Twitch for Musicians Second Edition. Karen Allen
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It’s also technically anything laid over the stream permanently, so an overlay can BE an Event List or an overlay can be a fully designed template that CONTAINS an Event List. This streamer’s overlays include the URL in the bottom right of the video, the song list at the top left, the event list, and the frame behind her side-view video. In some services, you program these all in one overlay template, in others you can add each element individually.
There are so many kinds of things you can put on your stream. We’ll talk about that more later.
Note: overlays do not have hyperlinks. Viewers cannot click them. Twitch does have a number of Extensions (similar to an app) that you can put on the Video Player that when clicked can enable things like taking polls, but that is different from an Overlay.
Song Request List
Musicians on Twitch take a lot of song requests from viewers. The requests often come through the chat and can be hard to keep track of, so there is a tool called StreamerSonglist to help viewers browse the songs the streamer knows and select one to add to the song queue (with or without a donation). The streamer can then reorder the list if they want and mark a song as played. The song Queue shows on the stream as an overlay so viewers know what song is being played, who requested it, if they donated, and what’s coming up next.
Look at the streamer’s Panels to find out how to request songs or try entering the chat command “!sl” in the chat to get the chatbot to reply with a link to the song list.
A discussion of how to use StreamerSonglist as a streamer is in Chapter 10.
Stream Title and Category
Each time you go live, you can title your stream and select the category you want to stream in.
Twitch will display your stream in its directory of currently live streams under the category you select. Twitch will take a screenshot of your livestream and include that in the directory, too.
If you are performing, your category should be Music & Performing Arts. If you are just hanging out and not performing, you can stream in Music & Performing Arts (because that’s where you normally stream) or in Just Chatting, which is a catch-all for hanging out and talking. If you want to play a game, then you’d stream in that game’s category (e.g., you’d stream your Fortnite play in the Fortnite category).
You can stream in any category with the same Twitch account, but you can only choose one category each time you go live.
Viewers can browse a listing of all channels currently streaming in a category, so it’s important that you select a category relevant to what you’re doing. For viewers to know specifically what you do on your stream, use a descriptive stream title.
You can choose keywords in addition to the category before you go live. Those are helpful to match your stream with viewer searches and viewers can filter their search results by keyword, but it’s much more common to just browse a category without filtering.
Eyeball & Person
Along the bottom of the Video Player, the number next to the person icon tells you how many people are watching you right now (concurrent viewers). The number next to the eyeball icon tells you how many views you’ve had since your first day streaming. It’s not a very helpful statistic. The number of concurrent viewers is far more important.
If you want to see exactly who is watching right now, click the people icon at the top of the Chat Window and a listing will pop up.
Share
This is a pretty standard share tool for sharing a link to the stream. It will create a post for Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and VKontakte (a gamer thing). The post will only have the stream title and a URL link, it will not show embedded video.
Note: there is not an option for Instagram. Streamers usually take screenshots to post to IG.
GO WATCH STREAMERS ON TWITCH
Before moving on to the next part, spend a couple hours on Twitch watching streams in the Music & Performing Arts category. Pay attention to what the streamer is doing, what tools they are using, and how the audience is responding to them. Read the streamer's Panels. Participate in their stream by chatting, following, and if you're so inclined, donating or subscribing.
There is a Twitch mobile app, but watch on the website first. You’ll have easier access to all the features. They can be a bit hidden on the app.
Set Up Your Account
Go to https://www.twitch.tv, click Sign Up in the top right corner of the page, and create an account.
Your username is also your channel name, so really think about what that should be and try to match it to the usernames of your social media accounts.
Don’t worry about setting up your Channel Page. For now, set your privacy preferences, avatar, and payment method (if you want to try subscribing and buying Bits now).
Setting Your Avatar, Display Name, Bio and Profile Banner
Click your avatar at the top right of the website, and you’ll get this menu:
Select Settings and you’ll see where to customize your Profile.
Your username is your channel name, but you can customize your Display Name with capitalization. You can add a bio to your profile, a profile picture (avatar), and Profile Banner. The Profile Banner will appear when someone clicks your username on your Channel Page. It’s hardly ever used, but it’s good to have it set.
Browse the Music Category
Enter “Music & Performing Arts” in the search to find the music category or go to:
https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Music%20%26%20Performing%20Arts.
You’ll see all the music streamers who are live right now. Click on a few, hang out with