Twitch powerhouse Timothy ‘TimTheTatman’ Betar has hit out at the streaming platform’s changing music rules, explaining that any DMCA ban he receives will simply see him end up on “the beach”.
The ongoing DMCA issues in the Twitch community are showing no sign of slowing down. New guidance from the platform recommends that content creators avoid playing any music to their audiences for fear it could result in a copyright strike.
Despite being one of Twitch’s most-followed streamers, sitting at nearly 6 million followers, Betar is willing to risk the punishment, and plans to continue listening to music as normal.
During a December 4 livestream, TimTheTatman spoke at length about Twitch’s DMCA guidelines, explaining that any ban will simply prompt him to ‘hit the beach.’
Tim was playing a video that many viewers were concerned featured some copyrighted music. Their advice, as you’d expect, was to turn off the video or, at the very least, play it without sound.
“Tim you’re listening to it, stop listening,” he read. “Bro listen, man! If I get f**king banned, I’m going to the beach, literally. I’ve been on this platform for eight years bro, okay? I’ve been listening to music, pretty normally, for about 7 years. And now all of a sudden they’re like: ‘Hey! Stop doing all that!’ It’s just natural, it’s what I do.”
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“If I get f**king banned, I’m f**king banned bro,” he continued, becoming increasingly animated. “I’ll invest my money, I’m going to the f**king beach. You’ll see me on the beach at the panhandle with a straw hat on, and a Bud Light Seltzer in my hand… Any questions?”
His Twitch viewers found the rant hilarious and admirable, with Tim not willing to change his favorite streaming habits despite issues with music on Twitch’s end.
Twitch has been criticized for their response to the wave of DMCA strikes that have hit the platform in 2020. Streamers have argued that they were not given fair warning, and that tools to respond/deal with the claims were either insufficient or non-existent.
Cyberpunk 2077 developers CD Projekt Red have now included a setting in the game that will disable any copyright sounds, to help protect content creators.