Twitch now offering way to “buy” Affiliate & users aren’t happy about it

Twitch has drawn the public’s ire once again, this time for offering streamers a new way to earn Affiliate – one that involves enrolling in a paid subscription to Monstercat Gold, a music record label that’s partnered with the platform.

To say 2020 has been a tumultuous year for Twitch publicly might be a bit of an understatement; on numerous occasions, the company’s decisions have seen them face backlash from the masses on social media.

Amid all of the controversy surrounding DMCA strikes and the like, the platform has now rolled out a new way to earn Affiliate status as a streamer, which gives you a subscription button, emotes, and a lot of other perks that partners get, albeit on a much less lucrative scale.

The difference with this new path compared to the traditional one is that it’s behind a paywall – a $5 monthly subscription to Monstercat Gold, who partnered up with Twitch to offer this new fast-track to Affiliate.

How to get Twitch Affiliate with Monstercat Gold

To take advantage of this new path to Affiliate, all you have to do is simply sign up to the Monstercat Gold service and have it be active on your Twitch account for 30 days.

1. Set up your Twitch account (if you don’t have one already)
2. Visit the Monstercat Gold sign-up page
3. Click ‘Join Monstercat Gold’ and follow all of the instructions to sign up
4. After your Gold account has been active for 30 days, go to ‘My Gold Features’ and click ‘Apply for Twitch Affiliate’
5. Wait for a reply email from Twitch getting you started in the Affiliate program

Those who already have an active Monstercat Gold subscription for at least 30 days prior to this being announced can apply for Affiliate immediately.

Twitch facing backlash for this feature

Predictably, Twitter swarmed with naysayers of this idea lashing out at Twitch for essentially allowing aspiring streamers to purchase Affiliate status, something that others have had to earn on their own by meeting the platform’s requirements.

The ‘pay to play’ aspect of this feature isn’t the only thing that users have chimed in against – others have accused Twitch of pushing a narrative that feels like a false promise to streamers who don’t get many viewers.

“Telling broadcasters who have 0-2 viewers that they are ‘closer to making a living’ on Twitch if they buy your product is misleading, exploitative, and irresponsible,” wrote ‘Fruitbats,’ a streamer on the platform.

However, not everyone has a huge issue with this paid fast-track method; others, like popular content creator chocoTaco, have pointed out that the requirements to get Affiliate are so low and easy that this new feature is of no major consequence.

Incidentally, this isn’t the first such option that Twitch has offered aspiring streamers. Back in March of 2020, popular music service, SoundCloud, announced a similar partnership with the streaming platform, allowing those who subscribe to any of their paid services to get a fast-track to Affiliate status.

Interestingly enough, however, that announcement didn’t get nearly the negative attention the Monstercat partnership has received, perhaps due to the timing of this new one being in the midst of the DMCA controversy that’s taken over the platform.

So, we’ll just have to see what becomes of all this as 2020 draws to a close.