The news that YouTube is attempting to acquire Twitch surprised me when I heard, and gave me some concern. Twitch is a site for those who want to watch video game related content only; no other videos are allowed on the site. People do game play videos with commentary and live streams; there are also gaming tournaments (E-Sports) that can be viewed on Twitch. These videos often contain 2 parts: footage of a game being played, from an IP that is not owned by the person making the video, and music, which is usually under copyright protection as well. Regardless, Twitch has been able to operate unimpeded. I do not know why, but I am happy about it, and I think the Internet is a better place for it.
YouTube has not been as kind to its content producers. One can find a video for anything on YouTube, from entertainment to education; this is certainly a strong point. However, in regards to gaming videos, and those who make a living off of said videos, YouTube still has room to grow. YouTube utilizes a system called ContentID, and it is their way of washing their hands of any involvement in copyright issues. The recent attack on many content produces that use game footage and music in their videos showed just how blind the system is, as videos were taken down by parties that did not actually have any right to the material. In some cases, that original copyright holders had already given the content producers permission to use said material.
If YouTube does acquire Twitch, I do not see how Twitch's content producers can continue to enjoy the freedom that they have. Google has no interest in going to court to defend those that use their service to make content for a living, or just for shear creative expression. I guess we will just have to see how things play out.
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