TESTING: Music Optional Streams
We're beginning testing on an interesting feature - music optional streams
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TESTING: Music Optional Streams
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So, we've thrown around the idea of running the streams "Music Optional" for a while. As in, you can listen if you want to, or you can opt not to - the control is totally in the hands of the viewer, but those of us that choose to keep the tunes bumpin' can all do so together. I have decided to go ahead and put together a system that we can test out for ourselves.
To be clear, song requests and all of the song request features aren't going anywhere.
Firstly, copyright can be and often is an issue. There is of course the danger of the copyright owners taking action against the channel for copyright infringement - it's something that hasn't ever happened to us on Twitch before, but it has happened to other users occasionally. With that in mind, twitch automatically mutes sections of the stream where copyrighted music is detected, and also immediately deletes clips of the sections of streams where copyrighted music is detected. Right now roughly 1/3 of our clips are getting deleted like this. And of course, putting these clips on youtube would just be a hard nope.
Beyond the copyright issue, there is also the issue of viewer preference. Often viewers have varying preferences about music volume. Some viewers just outright prefer streams without music - either because they prefer to play their own music in the background, or sometimes just because they prefer not to have the music. There is also a strong preference among many viewers to not have to listen to song request streams. Many viewers just hard pass on them because song requests on twitch are known to often get more than a little out of hand.
I've done my best to work out a solution for pretty much every watch case that I can come up with. This is mostly based on the input of a few close friends and the discussions that we have had in sub chat, so if you have a watch case that isn't covered, let me know and I'll see what I can do!
Browser Listening
You'll want to open up the "WatchAlong" player here. This will open up a YouTube player that will play the current song with everyone else. It doesn't sync the playhead between all of us, but if there is any change in the queue (like a skip or the completion of the current song on my side), it will progress the player for everyone at the same time. So, after the first song plays you essentially should be able to just leave the player to do it's thing and we'll all be in sync.
Syncing the playhead didn't seem relevant to me, but if that's something you're super interested in, I can see about working it out. This is quite a bit more costly in terms of requests to the server though, so... we'll see. It's an option.
Mobile Listening
Mobile listening can be a bit... weird? Because there's such a wide range of devices, many of them handling simultaneous audio a bit differently, I thought it was best to open up an option would be easiest to work with across as many of them as possible with as many options as possible in terms of bandwidth (loading several dozen youtube videos over the course of a stream isn't that great for mobile data, after all). In this case, that option I went with was Icecast for an audio-only stream.
If you are a subscriber, I have created a Sub watch page that opens all of the relevant twitch bits and the music all on the same page, giving you control over the stream and access to chat as well as access to the music stream and it's controls that can all be run from the one app. This should avoid any potential issues with running audio from multiple sources simultaneously. From my understanding, twitch has a bit of an issue with people watching from off-site, but I figure if you're paying $5.99/month for those sexy sub perks, you've paid for the right to not have to watch from inside Amazon's algorithm machine, and certainly paid for the convenience of having it all in one page there.
Not a subscriber? Worry not - there are a plethora of options out there, but unfortunately because there's such a wide array of devices out there (and so many people coming to the stream with such varied technical aptitude) it's really difficult to suggest any setup method in particular in a short article or guide. But worry not! - that's why I went with Icecast for the audio streaming service. You can use the address for the actual icecast stream (http://radio.shabtibot.com:8000/live) to set up in a number of different apps and media players like FStream, TuneIn Radio, Internet Radio Box, or - my personal preference - VLC.
What exactly does "Music Optional" mean?
You can listen to the song requests/playlists with the rest of us if you want to. If you don't want to listen to the tunes, you don't have to. It's just that simple. All of the song request features that I have already put in place (requesting, skipping, vetoing, etc) all still function exactly the same way that they did, with the difference that I have opened up a couple of different options for all of us to listen together off of the actual twitch stream.To be clear, song requests and all of the song request features aren't going anywhere.
Why are we doing this again?
Well, there are a few reasons why we're going through the trouble of moving the music off of the main stream.Firstly, copyright can be and often is an issue. There is of course the danger of the copyright owners taking action against the channel for copyright infringement - it's something that hasn't ever happened to us on Twitch before, but it has happened to other users occasionally. With that in mind, twitch automatically mutes sections of the stream where copyrighted music is detected, and also immediately deletes clips of the sections of streams where copyrighted music is detected. Right now roughly 1/3 of our clips are getting deleted like this. And of course, putting these clips on youtube would just be a hard nope.
Beyond the copyright issue, there is also the issue of viewer preference. Often viewers have varying preferences about music volume. Some viewers just outright prefer streams without music - either because they prefer to play their own music in the background, or sometimes just because they prefer not to have the music. There is also a strong preference among many viewers to not have to listen to song request streams. Many viewers just hard pass on them because song requests on twitch are known to often get more than a little out of hand.
Okay so, how do we listen?
I've done my best to work out a solution for pretty much every watch case that I can come up with. This is mostly based on the input of a few close friends and the discussions that we have had in sub chat, so if you have a watch case that isn't covered, let me know and I'll see what I can do!
Browser Listening
You'll want to open up the "WatchAlong" player here. This will open up a YouTube player that will play the current song with everyone else. It doesn't sync the playhead between all of us, but if there is any change in the queue (like a skip or the completion of the current song on my side), it will progress the player for everyone at the same time. So, after the first song plays you essentially should be able to just leave the player to do it's thing and we'll all be in sync.
Syncing the playhead didn't seem relevant to me, but if that's something you're super interested in, I can see about working it out. This is quite a bit more costly in terms of requests to the server though, so... we'll see. It's an option.
Mobile Listening
Mobile listening can be a bit... weird? Because there's such a wide range of devices, many of them handling simultaneous audio a bit differently, I thought it was best to open up an option would be easiest to work with across as many of them as possible with as many options as possible in terms of bandwidth (loading several dozen youtube videos over the course of a stream isn't that great for mobile data, after all). In this case, that option I went with was Icecast for an audio-only stream.
If you are a subscriber, I have created a Sub watch page that opens all of the relevant twitch bits and the music all on the same page, giving you control over the stream and access to chat as well as access to the music stream and it's controls that can all be run from the one app. This should avoid any potential issues with running audio from multiple sources simultaneously. From my understanding, twitch has a bit of an issue with people watching from off-site, but I figure if you're paying $5.99/month for those sexy sub perks, you've paid for the right to not have to watch from inside Amazon's algorithm machine, and certainly paid for the convenience of having it all in one page there.
Not a subscriber? Worry not - there are a plethora of options out there, but unfortunately because there's such a wide array of devices out there (and so many people coming to the stream with such varied technical aptitude) it's really difficult to suggest any setup method in particular in a short article or guide. But worry not! - that's why I went with Icecast for the audio streaming service. You can use the address for the actual icecast stream (http://radio.shabtibot.com:8000/live) to set up in a number of different apps and media players like FStream, TuneIn Radio, Internet Radio Box, or - my personal preference - VLC.