Jeff Bezos under fire over use of music by Ariana Grande on Twitch
Jeff Bezos has been accused of “wilful blindness”by music rights holders over the use of unlicensed songs on Amazon-owned streaming service Twitch.
The Artists Rights Alliance (ARA), a non-profit organisation run by musicians and songwriters, has singled out the Amazon billionaire for failing to take action on the streaming platform.
In a letter to Mr Bezos , ARA's board members urged the Amazon founder to provide a public answer on what he is doing to stop unlicensed music from being played on Twitch and "ensure that artists and songwriters are paid fair market value for the work."
Twitch, a site where users livestream themselves playing video games, has exploded in popularity in recent years as young people flock to watch famous gamers play hit titles such as Fortnite. It has 15 million active users each day, many of whom listen to or play music in the background of livestreams.
In June, rights holders began issuing thousands of "takedown notices" against copyrighted audio on Twitch covering songs including Ariana Grande's 7 Rings.
In response, Twitch said it would start automatically scanning clips of live streams for copyrighted music. “We have closely followed the rising controversy surrounding Twitch’s hosting and delivery of unlicensed music,” the letter said.
“As Twitch uses music to grow its audience and shape its brand, the company owes creators more than the wilful blindness and vague platitudes you offered.”
It comes as Mr Bezos faced a grilling in front of the US Congress last month in an unprecedented hearing that saw the Amazon boss appear alongside the chief executives of Apple, Google and Facebook via videolink to address questions about their swelling power.
The Silicon Valley titans were accused of acting as “cyber barons” who had worked to squash smaller competitors through buyouts, aggressive price wars and other tactics.
During the hearing, congressman Kelly Armstrong raised the issues around Twitch, asking Mr Bezos if the service should consider “proactive licensing” of music instead of “retroactively” adhering to takedown notices.
The Amazon boss said he doesn’t know if Twitch pays royalties for streaming. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
