Twitch Shamelessly Replaces Audio Of Metallica's BlizzCon Show To Avoid DMCA

Twitch replaced the audio from Metallica’s performance during BlizzCon 2021 with non-copyrighted music in order to avoid a DMCA strike.

Twitch users were disappointed, Friday night, to see that the platform censored their coverage of BlizzCon 2021, when Metallica took the stage to perform their biggest hits. The streaming service replaced audio of “For Whom The Bell Tolls” and more with timid non-copyrighted instrumentals in a move likely done to avoid a DMCA strike.

Ethan Miller / Getty Images

The juxtaposition of Metallica’s lively performance with bland instrumentation superimposed over the video symbolizes the worst of Today’s abuse of the DMCA.

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Some users pointed out the irony that it was Metallica who was censored, as the band was infamous for leading the charge against pirated music in 2000 when they sued Napster.

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett recently expressed regret for their handling of the situation back in the day.

“We didn’t make a difference — we did not make a difference,” Hammett told Dean Delray on the Let There Be Talk podcast. “It happened, and we couldn’t stop it — because it was just bigger than any of us, this trend that happened that f—ing sunk the fucking music industry. There was no way that we could stop it. … What had happened was all of a sudden, it was just more convenient to get music and it was less convenient to pay for it, and there you have it.”

[Via]