Music on a 24/7 Stream
Most advice about music and streaming assumes you are live, watching, and able to skip a track. A 24/7 channel is none of those things, and that changes the risk in two ways almost nobody explains.
Why a loop is not like a normal stream
The multiplication. A recorded video plays a track once per viewer. A looping channel plays it every time the loop comes round — thousands of times a month, including at 4am when nobody is watching and nobody is there to stop it.
If one track in your file is claimable, you have not created one problem. You have created a machine that generates the same problem on a schedule, indefinitely.
The expiry. This is the one that catches people, and we have not seen it written anywhere.
Some music licences are tied to your subscription. If you stop paying, your forward-use rights end. For a normal video that is manageable — the work is already published under the licence you held. For a channel that is still broadcasting right now, the music keeps playing after the licence stops.
Among the major libraries the model is the same, and it is narrower than "perpetual licence" makes it sound. All three clear permanently what you published while subscribed. None of them lets you keep using the music afterwards.
- Epidemic Sound: "All content published while the subscription was active remains cleared to monetize permanently." But "using Epidemic Sound music in new content published after the subscription ends will result in monetization by Epidemic Sound."
- Artlist: a project "completed and published while your subscription is active" stays licensed even if you cancel — and "once your subscription expires, these assets cannot be used in new projects."
- Uppbeat: videos uploaded to a Safelisted channel during the subscription stay protected from claims, while clause 6.5 of the user agreement states that "it is not permitted to use previously downloaded Content once a subscription has ended."
Which leaves the question none of the three answers. A channel that is still broadcasting on the day your subscription lapses: is that content you already published, or is it use that is still happening?
⚠️ We could not find a clause in any of these libraries that explicitly addresses continuous 24/7 looping. Their terms talk about broadcast, streaming and commercial use in general. Ask your provider in writing whether a permanently running channel is covered before you build one on their catalogue. A support email you can point to later is worth more than an assumption.
Note also that broadcast rights are often a higher tier than the standard plan: Artlist covers broadcast on its Pro tier, and Epidemic Sound gates it behind a custom-priced Pro Plus.
And one prohibition worth reading twice if your channel is the music. Artlist does not permit its tracks in playlist-style videos: "music-only compilations, audio tracks with static images, or videos created primarily to share or distribute the music itself." That describes most 24/7 lofi and ambient channels exactly.
Twitch: strikes, not claims
Twitch does not work like YouTube, and this trips people up.
There is no Content ID equivalent. A rights holder's formal tool is a DMCA takedown, so enforcement arrives as strikes. Under Twitch's repeat infringer policy, three copyright strikes is a permanent ban — not demonetisation, not a muted segment. The channel goes.
Two more things worth knowing:
Twitch's automatic VOD muting is not protection. It is not a licence, not a full copyright review, and not a guarantee that no claim follows. A muted VOD does not mean you are clear.
A paid Spotify or Apple Music subscription does not license you to broadcast. Those cover personal listening only. This is the single most common mistake, and it applies equally to Tidal, YouTube Music and Amazon Music.
And if your loop is gameplay: some games ship soundtracks cleared for play but not for broadcast. GTA Online, FIFA and Forza Horizon are the usual examples. Most have a streamer mode or radio toggle that swaps in cleared music — use it before you record the footage you intend to loop forever.
YouTube: a different mechanism, and a different cost
YouTube does have Content ID. A match usually does not remove your stream; it redirects the revenue to the rights holder, or in some cases blocks the stream in certain countries.
For a 24/7 channel, that means the failure is quiet. Your channel keeps running, looks healthy, and earns nothing — and unless you check your claims page, nothing tells you.
What is actually safe
Three categories, and only three:
1. Music you made, or recorded with full rights. 2. Music licensed to you by a service whose licence explicitly covers the platform you are broadcasting on — and, ideally, confirmed in writing for continuous use. 3. Public domain works. Be careful here: the composition may be public domain while a specific recording of it is not. A 1890 symphony is free; the Berlin Philharmonic's 1998 recording of it is not.
Libraries commonly used by streamers include Pretzel, StreamBeats, Monstercat, Epidemic Sound, Soundstripe, NCS and Outertone. Check the tier — several gate broadcast rights above the entry plan.
The part where we admit something
No service in this category scans your file for claimable audio before you loop it. Not Castr, not Upstream, not Restream, not Streamloop — and not us.
You upload a file, we broadcast it. Whether the soundtrack is cleared for a channel that runs for months is entirely on you, and none of us check.
We think that is worth saying plainly, because it is the most likely reason a 24/7 channel you are about to build will fail — and it is not a reason any of us have an incentive to bring up while you are deciding whether to subscribe.
Before you commit a file to a permanent loop
- Confirm in writing that your licence covers continuous broadcast on your platform.
- Prefer a perpetual licence over a subscription-tied one, or plan to keep paying for as long as the channel runs.
- If the footage is gameplay, re-record it with the in-game licensed-music toggle off.
- Check your YouTube claims page periodically. A quiet channel earning nothing looks exactly like a healthy one.
Where we come in
PulseCast loops your file 24/7 from the cloud to YouTube, Twitch, Kick or any RTMP destination. Upload once, paste a stream key, done — no PC on, no OBS.
We do not check rights or soundtracks, as above. What we do check, since September 2026, is your file's keyframe interval, because that will silently break your stream too.
From $19/month. The free plan is 48 hours of streaming at 720p with a watermark — enough to test it, not a permanent free tier. We also published an honest comparison of 12 services including ours, and a page on whether a rerun channel is allowed at all.
Sources
Twitch's repeat infringer policy, DMCA guidelines and VOD muting behaviour: legal.twitch.com and Twitch's own 2020 post on music-related copyright claims. Licence persistence, the playlist prohibition and broadcast tiers: read from each provider's own terms in September 2026 — Artlist's licence article, Uppbeat's user agreement, and Epidemic Sound's help centre, all linked above. The gap on continuous 24/7 use is flagged inline and is not covered by any of them that we could find.
Something wrong or out of date? Tell us: pulsecast.tv@icloud.com
PulseCast loops the file you cleared. The clearing is yours. See what it costs