Twitch
Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda Unveils Second Twitch-Created Album, Dropped Frames Vol. 2: Stream
Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda has unveiled a second album that he created with input from fans on Twitch. Dropped Frames Vol. 2 comes just three weeks after the release of Vol. 1. As previously reported, Dropped Frames Vol. 1 featured Shinoda collaborating with his fans on Twitch. In fact, one of the songs, “Open Door”, incorporated vocals from seven of his Twitch followers. Dropped Frames Vol. 2, released today (July 31st), is a mostly instrumental effort. As a press release states, “The 12-song set has an emphasis on digital samples and classic game themes, featuring everything from Nintendo Game Boy sounds to ’80s synth, and even a toy drum loop pulled from Money Mark’s Instagram page.” During the pandemic, Shinoda held regular livestreams on Twitch during weekdays, committing to creating ...
Jeff Bezos to Congressman Who Asked Why Twitch Doesn’t License Music: “I Don’t Know”
In the absence of live music, the streaming landscape has emerged as the most popular and efficient means of connecting with fans during the COVID-19 epoch. Perhaps no platform has benefitted more than Twitch, a gaming platform that has mutated into the most prevalent live music streaming medium in recent weeks—especially in electronic dance music. Since Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos acquired Twitch for a staggering $970 million back in 2014, the platform had experienced meteoric growth before exploding due to the pandemic’s recent gasoline pour. However, Twitch has found itself in hot water in recent weeks after issuing DMCA takedown notices to legions of its users. Since the Amazon-owned company doesn’t pay royalties to artists when their music is played on the platform, the...
Watch Black Veil Brides’ Exclusive Twitch Q&A
If you missed Black Veil Brides’ exclusive Q&A on SPIN’s Untitled Twitch Stream a couple of weeks ago, there’s some good news for you. The 98-minute fan session saw several hundred BVB diehards ask the band about everything from their new music to their favorite foods when it was live, and has garnered thousands of views on Twitch in the 10 days since. Seeing as it’ll soon be wiped from Twitch history due to the platform’s time limits on keeping streams, it’s now officially the very first video from SPIN’s Untitled Twitch Stream to be uploaded to SPIN’s official YouTube channel. Check out the video above (or on YouTube), and don’t forget to subscribe, like, and/or follow SPIN on both Twitch and YouTube for all future live and recorded video performances, Q&As, and more. Watch it be...
Brazilian Funk Powerhouse KondZilla Launches Twitch Channel With Exclusive Deal
The arrangement — which involves exclusive music, video and gaming content — follows the Twitch deal with rapper Logic earlier this week. Brazilian funk music company KondZilla, which operates one of the biggest YouTube channels in the world, has signed a partnership with Twitch to operate a channel on the streaming platform, in one of the first major deals Twitch has done with an international artist or label. Under terms of its deal, KondZilla is providing exclusive music, gaming, video and podcast content, including live remixing of video game tracks produced by DJs on Kondzilla Records, Andre Izidro, head of marketing and intelligence at KondZilla, tells Billboard. The Twitch channel will promote games, chats and feature funk music and stars from KondZilla, such as Mc Jotta...
Live Performances, Interviews, and More This Week on SPIN’s Untitled Twitch Stream
If you didn’t see everything we did last week on SPIN’s Untitled Twitch Stream, you missed out on a hell of a string of performances. We had a release-day party with Brendan Kelly of the Lawrence Arms, an exclusive live performance of Rich Aucoin’s new single, and intimate sessions with Oscar Lang, Sonia Stein, and Sloane. Oh, and that’s not even including the surprise announcement of a Saturday afternoon with Black Veil Brides. That said, we might’ve outdone ourselves this week. We’re starting things off with a live set from Monogem before switching gears to close the week out with Skott, Petra Jarrar, and a very special episode of Kat Calls with the award-winning Elderbrook As per usual, you’ll need to check out Twitter and Instagram to get all of the info o...
Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda Announces New Album Created with Fans on Twitch
Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park has announced a new solo album, which he crafted on Twitch along with input from his fans. The new LP, called Dropped Frames, Vol. 1, will arrive on July 10th through his own Kenji Kobayashi Productions label. The album owes its creation to Shinoda’s daily Twitch livestreams, in which he made music four days per week. Instead of making an album on his own, Shinoda reached out to fans on his Twitch channel to get their feedback. “Dropped Frames is just as much about the live channel as it is about the ‘album,’” Shinoda said in a statement. “The collection of songs is a highlight reel of the tracks I make on the channel, but a big part of the experience is the stream itself. When I start, I usually have very little idea of where it will go.” He added, “What ...
Microsoft Shuts Down Streaming Platform Mixer, Partners with Facebook Gaming
Sourced from Geekwire. Microsoft is closing its Mixer video game live-streaming service on 22 July 2020 with plans to move existing partners and streamers over to Facebook Gaming. Mixer, launched in 2016, will now no longer be operated by Microsoft as a service. The reason for this decision is that the company has struggled to reach the scale needed for Mixer to compete with Twitch, YouTube, and even Facebook Gaming itself. “We started pretty far behind, in terms of where Mixer’s monthly active viewers were compared to some of the big players out there,” says Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s head of gaming, in an interview with The Verge. “I think the Mixer community is really going to benefit from the broad audience that Facebook has through their properties, and the abilities to reach gamers in...
Twitch Users Are Getting Takedown Notices En Masse for the First Time: Here’s Why
A flurry of copyright takedown notices hit Twitch users last week, causing a storm on social media. Here’s what’s really going on and what to watch for next. Over the last week, users on gaming-focused livestream platform Twitch received a sudden flurry of takedown notices for clips of old videos using unlicensed background music. The more than 2,500 notices — which the RIAA filed on behalf of rights holders for recordings including Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings” and DNCE’s “Cake By The Ocean” — caused a storm on social media, with users complaining on Twitter they felt blindsided by the requests, some for clips dating as far back as 2017. Contrary to some users’ claims, Twitch’s Music Guidelines — which explicitly prohibit users from incorporating music into their streams wit...
Cold War Kids, Best Ex, and More Headline SPIN’s Untitled Twitch Stream This Week
We’re back once again for another week (June 15 – June 20) of can’t-miss livestreams on SPIN’s Untitled Twitch Stream. This week, you won’t want to miss a perfect blend of indie, pop, and rock performances from Cold War Kids, Best Ex, Salt Ashes, Chapel, and Aliza Hava. It’ll be a little something for everyone, and hopefully everything for someone. Additionally, we’ll be featuring a marathon of several different artists playing The Last of Us Part II as soon as it’s released this Friday. It’ll be like nothing we’ve ever done before, with details to be released later this week. As always, we’re continuing to update subscriber benefits with new official SPIN badges and emotes on Twitch (in addition to the usual benefits, like ad-free viewing), all of which you can get for free with...
Twitch Streamers Face Permabans After String of New DMCA Strikes
Both the video game and music communities were put on alert yesterday after it was discovered that a large number of DMCA takedown requests were filed against a multitude of Twitch streamers. The requests have targeted the background music in recorded clips from streams taking place from 2017 to 2019. A popular streamer on the platform, fuslie, shared her experience with the strikes and revealed that Twitch support told her that in order to avoid a potential permaban, she should delete all of her clips. The recent developments have left many wondering what the future of livestreamed DJ sets looks like, as playing a set with any non-original songs could leave an artist vulnerable to takedown strikes. While it appears as though almost every genre is included, Dexerto is reporting t...
Vic Mensa, Janet Devlin, and More Headline SPIN’s Untitled Twitch Stream This Week
We’re back with another stacked week of your favorite artists on SPIN’s Untitled Twitch Stream. This week (June 8 – June 14) will feature incredible intimate performances from Nova Miller, Christian Janet Devlin and Alt Bloom as well the debut of our brand new show in which reporter Kat Bein will (virtually) sit down with Vic Mensa to discuss his new music, daily life, and thoughts on everything going on in the world. We’re also just continuing to update subscriber benefits with new official SPIN badges and emotes on Twitch (in addition to the usual benefits, like ad-free viewing), all of which you can get for free with an Amazon Prime membership. For those who haven’t joined us on Twitch yet, head to twitch.tv/spinmag to see what you’ve been missing. Ch...
Pop Evil, Sam Spiegel, and More Headline This Week on SPIN’s Untitled Twitch Stream
SPIN’s Untitled Twitch Stream is back for another week of live performances, gaming sessions, Q&As, and more with some of your favorite artists. This week (June 1 – June 7), we’re bringing you intimate performances from Pop Evil, Static Cycle and Magic Giant as well as a DJ set by Sam Spiegel. For those who haven’t joined us on Twitch yet, head to twitch.tv/spinmag to see what you’ve been missing. We’ve also just launched brand new official SPIN badges and emotes on Twitch for our subscribers (in addition to the usual benefits, like ad-free viewing), which is also entirely free with an Amazon Prime membership. Check out the full weekly schedule below, and don’t forget to follow along on Twitter and Instagram for daily updates and reminders. Wednesday, June 3 @ 4pm PT / 7pm ET – Sa...
