Keep Spotify out of your VODs — put it on its own audio track in OBS

Twitch mutes parts of a past broadcast that contain copyrighted music, and a DMCA claim against one is a strike on your channel. OBS can send Twitch two different mixes at once: one for the live stream, with the music, and one for the VOD, without it. This guide sets that up for the Spotify desktop app.

When you are done:

• Live viewers hear everything — you, your game, your alerts and the music.
• Past broadcasts and highlights have you, your game and your alerts, with no music.
• Clips are cut from the live broadcast, so a clip can still contain music.

It takes about 15 minutes. Do it once; it stays set.

This is not a licence. Keeping music out of the VOD protects your past broadcasts. It does not make it safe to play copyrighted music live. Twitch can still act on what was heard live.

Before you start

Check each of these first. If one is missing, the steps below will not match what you see.

1. OBS Studio 30 or newer. In OBS, open Help → About and read the version number. If it is older, download the latest from obsproject.com and install it over the top — your scenes are kept.
2. Windows 10 version 2004 or newer, or Windows 11. Capturing one app's sound on its own needs it. (This guide is for Windows.)
3. The Spotify desktop app, not Spotify in a web browser. A browser tab can't be captured on its own.
4. Twitch chosen as your service in OBS. Open File → Settings → Stream. Service should say Twitch. A connected account and a pasted stream key both work.
5. Past broadcasts switched on at Twitch. In the Twitch Creator Dashboard, open Settings → Stream and make sure Store past broadcasts is on. Without it there is no VOD to protect.

Part 1 — Capture Spotify on its own

This gives Spotify its own slider in OBS, separate from everything else.

1. Open the Spotify app and play any song. It has to be running for OBS to find it.
2. In OBS, click the scene you stream from in the Scenes box (bottom left).
3. In the Sources box next to it, click + (Add Source).
4. Click Application Audio Capture (BETA).
5. Leave Create new selected. In the name box, type Spotify. Leave Make source visible ticked. Click OK.
6. The properties window opens. Set each box, top to bottom:
   • Window: pick the line that starts with [Spotify.exe]. The rest of that line is whatever song is playing — that is fine.
   • Window Match Priority: pick Match title, otherwise find window of same executable. Spotify's window title changes with every song; this tells OBS to follow the app, not the title.
7. Click OK.
8. Look at the Audio Mixer box (bottom middle). There is now a row called Spotify, and its bar moves while the song plays.

Stream from more than one scene? Add Spotify to each of them the same way, but at step 5 pick Add Existing and choose Spotify instead of making a new one. It is then one source shared by every scene, with one volume.

Part 2 — Stop Spotify reaching OBS a second time

OBS's Desktop Audio records every sound your PC plays — Spotify included. If it stays on, Spotify reaches the stream twice, and one of those copies ends up in your VOD. So Desktop Audio goes off, and each thing you want on stream gets its own capture instead, the way Spotify just did.

1. Open File → Settings → Audio.
2. Under Global Audio Devices, set Desktop Audio to Disabled.
3. Set Desktop Audio 2 to Disabled too, if it isn't already.
4. Leave Mic/Auxiliary Audio alone — that is your microphone.
5. Click OK.

Now give back the sounds Desktop Audio used to carry. Do whichever of these apply to you:

• Your game. Double-click your Game Capture source in Sources and tick Capture Audio (BETA). Click OK. (Using Window Capture for the game instead? It has the same box.) If the game still has no meter in the Audio Mixer, add an Application Audio Capture (BETA) for it exactly like Part 1, choosing the game in Window.
• Discord, or any other app you want heard. Add an Application Audio Capture (BETA) for it, exactly like Part 1.
• Alerts and overlays (browser sources — including Roadie's Stage source). Double-click each one in Sources and make sure Control audio via OBS is ticked. Each then has its own row in the Audio Mixer.

Check: pause Spotify. The Desktop Audio row is gone from the Audio Mixer, and the Spotify row goes still. Press play again and only the Spotify row moves.

Part 3 — Turn on the Twitch VOD track

OBS can mix up to six audio tracks. Track 1 is what goes out live. This part tells OBS to send Twitch a second mix, track 2, and have Twitch use that one for your past broadcasts.

1. Open File → Settings → Output.
2. Look at Output Mode at the top. Follow the one that matches.

If Output Mode is Simple:

3. Under Streaming, tick Enable Custom Encoder Settings (Advanced).
4. Tick Twitch VOD Track (Uses Track 2). It appears just below once step 3 is ticked. In Simple mode the VOD always uses track 2.
5. Click OK.

If Output Mode is Advanced:

3. Open the Streaming tab.
4. Leave Audio Track on 1 — the live stream.
5. Tick Twitch VOD Track and choose 2.
6. Click OK.

Don't see Twitch VOD Track? It only appears when Settings → Stream → Service is Twitch (Before you start, item 4). In Simple mode it also stays hidden until Enable Custom Encoder Settings (Advanced) is ticked.

Part 4 — Leave Spotify off the VOD track

Now tell OBS which sources go into which mix. Everything goes on track 1 (live). Everything except Spotify goes on track 2 (the VOD).

1. Open Edit → Advanced Audio Properties from the menu at the top of OBS. (The gear or ⋮ button in the Audio Mixer box opens the same window.)
2. A table opens with one row per audio source. On the right are the Tracks boxes, numbered 1 to 6.
3. Set every row like this:

4. Click Close. OBS saves it as you click — there is no Save button.

The rule to remember: anything with music in it — Spotify — off track 2. Everything else, on.

Roadie's Stage source plays clips, and a clip carries whatever was playing when it was made. If your clips can have music in them, untick track 2 on the Stage source as well. Your alerts then stay out of the VOD too — that is the trade.

Part 5 — Test it before a real stream

Test once, with nobody watching, so the first time you find out is not a muted VOD.

1. Play a song in Spotify.
2. Click Start Streaming in OBS. Talk for about 30 seconds so there is something besides music.
3. Click Stop Streaming.
4. In the Twitch Creator Dashboard, open Content → Video Producer and play the past broadcast you just made. It can take a few minutes to appear.
5. You should hear yourself and your game, and no music.
6. Delete that test broadcast if you don't want it on your channel.

No music in the VOD, and you heard it in OBS while live? You're done.

If something is off

• Spotify isn't in the Window list (Part 1). Spotify has to be open and playing. If it is, close the properties window, play a song, and open it again. It must be the Spotify app, not the web player.
• There's no Application Audio Capture (BETA) in the + menu. OBS is older than version 30, or Windows is older than version 2004. Update whichever it is (Before you start, items 1 and 2).
• You hear the music twice, or with an echo. Desktop Audio is still on. Go back to Part 2, steps 1–3.
• The music is still in your VOD. One of these:
  • Spotify is ticked on track 2 — Part 4.
  • Desktop Audio is still on and carrying Spotify too — Part 2.
  • Twitch VOD Track isn't ticked — Part 3.
  • Music is also playing somewhere else — a browser tab, or a music overlay. Give it the Spotify treatment: off track 2.
• Your VOD has no sound at all. Nothing is on track 2. In Part 4, tick track 2 on your mic, your game and your alerts.
• Your game went quiet after Part 2. Tick Capture Audio (BETA) on your Game Capture, or add an Application Audio Capture for the game (Part 2). A few games refuse to be captured this way — Valorant is the best-known. Ask in the Roadie Discord and we'll walk you through the workaround.
• Your local recordings still have music. Recording is separate from the Twitch VOD. With Output Mode on Advanced, the Recording tab has its own Audio Track boxes — tick 2 instead of 1 for music-free recordings.

Where Roadie comes in

Roadie shows what Spotify is playing — on your dashboard, on stream with the Now playing Stage element, and in chat with !song — and lets your mods queue songs. None of that changes your audio: Spotify still plays on your PC, and this guide is what keeps it out of your VODs. To set Roadie up with Spotify, see Connect Spotify; to queue songs, open Music.