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Twitch drops the mic, unveils Soundtrack music service for streamers

Soundtrack will include over a million tracks when it launches, with more to come down the line.

Josh Hawkins

September 30, 2020 11:45 AM

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DMCA reports have been a nightmare for Twitch streamers over the past months, with some high-profile streamers even finding themselves on the end of suspensions because of using licensed music in their broadcasts. Now, though, Twitch has finally unveiled a new service that will offer over a million licensed tracks for streamers to take advantage of.

Soundtrack, as Twitch has so aptly named its music service, will include over 1 million tracks when it launches. These tracks will fall under a slew of different labels and partners, including Soundcloud, Monstercat, DistroKid, Insomniac, cdbaby, Chillhop, and more. A total of 30 different labels will take part in the new music system.

The early version of Soundtrack is available today for several streamers, and you can join the waitlist if you’d like to have a chance to jump into the beta. The early beta is compatible with OBS Studio v26.0 or later, and both Twitch Studio and Streamlabs OBS will become compatible later down the road.

According to the blog post detailing Soundtrack, the new service will play your music in a separate audio track, thus allowing you to stream without having to worry about the music getting your stream muted. It’s a nice touch for Twitch to put into place, especially with music playing such an integral part in many streams.

Soundtrack will also include specially curated music playlists, including electronic and dance music, as well as lo-fi beats, and more. It seems like a solid service just from what Twitch has outlined thus far, and it will be interesting to see how the system moves forward and adds tracks. It does look like Twitch is working to add more tracks and labels to the supported music list, which is great to see.

If you’re a fan of using music in your livestreams, then Soundtrack sounds like a solid way to avoid DMCA reports. Of course, the music choices all depend on what Twitch has been able to clear, which could leave some of your favorite artists and genres out of the loop.

Josh Hawkins

Guides Editor

Joshua holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and has been exploring the world of video games for as long as he can remember. He enjoys everything from large-scale RPGs to small, bite-size indie gems and everything in between.