Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek has claimed streamers should have taken a “united front” on the new DMCA rules to try and force Twitch to overturn them, and “could have won” if they did, after thousands of streamers deleted their old VODs to avoid being taken down, some dating back nearly a decade.
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Twitch has ramped up its efforts in cracking down on streamers using licensed music. Streamers around the world have been rattled and rocked after receiving DMCA takedown notifications, with a massive wave sweeping across the platform on October 20.
It happened because most streamers play music in their streams, which means it’s also included in their library of video clips and VODs.
It’s a controversial issue that has happened in the past, but the latest ‘DMCA Bloodbath’ has been the biggest one yet. Hundreds of partnered streamers have been forced to take down and delete years worth of content, and it’s sparked a lot of outrage from streamers and viewers alike.
Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek mulled over the issue in his latest stream, and he came to the conclusion that streamers didn’t play their cards right. He believes they should have taken a “united front” on the issue and “hurt themselves” by not doing it sooner.
The first point shroud made was that, even if streamers obtained a license to skirt around the DMCA issues and play music on their stream, it wouldn’t solve the issue.
“If I was to get a license to play music on my stream, Twitch would not know,” he said. “Therefore, their Twitch music… algorithm that mutes VODs would still mute my VOD even though… I legally can do it.”
“So even getting a license right now doesn’t matter,” he added. “Because… you’re still going to get cucked.”
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Shroud went on to describe the whole situation as “strange” because playing in silence for a moment. Then, he had another flurry of thoughts, which brought him to his final point that streamers should have been more united.
“If we as streamers took a united front and we didn’t just make rational f**king decisions and just start deleting sh*t, we actually could have won,” he said. “But now we hurt ourselves, so that sucks, but it is what it is. We folded. We’re a bunch of bi*ches.”
Shroud is referring to the fact that practically every streamer has been outraged by the decision. However, they ultimately succumbed to Twitch’s demands and deleted their VODS to avoid potential issues.
Many people will believe his frustration is warranted. But at the same time, nobody can really blame other streamers for adhering to Twitch’s demands. After all, their livelihood depends on it.
The key takeaway, however, is that streamers could take shroud’s opinion on board in the future. If anything, partnered streamers are all pillars in the community. It couldn’t hurt for them to unite on matters when they really have to.
At the end of the day, workers in the ‘real world’ have associations, bodies, and unions to support them. So why should it be any different for streamers?
