Last year in the midst of rumours that Google were due to purchase it, Twitch begin tightening up their broadcast rules as far as they applied to third-party music. They put a blanket ban on most of it, with any section of archived video that had even a trace being muted resulting in that section of video losing all audio for about 30 minutes. It’s still a system that some see as a bit heavy-handed because even if they have a point regarding third-party music not being broadcast, half an hour’s quite a long time…

Now though Twitch are making some steps to allow some music in streams and have launched a free-to-use library of about 500 tracks that are cleared for broadcast. Tracks included are from many labels including OWSLA, Dim Mak, Monstercat and Spinnin, so hopefully there will be something available for anyone who wants some music as background. 500 tracks is a decent amount and hopefully Twitch will find a way to negotiate for the use of more in the future.

In a statement about the libray Twitch’s Colin Carrier wrote: “Our community has been vocal about the importance of music for their broadcasts and their love of music in general. By working with both established and upcoming record labels, we are now able to offer music for them to use that is cleared for live broadcasts and archiving.”

It’s always nice to be able to stream and know that you’re keeping within the rules set isn’t it? Takes a weight off the mind.

Twitch Blog “Twitch Brings Music to Broadcasters”: [x]