with rightsholders and copyright owners in mind. We are rights compliant and licensed to the fullest extent possible within the markets we operate in" - that's rather vague as to what licenses they have for what content.
And in fact looking into their T&Cs, it says:
"If you are a copyright owner or an agent of a copyright owner (the “Copyright Owner”) and believe that any content on the Chew Service infringes your copyrights, you may submit a ‘takedown’ request. "
So I think they're just the same as other streaming platforms - operating in the grey area where they turn a blind eye and expect each user to pretend they have permission while doing the legal minimum in obeying takedown requests. A rightsholder would have to be monitoring the stream in realtime and then send a "written communication provided to the designated agent of Chew" for each infringing track by which time it'd have finished playing a long time ago. Sucks that artists don't get paid but you may as well make the best of it and join in the fun!
posted by JonB at 1:26 AM on April 8, 2019
And in fact looking into their T&Cs, it says:
You hereby represent and warrant that:And then further down:
- you are the creator and owner of or have the necessary licences, rights, consents, and permissions to use and to authorise Chew and Chew’s Users to use, make available and distribute your Produced Content as necessary to exercise the rights and licences granted by you in these Terms and in the manner contemplated by Chew and the functionality of the Chew Service (as updated from time to time);
- your Produced Content does not and will not: (a) infringe, violate, or misappropriate any third-party right, including any copyright, trade mark, patent, trade secret, moral right, privacy right, right of publicity, or any other intellectual property or proprietary right; (b) infringe or violate any applicable laws; or (c) slander, defame, libel, or invade the right of privacy, publicity or other rights of any person or entity;
"If you are a copyright owner or an agent of a copyright owner (the “Copyright Owner”) and believe that any content on the Chew Service infringes your copyrights, you may submit a ‘takedown’ request. "
So I think they're just the same as other streaming platforms - operating in the grey area where they turn a blind eye and expect each user to pretend they have permission while doing the legal minimum in obeying takedown requests. A rightsholder would have to be monitoring the stream in realtime and then send a "written communication provided to the designated agent of Chew" for each infringing track by which time it'd have finished playing a long time ago. Sucks that artists don't get paid but you may as well make the best of it and join in the fun!
posted by JonB at 1:26 AM on April 8, 2019
Response by poster: Yep, I think I'm calling this one: next to impossible to do right. Thanks for your answers!
posted by gc at 10:34 PM on April 10, 2019
posted by gc at 10:34 PM on April 10, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
Lots and lots of people "fly under the radar" (it's more like the radar has very little range) on all of the music hosting services (*cloud, hearthis, not to mention the lowest of hanging fruit: YouTube). You won't be prosecuted, you'll get a nastygram in the eventuality that someone listens to your mix and hears a track on which they have rights to claim, and you might get a "strike" against your account from the site itself. I have never heard of anybody getting a takedown on the 'clouds, and I listen to a lot of mixes. Things get taken down on YouTube, but usually single songs that are easy to search for, that make me think there's either mercenary third-party rights claimers out there, or family/descendents picking through the landscape.
Anyway, I respect the effort, but honestly, aside from the cleared-music-store above there may not be a way to get rights for the tracks you really want to play, especially if they have samples in them.
posted by rhizome at 9:34 PM on April 7, 2019 [1 favorite]