Having background music playing while your streaming is a nice touch. It fills in any gaps where you’re not speaking and depending on the stream it can completely change the atmosphere.
It’s also a great way to share and connect with your audience on a deeper level. Music is a great common ground between you and your audience.
However 2020 was a turbulent year for Twitch and copyright music. 1000s of streamers were handed out DMCA strikes for playing copyright music on stream. So what’s the rules around playing Spotify on stream?
Can I Play Spotify Music On My Twitch Stream?
If you’re looking to play music from your favourite main stream musicians then the answer is going to be no. Playing copyrighted music risks getting your twitch channel a strike.
However there are non-copyright playlists such as Harris Hellers Streambeats playlists.
Streambeats has four different playlists; Lo-Fi, Synthwave, EDM and Hip-Hop. You can play any of these on stream without risking any copyright strikes.
These are completely free as well compared to other services which usually charge a monthly fee.
The only downside is, the music can get repetitive fast. I was a big fan of the EDM playlist however after a few days of 5 hour stream sessions I started to get sick of it. If you’re getting fed up with the same songs on repeat your audience might be as well.
We’ll talk about some paid solutions for music later in the article.
To wrap up if you’re playing non-copyright music from Spotify you can play it over your stream. Just make sure the music you have lined up is non-copyright before playing it.
Other Streamers Are Playing Copyright Music And Haven’t Been Banned?
This is true. You’ll see lots of smaller streamers and even streamers with 1000+ viewers streaming copyright music and haven’t been banned. If you’re a smaller streamer chances are nothing will happen if you stream copyright songs. That doesn’t mean you should though.
These record labels have software scanning streams to find songs playing that they own. Chances are it won’t pick up your stream but if it does you could get into serious trouble. You’ll likely get a DMCA and have to take your content down.
If you want to to play by the rules using a non-copyright music service is the way to go.
How To Add Spotify Now Playing On Twitch?
If you are playing songs from Spotify on your stream you may want to showcase the songs that are currently playing. It’ll definitely save the headache of your chat asking you what song that is every 5 mins.
The easiest way to do this is just by adding a new source to your scene in Streamlabs or OBS and cropping it to the bottom left corner to show the song currently playing in Spotify.
How To Add Spotify As A Source To Your Scene In Streamlabs
Make sure you have the Spotify app running on your computer. This won’t work if you’re playing it from the web app.
Step 1: Add a new window capture source to your scene.
Step 2: Select Spotify as your window capture source.
Step 3: You will now see your full Spotify screen in your scene. You will now need to crop this window down to just the song name and artwork in the bottom left.
Right click on the Spotify Source –> Transform –> Edit Transform
You will now see some options for cropping the image. How much needs to be cropped will depend on your monitor size. Crop it down until you can only see the song that is now playing.
You can now place this somewhere on your screen that won’t interfere with your gameplay.
Where Can I Get Non-Copyrighted Music For Streams?
Streambeats
We mentioned Streambeats earlier in the article so I won’t touch on it much more.
- Free musics in multiple genres
- Can stream on Spotify
- Limited number of songs
Epidemic Sound
Epidemic sound is a premium platform with a wide range of songs available to use on stream or in your Youtube clips. You get a full license to use the songs in your videos.
They operate on a monthly subscription model but you can get a 30 day free trial to check it out.
They have over 32,000 tracks you can play on your stream so a little more than the Free Streambeats alternative.
You will also be able to monetise your Youtube videos with these songs without risky copyright strikes on your channel.
Soundtrack By Twitch
Twitch has also released their own copyright free music platform called soundtrack.
It also has a wide selection of songs in multiple genres. Twitch have opened up the platform to allow artists to submit their music for use. This is great for smaller artists who want to get some exposure and gives us songs we can play.
Wrapping Up
So if you want to play music on your stream for now it’s going to have to be copyright free. Hopefully this article has helped you find some music in a genre you enjoy so you can vibe out with your audience on stream.
Let us know if there’s any other sources that you prefer down below in the comments.
