How Twitch is Putting Its Creator and Community-Driven Touch on Singing Competitions

Twitch may be best known for gaming, but the live streaming platform is quickly becoming the go-to hub for creators of all kinds, along with their fans and viewers, to create tight-knit communities. More and more, talented creators in the music space are taking to the platform, and Twitch has capitalized on this with Stream Star, which returned for its second season last Friday.

Stream Star lives within Twitch Sings, which was rolled out earlier this year. The karaoke-style feature is built on Twitch’s unique ability to blend streaming with interactivity. Fans can request songs, cheer and send in “singing challenges” to the streamer during the performance. For Stream Star, creators submitted their best performance for a chance to make the cut. Fans can watch at www.Twitch.tv/twitchmusic

The Season 1 winner, LaraLoft, was announced at TwitchCon Europe 2019. For Season 2, Twitch is raising the stakes: finalists will compete live and in person at TwitchCon North America on September 29, 2019 in San Diego, CA, and winners will win a $20,000 cash prize along with a recording contract with Columbia Records.

For more on Twitch Music and Season 2 of Stream Star, we spoke with Joel Wade, Executive Producer, Twitch Music.

Found Remote: Twitch is most commonly known as a gaming platform – how does Twitch Sings fit within Twitch’s larger strategy?

Joel Wade: We built Twitch Sings from the ground up for streamers. We wanted to create not just a fun game but also a streaming tool that would allow creators and their communities to make amazing, one-of-a-kind performances together. Sings, in‌ ‌particular, makes it trivial for creators who love to sing to share their gifts with the world.

We also believe there’s an opportunity for a new category of game to emerge that’s made-to-be-streamed, where the audience isn’t a ‘nice to have’—they’re a crucial part of the interactive game experience by voting on songs, offering challenges, and shaping the stream together. This applies equally to singers who want to feel the energy and virtual ovations of their online viewers or casual karaoke fans who just want to sing their hearts out. With Twitch Sings, you can share your best performances across Twitch or collaborate on duets with other streamers or the whole community.

FR: How does Stream Star take singing competitions to a different level?

Wade: Twitch shines at creating live interactive experiences for an entire community to share and participate in, and that’s exactly what Stream Star does. It democratizes the potential talent pool to anyone with a computer and allows for the live community to vote together for a new finalist each week. Viewers are shaping the course of the entire season, and their support determines who moves on to the finals.

FR: How will the competition play out live at TwitchCon? How else will music factor into TwitchCon?

Wade: Once all the finalists have been determined in the shows leading up to TwitchCon, the final show will take place live on our Glitch stage and at Twitch.tv/Twitch on Sunday, September 29th at 1:30 PM pacific time. Each finalist will sing a new song live, but the winner will be determined by a combination of fan votes and three music industry VIPs who each represent a different facet of the worldwide music community. The winner will head home with $20,000, a recording contract from Columbia Records, and thousands of new fans who saw them crowned the Season 2 champion live.

FR: Why is Twitch a great place for creators in the music space?

Wade: Twitch excels at building genuine, organic, highly supportive communities of fans. By its live nature, creators and viewers build strong relationships, and even smaller communities can offer a dramatic amount of support organizing shows, helping with stream content, or simply money through channel subscriptions and bit donations. For music creators, a group of committed super-fans can make a real impact by financially supporting them doing what they love.

FR: Why should fans be excited about the talent competing in Stream Star?

Wade: All you have to do is take a look at some of the entries to see that the talent is amazing. And Stream Star is just the tip of the iceberg. As music on Twitch grows, we’re excited to bring on more partners, more show formats, and more talent from across the globe, not just with Steam Star and Twitch Sings, but with even more ways that prove that Twitch is an incredible place to build a community around music and musicians.