Herman Li, one of the two lead guitarists for the metal band ‘DragonForce,’ voiced his immense displeasure with Universal after the label muted his Twitch VODs when uploaded to YouTube.
During an April 21 broadcast, the guitarist ripped into Universal, and even suggested there could be some legal ramifications on the way due to the label’s actions.
“My videos are getting blocked for playing older DragonForce songs! Can you believe it?” the rocker asked his chat. “By Universal music. They’re blocking my livestream videos from being VODs. It’s out of control.”
Li’s VODs are currently only available for subscribers only. It’s unclear if they were always like this, or if the artist only recently made them subscribers-only, in an attempt to combat the copyright strikes. Meanwhile, entire videos on YouTube have been scrubbed of sound.
“I don’t have time to email these idiots that are not even paying royalties. They owe me money. They’re not even paying it. They’re just ignoring it and not doing it,” Li continued to shred into the company.
According to Li, he’s still waiting to get paid for other reasons, but the recent issue with VODs sent him over the edge.
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“That’s how f**king insane it is when you’re a musician. And guess what? Yes, I’m calling them out right now before the lawyer comes,” he revealed. “Do they care? No, they don’t care. Because they say, ‘You know what? It’s going to cost you money to get a lawyer, so we’re gonna just not pay you.’”
According to third-party stat-tricking website TwitchMetrics, Li has been on the platform since July 15, 2017, where he plays guitar and indulges in streaming video games.
The guitarist isn’t the only big-name musician to start streaming on Twitch more recently: As Dexerto previously reported, Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda has also taken to the platform so fans can watch him create new music.
Fans are hopeful that Herman can get the copyright issues sorted out, so they can return to hearing more amazing tracks in his VODs.
Until then, they’ll have to wait and see just what the future holds – especially with potential legal challenges ahead.