As someone who is both new to Twitch and uses it for “alternative” content to gaming (eg. music streams, cooking classes, etc), I find this rebranding confusing and poorly timed. Clearly the platform is mostly for gaming, but the pandemic has highlighted Twitch’s ability to become more than just that. It works quite well for live music events, whether it be a single artist playing in their bedroom to 50 people or a full-on live music festival with 30k viewers. I’ve been attending all manner of these streams for months now, and I don’t see them ending soon, or even after the pandemic subsides. It’s a completely new way for artists and producers to engage with audiences. Entire record labels have multiple weekly streams for their content and communities.

I really hope that Amazon sees the platform for these other uses and makes it more friendly for other content producers. Clearly there is both a need and demand for it.