Throughout the Pandemic, Twitch has been the go-to place for people to hear their favorite DJs do their thing. The DJs were paid handsomely for it, as Twitch subscribers offer subscriptions and tips for the DJs’ time.
And now that the pandemic is in the rearview mirror, Twitch has retained its position as the new normal regarding how fans can support their favorite artists.
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Yet Twitch can still feel like the Wild West for artists trying to break into the scene and take advantage of the platform. So ahead of his latest release, we invited Doc Brown, who has been making a sizable chunk of cash through DJing on Twitch, to share some of his secrets. But before we get into that, let’s check out his latest single that brought him to use in the first place.
Subscribe To Doc Brown’s Twitch Channel Here.
Stream Doc Brown’s Latest Remix Below
Preston Zane & MC Flipside released their track ‘Late Night Disco’ back in 2021, and it’s been a staple in the sets of countless industry heavyweights ever since. The original track had a funky groove and timeless quality that we thought would be irreplicable until Doc Brown put his hypnotic spin on the remix.
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The pounding drums and churning bass line create the track’s foundation, with energetic fills pockmarking the arrangement for additional impact and power. A warped piano line enters during the breakdown to give the listener a reprieve from the madness before the energy ramps back up to bring the track to its inevitable conclusion.
Purchase Your Copy Of This Amazing Remix Here
TWITCH ISN’T A ONE-WAY PLATFORM.
Unlike most other social media where you unidirectionally push content into an algorithm, the content & fan interaction happens in real-time on Twitch. Both the streamer & the viewer are there because they want to be, so having a dynamic stream where the viewers feel like they are a part of it makes for a good viewing experience. As such, anything that can drive engagement during the stream is fantastic.
I think a lot of DJ streamers default to talking on the mic ad nauseam, which, for better or worse, can be effective. People often like to hear their names called out when they subscribe to the channel or cheer bits; some recognition is due to them for their support. People who watch my channel tend to favor less mic talk, so I’ve created on-screen triggers that respond to viewer actions & host a 5-round animated trivia quiz on each Sunday episode, among other things. I even run a movie-like credit roll at the end of the stream that calls out the channel support.
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BRANDING IS EASY.
Every channel needs a personality, and being able to translate your brand with an excellent visual identity is pretty easy & quite fun to do. The platform allows you to create channel emotes, HTML panels that highlight & link to outside sources, and various other potential page customizations.
From there, it’s time to have some fun with the stream. Sometimes, that can be as simple as a logo & its placement. I have dozens of visual elements for my stream triggered via MIDI with an MPK Mini. I use the open-source version of OBS & have learned a lot over the past two years about Aftereffects, and I primarily use that to create the content. Some of it is more general–like a branded overlay–and some more specific; some fun Halloween elements were used on the stream recently.
MODERATION & AUTOMATION: SET IT & (DON’T) FORGET IT.
Having moderators for the channel & choosing how tight or loose you want the chat to be is essential based on your brand. I use the Streamelements chatbot to help do some auto-modding & also throw out timed messages into the conversation every once in a while about where to follow on socials, promoting the latest release, etc. It’s essential to find a happy medium between pushing the info into the chat & not overdoing it where it seems spammy.
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That all depends on the size of the audience & how active the conversation is. Like most things on Twitch, you’ll need to feel them out from stream to stream & re-evaluate & tweak them as necessary.
Having an active chat is important & having fun commands that people can use in the chat is probably a good idea–I use Streamelements for that as well. This is also a great way to customize the channel’s personality since your specific choices can guide these interactions. Be welcoming to all new chatters, and also keep in mind that most of those watching might never interact or appear in the chat–but they’re always watching what happens!
THE ANALYTICS ARE INSANE.
Twitch is based on gaming, so it only makes sense that the entirety of the platform is gamified for both the streamer & the viewer. The more you stream & the more you accomplish, the more you unlock in terms of tools to help build the channel.
Even at the base level, the Twitch dashboard can provide pinpoint data on stream metrics and who is watching, where they came from, what they watch, how long they watch & much more. All the info you could ever need on how your streams are performing is provided in extreme detail, easy to understand & updated in real time.
The user can also participate in different chat interactions that prompt them to spend money on the channel, whether a simple subscription to access channel emotes or a frenetic Hype Train when viewers can donate & give subscriptions over a timer to advance levels & win further Twitch benefits.
The bottom line is that the Twitch platform is invested in making sure your channel & content are as successful as possible because everyone wins when your gutter is booming.
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YOU CAN MAKE SOME MONEY WITH THE RIGHT CONTENT.
The first thing you will want to do if you’re a new channel is to become an Affiliate. The requirements are minimal; you must stream 500 minutes over seven separate streams with a minimum of 3 concurrent viewers over 30 days. Some music sites or distributors may be able to bypass the requirement, so be sure to check to see if that is an option for you. Once an affiliate, you can make money on subscriptions, bit cheering, and ads you show on the channel.
As a general rule, streams are a great way to showcase your personality through real-time interactions. They’re great places to test out new music for feedback or push the latest release more conversationally. I’ve also found long streams perform better than short streams.
Channels that can push content for 10 hours or longer tend to perform exceptionally well since the audience tends to build over time & you increase your chance of a raid, which is when another channel goes offline & drops their viewing audience onto yours. That’s just another one of the many tools at the creator’s disposal, all geared toward growing your audience together–a stark contrast to most other platforms.
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Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
