Twitch strikes licensing deal with SACEM

The deal will enable royalties to be distributed to members whenever their music is shared or livestreamed by the video-sharing platform.

The announcement comes at a time when traditional live music venues are closed and tours have been cancelled, with artists being forced to host live music experiences on platforms like Twitch.

Twitch and SACEM will work together to develop processes to simplify and optimise the identification and reporting of works used on the service.

“Across the SACEM community, we’ve seen artists increasingly turn to Twitch to grow their presence and connect with fans,” SACEM CEO Jean-Noël Tronc said.

“This partnership with a dynamic and innovative player like Twitch demonstrates SACEM's ability to constantly adapt to new ways of producing and consuming music. We look forward to promoting the works of our creative and publishing members and expanding our support for creators, wherever their music is shared.”

Since the live-streaming boom, the music licensing status of services like Twitch has been a big talking point in the music industry. The move adds to Twitch’s growing efforts to acquire licensing deals globally. The company has had licensing agreements with various US collecting societies for a while. It is now in the process of securing a number of licensing deals from societies elsewhere.

Twitch has bolstered its platform with collaborative live music experiences and monetisation tools after seeing a surge of musicians since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with artists able to interact with fans through Q&As, games, production classes and streamed events.

In June, SACEM launched its own dedicated royalty scheme for live streams, which covers streams on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram that have generated a minimum of 1 000 views.