Music Guidelines
Twitch values the work of songwriters, musicians, and other creative artists. As a company committed to supporting creators, we respect, and ask our users to respect, the intellectual property of those who make music and those who own or control music rights.

We know that you may have questions about what types of music content you can safely share on Twitch. In order for you to better understand what uses of music are allowed for your content, we’ve further clarified these guidelines in the sections below.

Sharing Music on Twitch
Soundtrack by Twitch
Types of Music Content
Uses Permitted by Law
How This Impacts You
Sharing Music on Twitch
We ask that creators only share content for which they have the necessary rights. It is a violation of our policies to stream or upload content containing copyrighted music unless you have the appropriate rights or authority to share such music on Twitch.

You may not include music you do not own in your Twitch streams or on-demand content (e.g., VODs, Past Broadcasts, Past Premieres, Highlights, Clips, and Uploads), except as described below or otherwise permitted by law.

Please note that buying music (such as a CD or mp3) or subscribing to a music streaming service typically does not grant rights to share the music on Twitch. Such a purchase or subscription typically grants you a personal license to access the content only for your personal and private playback.

Soundtrack by Twitch
We understand that music rights are complex and that many of you would like a simpler way to add high-quality music to your Twitch live streams. That’s why we built Soundtrack by Twitch, to give you the ability to feature a curated library of fully licensed music within your live streams. We’re also excited for you and your community to discover new artists along the way.

Please note that as Soundtrack is built for live streaming, the music featured in Soundtrack is intended for use only in live Twitch broadcasts. We designed Soundtrack with multi-track audio so you can create on-demand videos of live streams (e.g., VODs and Clips) that do not include this music but still have all the audio from you and your stream preserved for future enjoyment.

You can learn more about how to get and use Soundtrack by Twitch here.

Types of Music Content
In the sections below, we describe some common types of music content, along with some information about whether you may or may not share that content on Twitch.

Here are some example types of music content you may use in Twitch streams and on-demand content:

Music Owned By You – Original music which was written by you and either recorded or performed live by you, and for which you own or control all rights necessary to share the music on Twitch, including the rights to the recording, performance, and to the underlying music and lyrics. Please remember that if you have a contractual relationship with an organization that controls rights to the content you create, such as a record label or publishing company, you should make sure that you are not in violation of that relationship by sharing that music on Twitch.
Music Licensed To You – Copyrighted music owned in whole or part by someone other than you, if you have secured a license to share it on Twitch from the relevant copyright holders.

Music Streamed Using Soundtrack by Twitch – Music added to your live streams using Soundtrack by Twitch
Here are some example types of music content you may not use in Twitch streams or on-demand content:

Radio-Style Music Listening Show – A Twitch stream or VOD which focuses on playing music that is not owned by you and is not licensed for you to share on Twitch.
DJ Set – Playing and/or mixing pre-recorded music tracks which incorporate music, other than music which is owned by you or music which is licensed for you to share on Twitch.
Karaoke Performance – Singing or performing to a karaoke recording other than an in-game karaoke performance that is licensed for you to share on Twitch.
Lip Synch Performance – Pantomiming, singing, or pretending to sing to music that is not owned by you or is not licensed for you to share on Twitch.
Visual Music Depiction – Lyrics, music notation, tablature, or any other visual representation of copyrighted music other than (1) music owned by you, or (2) music which is licensed for you to share on Twitch.
Cover Song Performance – Performance of a song owned by someone else, with the exception of a live performance in your Twitch stream. If you do perform a cover song in a live Twitch stream, please make a good faith effort to perform the song as written by the songwriter, and create all audio elements yourself, without incorporating instrumental tracks, music recordings, or any other recorded elements owned by others.
Uses Permitted by Law
Our community is a place for streamers to express themselves in remarkable, creative and sometimes transformative ways. In addition to sharing the guidelines above, we think it’s important to note that not all unauthorized uses are infringing uses. Some examples include uses of works in the public domain and uses of copyrighted works that qualify for a defense under fair use and similar laws outside the US. We recommend reviewing the counter-notification policies in our DMCA Guidelines if you believe you have received a takedown notification from a rights holder as the result of mistake or misidentification.

How This Impacts You
If you violate these guidelines, you may be subject to a takedown notification from music rights holders under our DMCA Guidelines. We may also take action under our Community Guidelines.

In addition, we may mute VODs and delete Clips, for example where our automated content filtering systems detect that audio in on-demand content contains unauthorized music. If you have the necessary rights to share music in your Twitch VODs, we want to ensure that your VODs are not muted. To learn about how to appeal muted audio, please read our help article on How To Appeal Muted Content.