The new Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) update is out, and as per usual it includes a bunch of changes and fixes that will make your streaming life just a little bit better. The biggest change in this version of OBS is support for the feature that Twitch debuted in Twitch Soundtrack — the ability to play music in a second track while you’re streaming to Twitch, so that it can be stripped out of your recorded broadcast, or VOD (video on demand).
This release adds a second audio track when streaming to Twitch which will be saved to the VOD instead of the stream audio. You can enable this feature in Output settings when streaming to Twitch. Special thanks to @Twitch for assisting during the development of this feature!
— OBS (@OBSProject) December 15, 2020
For the uninitiated: it’s normal to play music in the background of live streams, but issues around copyright mean that it can be dangerous. Twitch has been engaged in an extended battle with the music industry because streamers habitually play copyrighted music on-stream that they don’t have the rights to; it came to a head earlier this year, when streamers were flooded with copyright takedown requests from the music industry. Those requests were based on copyrighted music found in clips from streams and full recorded broadcasts — which is what Twitch Soundtrack, and by extension this feature, are meant to solve.
OBS pointed out that Twitch helped with the development of the feature, which is interesting because the company already has Soundtrack. I can only imagine it means that this is the latest front in Twitch’s fight with the music industry — because if streamers get used to stripping music from their VODs as a general practice, the problem of people broadcasting copyrighted music on Twitch might eventually solve itself. Though, personally, I believe that’s wishful thinking. Either way, OBS implementing the feature means that more streamers will use it.
