Dream Alt Account Banned

One of the most culturally significant video games in recent memory is Minecraft. It’s no surprise that the game is popular among streamers, with a dedicated and creative following renowned for using the game to create everything from the White House to the temple of Khonshu from Moon Knight. However, one well-known streamer has run afoul of Twitch and had their account suspended.

Dream, a Minecraft streamer, is practically synonymous with the game. If you ask anyone who is even vaguely familiar with the community to name a Minecraft streamer, they will almost certainly say Dream. Despite his fame, he is nonetheless subject to Twitch’s rules, and his account has been suspended since May 3. The exact reason for the ban is unknown, though the streaming platform claims it’s for a “violation of Twitch’s Community Guidelines.”  

The popular Twitch streamer and Game Awards nominee’s main account was not suspended; rather, his alt account “dreamwastaken” was banned in this case. He seemed to take the ban in stride, jokingly responding to a Twitter thread about the ban with, “WHOS GONNA STOP ME.” 

It appears that Dream was banned for violating the DMCA since he was listening to licensed music. 

The irony is that the music in question appears to be “Heat Waves” by British indie rock band Glass Animals, a tune that has been notably reworked to be about the streamer himself. Twitch is a platform that has given many content creators the opportunity to have their work viewed and make a living off of it. While no creative should be exempt from the platform’s regulations, Twitch may want to focus on maintaining its relationship with its most successful streamers. Proposed Twitch income changes have already agitated several major Twitch personalities, and things like barring channels from playing music with a clear connection to the streamer themselves could cause even more anger.

Many streamers have the option to distribute their content elsewhere. Some artists have already stated openly their desire to sign lucrative YouTube streaming deals, and Dream, who has just under 30 million YouTube subscribers, would be a good fit.  

Fans of his work will never get bored with it; the only thing that might change is where they watch it. Dream doesn’t appear to be disturbed by the Twitch event, so he may not be poised to make any major changes, but the streaming scene as a whole may be evolving.