Twitch, the Amazon-owned live streaming platform, has signed a new deal with Merlin, an independent label agency.
The partnership, according to Merlin, recognizes the influence of independent artists in the Twitch community and will provide revenue opportunities for Merlin members and their artists.
Beggars Group, Group, Dim Mak, Empire, MNRK Music Group, Epitaph Records, Foundation Media, IDOL, Mushroom Music, Ninja Tune, [PIAS] and other prominent independent music labels are among Merlin’s members.
Twitch’s latest big move in the music industry comes after Universal Music Group (UMG) announced last week that it had expanded its agreements with both Amazon Music and Twitch.
It also follows the announcement in September that Twitch and Warner Music Group (WMG) had formed a “first-of-its-kind” partnership, marking the platform’s first collaboration with a major record label.
Merlin will lean “into Twitch’s increased focus on music-centric programming,” according to a press release announcing the news today.
According to Merlin, the new partnership will increase direct communication between Merlin members and Twitch, as well as provide “dedicated support” to members and their artists in order to help them grow their audience bases and unlock marketing opportunities.
According to the companies, the agreement will “unlock live experiences worldwide” and provide artist and label marketing opportunities for Merlin members via Twitch’s recently launched artist incubator program, The Collective.
Twitch has grown increasingly close to the music industry, where it claims that it helps increase popular way for artists to create content, interact, generate earnings, and build community.
In September, the National Music Publishers’ Association signed an agreement with Twitch to “work together to build productive partnerships between the service and music publishers,” in addition to Twitch’s partnerships with WMG, UMG, and now Merlin.
Twitch said it was ‘disappointed’ with the music publishing industry after being hit with 1,000 copyright infringement claims two months ago, and the agreement with the NMPA came two months after Twitch said that it was ‘disappointed’ with the music publishing industry after being hit with 1,000 copyright infringement claims.
Twitch has since developed a system that allows participating music rights holders, including Merlin and its members, to report unauthorized music usage.
Meanwhile, in September 2020, Twitch launched Soundtrack by Twitch, a rights-cleared music service for live streams that was made possible through partnerships with a number of labels and distributors.
UnitedMasters, DistroKid, CDBaby, Anjunabeats, SoundCloud, EMPIRE, Future Classic, and Nuclear Blast were among the more than 30 music labels represented on Soundtrack at the time of its launch.
