Industry insiders - how to get permission to use songs in a live stream?

[Psychotic Symphony]

So I've been streaming video games, it's my new hobby. www.twitch.tv/mazasus if you want to look. I am small time.

That said, sometimes I'd prefer to listen to somethign by an artist or just broadcast it in replacement of the game's soundtrack. Twitch at the moment says unless you either own the rights or have permission to stream it don't do it.
So for the second option, what is the best -safest- way to get permission? Is it the label or the band I talk to? Most other streamers think it's the band you get permission from, but I am skeptical - I am sure it's on a case by case basis of who owns what.
Twitch did release Soundtrack which is a program that will stream (but not record) stuff that has explicitly given permission - from the likes of cdbaby, nuclear blast, century media etc. The big problem for me is I can't curate it - I can only stream pre-constructed playlists.

So any ideas? Cheers in advance.

[BC]

I’m curious about this myself as there are songs I’d love to see used on TikTok.

[introclaus]

The short answer: don't do it - it's not worth the hassle!

The long answer: well ... if it's a band with a record deal, you won't get anything out of going to the band, as they are not in a position to give you a "clear" notice. Most likely they've assigned all their publishing off to their record label or to a real publishing company. Those would be the next stop, but unless you know who to contact you can be running around circles for a long time. The first stop could be the local/domestic copyright association (in US Harry Fox or ASCAP, in Germany its GEMA, in Sweden its STIM, in Denmark KODA, and so on), but if there's a real publisher behind it you'll get thrown over to them. It's a complex process and most people won't even try to go through it. That's why movie companies, tv stations, radio stations etc. have entire departments in place to handle stuff like this.

[Psychotic Symphony]

Good to know. I'll just do my best to stick to self-published artists.

[devomeister]

Seems pertinent to the discussion...https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021 ... a-takedown