Music while streaming

[Bacon]

Quick question, am i allowed to game and listen to music at the same time? It doesnt break any copyright/rules right? No video (music video)

Im thinking about music from spotify/youtube in this case, i usually have music in the background while i game, but i dont want to get banned for streaming copyrighted music or something like that. Anyone can help me out with this question would be appreciated

[kreiselhoschi]

First thing first: wrong forum. You´re talking about Broadcast and this is InHome Streaming area. ;)

I think that Valve doesn´t have a problem with you streaming music, but you should consider Spotify EULA for example, and they don´t allow broadcasting "their music". In addition, although not very likely, you could run into copyright issues if you share your stream with everybody. The risk may be low, but people have been sued for less (e.g. funny cat videos with not licensed music^^)...

[Bacon]

Oh, im sorry. I thought i posted in the right category, can i move the post somehow?

Well im not gonna monetise the videos what so ever, they are just for fun streaming. I am sharing my stream with anybody, but i will not make money from streaming this, now or in the future, if that makes any difference. If it is breaking spotifys EULA i will just listen from youtube then.

[Bacon]

thx for the fast answer btw :)

[kreiselhoschi]

Youtube has a similar EULA. I don´t want to panic you, but you are streaming content without being allowed to do so (and of course not paying to however has the copyright in the content). As I said, the chance of getting caught doing so seems very low to me - but the risk remains.

[Trogdor0]

Are you likely to get sued if you are just broadcasting to a couple people? Probably not. But technically, you have to pay royalties to broadcast copyrighted material whether monetized or not. Take Twitch for example. The company pays all the fees so that individual broadcasters don't have to. (They did start muting VoDs with copyrighted content last summer so they remain compliant) I haven't read into all the legalese concerning Stream Broadcasting, but if I had to venture a guess, I would say that Valve doesn't pay the broadcast fees.

There are a number of artists that don't mind if you broadcast their stuff for free (if you ask permission and give them credit, of course). A lot of the broadcasters on Twitch use these artists so that their VoDs don't get muted. It won't be artists in the Top 40 though.

[Bacon]

ok thanks for the answer. Putting aside the question of me getting sued for streaming content, can STEAM ban me for doing it? Is it against anything in their legalese? So if im broadcasting content from youtube, will they ban me from steam for doing so?

[kreiselhoschi]

Steam can ban you for nothing and everything. You´ll not get a proper response from the folks around in this forum. Don´t share any copyrighted content and you´ll be fine. You wouldn´t want other people to use stuff you own in a not appropriate way, too. Would you? ;)

[Bacon]

Yeah well, i made a new thread in the proper subforum and it got deleted. Made the exact same question like in this one (copypaste) so i got more info from here anyhow, even if its in the wrong part of the forum.

I do release my own content for free, but i see your point. Thing is, its on youtube, if it was copyrighted and they cared they would remove it from there, yes?

Im just gonna give up streaming since i cant remove the music from the stream. Hopefully steam fixes this in the future, its no problem with other streaming software when you stream to twitch.

[kreiselhoschi]

With "you won´t get a proper response" I meant that we users cannot speak for Valve. ;)

By the way: Twitch will mute your stream when it detects copyrighted music.

Here´s a quick and dirty solution for you: use a headset and set audio output to the headset while the game you stream uses your primary audio device.

[BadDragon]

As for an actual answer to your question instead of several sentences of BS, Yes, you can have music playing in a stream/broadcast. This does not break any rules regarding copyright seeing as it is not recorded music provided to other people for use at any time. It would, however, be copyright if you recorded it and put it on youtube.

Answer:Yes you can use music in streams and broadcasts.