It was only recently that Twitch shook up the online world by introducing a new DJ category to its lengthy list of categories. This June 6 announcement was accompanied by the reveal of the dedicated DJ Program that would 'allow DJs to stream the vast majority of popular music on the new segment.'
While the program went live on August 1, the new category was introduced to much fanfare on August 8, led by a worldwide, 24-hour streaming event headlined by Zedd. The famous music producer streamed live from Brooklyn, playing fresh music from Telos, his first album in nearly a decade. ZHU, Sofi Tukker, Sam Feldt, Aluna, Cheat Codes, and HoneyLuv were also among the prominent performers.
The company tied up with hundreds of companies, including all major labels, numerous independent labels, and other rights holders represented by Merlin. This made the Amazon-owned platform the first major service to provide a safe, long-term home for DJs to livestream, with the new dedicated program promoting and supporting these creators as they build communities on the service and beyond.
One main point Twitch seemingly addressed was DJs needing to leverage pre-recorded music from other artists to fulfill their creative expression and live-streaming any performances over the internet. This process required clearing applicable rights, making it hard for these creators to expand their portfolio and range. However, with the new program, DJs can 'continue to grow and engage with the communities they have built on Twitch within a framework that makes it easier to compensate musicians.'
Creators interested in joining the DJ Program can check out the application link here. The stated benefits include:
- The Rights to Stream: Stream the vast majority of popular music, in partnership with all the major labels and hundreds of indie labels.
- Discovery & Promotion: For the first time ever, participating DJs will be eligible for discovery and promotional opportunities across Twitch, including a new DJ Category. DJ badge displays across multiple surfaces around the community.
- Support from Twitch: First-year subsidies help cover the earnings share difference, a dedicated streamer group to integrate DJs deeper into the Twitch community, and discounts and opportunities with 3rd party partners.
DJ category insights over first couple days on Twitch
The category has witnessed a sedate start to life on the popular live-streaming service, peaking at around 69K online spectators on the day of launch. DJs has also entered its top 20 most-watched and most popular games and categories rankings for August 8 and 9.
Interestingly, when looking at its demographics, over half the creators are females, which is also reflected in the fact that a leaderboard of its most-watched influencers is women. This bodes well for an organization that takes pride in being a leader in inclusivity across sections of society.
Many of the world's best DJs come from Europe and North America, and that is reflected in the fact that Germany, the United States, and Canada lead the table of channel contributors to this segment, with the European powerhouse seeing almost 40% of the overall presence of accounts on Twitch.
This has also spilled into the distribution of languages so far, with English and German being by far the most watched ones. In fact, together, they account for 97.1% of the overall watch time that the DJs category has recorded between August 8 and 9.
Compared to other related sections, it stacks up pretty well, although the sample size is still small. It has accrued a higher watch time over the last two days than established categories like Sports, Music, Art, and Food & Drink, with the next-best entry putting up less than half of its viewership figures.
It seems that after years of back-and-forths, backed by their numbers on Twitch increasing manifold, DJS and related creators have received a new lease of life. Whether the DJ Program can sustain this recent momentum and help the category grow into a vital part of the platform's ecosystem remains to be seen, but the initial signs are promising.
