Twitch has been under fire from music companies in recent months over its licensing status, but it’s got company. Twitter is firmly on the radar of labels and publishers alike in the US, with a Billboard piece suggesting that the social network has been “unwilling to negotiate to license music” despite growing pressure from the industry.
The fact that Twitter did not participate in the article means it’s one side of the story – but that in itself looks from the outside like an unwillingness to engage in the discussion.
As ever, the frustration here is not just that there is usage of music that isn’t generating royalties for artists and songwriters. It’s also that with proper licensing deals in place, platforms like Twitter could do so much more with music – benefitting both sides.
We’ve seen that happen with Facebook since it started signing deals; Snap is on that road with Snapchat too.
Twitter is an undeniably important communications platform for artists, but if it were to follow suit – and of course, this means workable terms from rightsholders – it could also do even more exciting things with music and musicians.
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