Song Requests, music through your Twitch chat bot
The Song Requests feature lets your Twitch viewers uniquely interact with you, directly influencing the stream through the power of music!
This helps increase community engagement, and when set to reward loyalty, it serves as a big encouragement for your viewers on Twitch to follow and subscribe to you.
You can also carefully restrict and moderate the requests to prevent them from getting out of control, so there's no need to worry!
How Song Requests work
Song Requests are played through the song player widget on your Moobot dashboard. Your broadcasting software automatically picks up the audio while you're playing the songs and feeds it into your stream.
Moobot integrates with YouTube to play the requested songs, allowing your viewers to request any song from YouTube's vast library, absolutely for free! The integration with YouTube also simplifies the process for your viewers to add their requests, as most viewers on Twitch are already familiar with YouTube.
Your viewers request their songs by giving a YouTube link to your Moobot through the «!SongRequest» chat command, which adds their song to the queue.
The song player widget plays the song at the top of the queue and moves to the next one once the current song has finished.
The song player playlists
There are two different playlists for the song player: The «Primary playlist» and the «Secondary playlist».
The «Primary playlist» contains all the requests from your Twitch viewers.
The «Secondary playlist» is your personal playlist and will play when the «Primary playlist» is empty.
How to take Song Requests
Taking Song Requests is simple, just follow these steps:
- Open the
«Features»menu from the main menu, then open the«Special Features»menu from there.
- While in the
«Special Features»menu, activate the toggle button for«Song Requests»to turn the feature on.
- Find the song player widget on your dashboard and click the play button to start the Song Requests.
- The player will play from your primary playlist if someone has already requested a song, or from your secondary playlist if not. If the song player can't find any songs to play, it will wait for a song to come in.
- Your viewers can now request their songs through the
«!SongRequest»chat command in Twitch chat.
- The songs will play one after the other as long as the song player widget is playing.
- You can view and adjust the queue of requested songs in the
«Primary playlist»menu.
That's it!
Once you've gotten familiar with doing Song Requests, it's highly recommended that you adjust the settings to fit your stream.
Encouraging new Twitch subs and follows with Song Requests
Song Requests can be a big encouragement for your viewers on Twitch to follow and subscribe to you.
To incentivize viewers to follow and subscribe, Moobot can be restricted to only taking Song Requests from subscribers or followers.
Moobot can even be set to limit the amount of Song Requests from non-subscribers/non-followers while allowing subscribers and followers to request as many songs as they want.
This functionality can be used as an incentive for your viewers to follow and sub, while still allowing your non-subs/non-followers to interact with you through Song Requests.
Adjusting the Song Request settings
Follow these steps to adjust the Song Request settings:
- Open up the
«Features»menu from the main menu, and then open the«Special Features»menu from there.
- While in the
«Special Features»menu, find the«Song Requests»feature and use the«Settings»button on the right-hand side of the feature to open its menu. - Select the
«Settings»option from the menu, which will open up the settings menu for the feature. - You can now adjust the settings to fit your needs.
- Click the
«Save»button at the bottom of the menu to save the settings.
Adjusting the maximum amount of Song Requests in the queue
To adjust the maximum total number of Song Requests in the queue, open the settings menu and change the value for «Maximum requests in the primary playlist».
Announcing when you're taking Song Requests
You can set Moobot to automatically announce in Twitch chat when you're accepting Song Requests. This way, your viewers will know when they can send in their requests.
Moobot will start posting these announcements in Twitch chat whenever you play music from the dashboard's song player widget.
Simply activate the toggle and adjust the settings in the «Announcement» section of your settings to enable this functionality.
Limiting the amount of Song Requests for a viewer per session
You can limit Song Requests to a certain amount of requests per user per session, ensuring that each viewer has a fair chance to request their song during your stream.
The limit can also be set to only apply when your queue is getting filled up, so you can make sure that you always have Song Requests coming in.
Simply activate the toggle and adjust the settings in the «Session restriction» section of your settings to enable this functionality.
By implementing these restrictions, you can ensure a fair and balanced distribution of Song Requests among your viewers, providing a better overall experience for everyone during your stream.
Using Song Request sessions to encourage Twitch followers and subs
Exempting your Twitch followers and/or subscribers from session restrictions allows them to request as many songs as they want.
This encourages your viewers to follow and subscribe, while still enabling non-subscribers and non-followers to request songs.
Restricting and filtering the Song Requests
While you can skip any song at any time, you can use Moobot's Song Request filtering to automatically deny any unwanted songs before playing them.
You can filter and restrict the songs you don't want to play and specify who can request songs.
Follow these steps to adjust the Song Request filtering:
- Open up the
«Features»menu from the main menu, and then open the«Special Features»menu from there.
- While in the
«Special Features»menu, find the«Song Requests»feature and use the«Settings»button on the right-hand side of the feature to access its menu. - Select the
«Filtering»option from the menu, which will open the filtering menu. - Adjust the settings to fit your needs.
- Click the
«Save»button at the bottom of the menu to save the settings.
Setting when Song Requests are open
You can restrict when Song Requests are open so that requests only come in when you want them to. This will prevent your request queue from getting filled up with old requests.
Accepting Song Requests only when playing Song Requests
By activating the «Only accept requests while the song player is active (playing)» checkbox in the filtering menu, Moobot will only accept requests while you have the song player widget active and playing.
Accepting Song Requests only when the stream is online
By activating the «Only accept requests while the stream is online» checkbox in the filtering menu, Moobot will only accept requests while your stream on Twitch is online.
Restricting who can request songs
To specify who can request songs, select the user groups you want to accept requests from in the «Only accept requests from these user groups» input in the filtering menu.
Simply choose the desired user groups to accept requests from:
- Normal users (any users)
- Twitch subs
- (⁎) Twitch followers
- Twitch mods
- Moobot regulars
- Moobot editors
Accepting Song Requests only from viewers who have watched for a minimum amount of time
To prevent Song Requests from viewers who are not familiar with your community and music preferences, you can set a minimum watch time for your stream.
Simply activate the «Only accept requests from users who have watched a minimum amount of time» checkbox in the filtering menu and adjust the «Minimum amount of time watched» input.
Setting how many Song Requests a user can queue up
To allow each of your viewers to have a fair chance to submit their requests, adjust the «Max requests in the queue per user» to fit your needs. This will limit the number of requests a single viewer can queue up at one time.
Filtering Song Requests based on category and stats
YouTube has a vast library of songs, but not all of them may be what you want to listen to.
If you want to restrict requests to a certain YouTube category, you can do this by selecting your desired categories in the «Only accept requests from these YouTube categories» input.
You can also restrict requests to have a minimum amount of views on YouTube, which may help you avoid unwanted requests. Simply adjust the «Minimum amount of views» input to set the required minimum views.
Setting the maximum duration of a Song Request
To avoid one request taking up too much airtime, you can adjust the «Maximum length of song» input in the filtering menu.
Blacklisting certain words in Song Request titles
Moobot can automatically deny Song Requests with certain words in their title.
Simply add the words you want to blacklist to the «Song title filtering» input in the filtering menu.
Exempting certain viewers from the filtering
You can exempt certain user groups from all your Song Request filtering by selecting the group in the «Exempt these user groups from any of the filtering» input in the filtering menu.
Song request blacklisting
Sometimes you don't want certain songs to play on your stream. To avoid such unwanted songs, you can use Moobot's blacklists for Twitch users, songs, and YouTube channels.
Moobot will deny any blacklisted requests and can also be set to automatically blacklist the viewer who made the unwanted request.
Blacklisting Song Requests from certain Twitch viewers
Follow these steps to blacklist Song Requests from a Twitch viewer:
- Open the
«Features»menu from the main menu, then open the«Special Features»menu from there.
- While in the
«Special Features»menu, find the«Song Requests»feature and use the«Settings»button on the right-hand side of the feature to open its menu. - In the menu, select the
«User blacklist»option, which will open up the blacklist menu. - Find the
«Blacklist a user»input at the bottom of the blacklist menu, type in the user name of the Twitch viewer you want to blacklist, and then either select the user or press the ENTER key. - The
«Blacklisted users»list should now display the blacklisted viewer.
- (Optional) If you want to only temporarily blacklist the viewer, find them in the list and click on the
«Edit»button to open its menu. - Activate the
«Expiration»toggle and adjust the date and time to when you want the viewer to be removed from the blacklist.
- Click the
«Save»button at the bottom of the menu to save the changes.
Blacklisting certain songs
Follow these steps to blacklist certain songs:
- Open the
«Features»menu from the main menu, then open the«Special Features»menu from there.
- While in the
«Special Features»menu, find the«Song Requests»feature and use the«Settings»button on the right-hand side of the feature to open its menu. - In the menu, select the
«Song blacklist»option, which will open up the blacklist menu. - Find the
«Add a YouTube video...»input at the bottom of the blacklist menu. - Paste the link/ID of the YouTube video or search for it and select the desired video from the list.
- The blacklisted song will now be displayed in the
«Blacklisted songs»list.
Blacklisting Song Requests from certain YouTube channels
Follow these steps to blacklist Song Requests from an entire YouTube channel:
- Open the
«Features»menu from the main menu, then open the«Special Features»menu from there.
- While in the
«Special Features»menu, find the«Song Requests»feature and use the«Settings»button on the right-hand side of the feature to open its menu. - In the menu, select the
«Channel blacklist»option, which will open up the blacklist menu. - Find the
«Add a YouTube channel...»input at the bottom of the blacklist menu. - Paste the link/ID of the YouTube channel or search for it and select the desired channel from the list.
- The blacklisted channel will now the displayed in the
«Blacklisted channels»list.
Taking advantage of the curated Song Request blacklists
Moobot offers curated blacklists for both songs and YouTube channels.
To activate the curated blacklist, go to the blacklist menu for songs and/or YouTube channels, activate the «Enable the global blacklist» checkbox, and click the «Save» button at the bottom of the menu.
Song request chat commands
Your viewers and Twitch moderators use chat commands in Twitch chat to interact with the Song Request feature.
All the chat commands for the Song Request feature are built into Moobot, and you have full control to adjust their settings and responses.
Follow these steps to activate and adjust a Song Request chat command:
- Open the
«Features»menu from the main menu, then open the«Special Features»menu from there.
- While in the
«Special Features»menu, find the«Song Requests»feature and use the«Settings»button on the right-hand side of the feature to open its menu. - In the menu, select the
«Commands»option, which will open up the commands menu. - While in the commands menu, activate the toggle button on the right side of the chat command you want to activate.
- (Optional) Click the
«Settings»button in the commands menu to adjust the settings and responses of the chat command.
!SongRequest chat command - Request songs
The «!SongRequest» chat command is how your viewers request their songs, and they can use it in Twitch chat like this:
«!SongRequest query», where the«query»is a search query. Moobot will then search YouTube for the query and choose the most relevant video.
«!SongRequest video-ID», where the«video-ID»is a YouTube video ID. For example, for the YouTube video«youtube.com/watch?v=ABCDE»the video ID would be«ABCDE», and Moobot will accept either«ABCDE»or«v=ABCDE».
«!SongRequest link», where the«link»is a link to a YouTube video.
!CurrentSong chat command - Show what's playing
The «!CurrentSong» chat command displays in Twitch chat which song is playing through the song player widget.
!NextSong chat command - See what's playing next
The «!NextSong» chat command displays in Twitch chat which song is playing next.
!Volume chat command - See and/or set the song volume
Your Twitch moderators can use the «!Volume» chat command to display and/or change the current volume of the song player widget.
The chat command can be used in Twitch chat like:
«!Volume»to display the current volume.«!Volume value»to set the volume, where the«value»is a number from 1 to 100.«!Volume up»to increase the volume by 10.«!Volume down»to decrease the volume by 10.«!Volume up value»to increase the volume by«value»with the«value»being a number from 1 to 100.«!Volume down value»to decrease the volume by«value»with the«value»being a number from 1 to 100.
!SkipSong chat command - Skip the current song
The «!SkipSong» chat command can be used by your Twitch moderators to skip the song currently playing in the song player widget.
!WrongSong chat command - Remove your requested song
The «!WrongSong» chat command removes the previously requested song of whoever uses the command.
Your viewers can use this chat command if they make a mistake with their request.
!SongList chat command - Display the full list of queued songs
The «!SongList» chat command provides a link to a public page that displays all the song requests currently in the queue, allowing your viewers to easily view them.
Adjusting when a song starts and ends
The start and end position of a song can be adjusted by setting its playback position.
Adjusting playback for songs in the secondary playlist
Follow these steps to adjust the playback position of a song in your «Secondary playlist»:
- Open the
«Features»menu from the main menu, then open the«Special Features»menu from there.
- While in the
«Special Features»menu, find the«Song Requests»feature and use the«Settings»button on the right-hand side of the feature to open its menu. - In the menu, select the
«Secondary playlist»option, which will open up the secondary playlist menu. - While in the secondary playlist menu, find the song you want to adjust the playback position for.
- Click the
«Set playback position»button for the song. - In the pop-up, change the start and end positions to your desired values.
- Click the
«Set»button to save the new playback positions.
Adjusting playback for requested songs
You can adjust the playback position of a song requested with the «!SongRequest» chat command by providing a start and end playback position when using the command in Twitch chat.
To do this, add «start=00m00s» and/or «end=00m00s» to the chat command's request, where «00m» represents the minutes and «00s» represents the seconds. Additionally, prefix it with a «#» character and separate them with a «&» character.
Examples:
The playback position is not adjusted:
!SongRequest youtube.com/watch?v=ABCDE
The playback position is adjusted to start at 1 minute and 32 seconds and ends when the video completes:
!SongRequest youtube.com/watch?v=ABCDE#start=01m32sThe playback position is adjusted to start at the beginning (00:00) and end at 1 minute and 12 seconds:
!SongRequest youtube.com/watch?v=ABCDE#end=01m12sThe playback position is adjusted to start at 30 seconds and end at 1 minute and 45 seconds:
!SongRequest youtube.com/watch?v=ABCDE#start=00m30s&end=01m45sManually moderating Song Requests
Your Twitch moderators can use the «Primary playlist» menu to remove any unwanted requests that your filtering didn't catch. This allows them to pre-screen the requests before they're played on your stream.
Be sure to grant them access to your Moobot dashboard by adding them as Moobot editors and adjusting their permissions to allow them to moderate the requests.
Using keyboard hotkeys to control the song player
You can easily control the song player by using hotkeys with Moobot Assistant. That way, you don't have to switch out of your game to skip a song or change the volume.
Hotkeys work in your other apps, full-screen included, and are available for:
- Pausing/unpausing the player.
- Skipping the current song.
- Muting/unmuting the player.
- Increasing/decreasing the volume of the player.
- Adding the current song to the secondary playlist.
- Blacklisting the current song and whoever requested it.
Displaying the current song on your stream overlay
With Moobot Assistant, you can write the current song to a local file.
You can then use this file in your broadcasting software (like OBS or XSplit) to display the current song on your stream overlay.
Song Requests when streaming on Xbox or PlayStation
If you're streaming to Twitch with an Xbox or PlayStation, you will need to feed the audio from the song player into your broadcast.
One way to do this is by using a cheap audio splitter cable to feed both your microphone output and your song player output into the microphone input.
Furthermore, if you want to hear the song player's audio, you will need to split the song player output to your headset or speakers.
Common problems
The player is not playing
If you encounter the «Waiting for song to be requested, or added to the secondary playlist...» error despite having songs queued up, it indicates that the YouTube player failed to load properly.
To resolve this issue, clear your browser's cache and cookies, and then restart it.
If clearing the browser does not resolve the issue, a browser extension is often the culprit behind the player's failure. Try disabling all of your browser extensions and then attempt to play a song again. Using an incognito window in your browser can make this process easier, as the extensions will be disabled by default.
Once you have identified the problematic browser extension, permanently disable or remove it to prevent future failures.
The player is too small to comply with YouTube's guidelines
To comply with YouTube's guidelines, you must resize the song player widget to ensure it is at least 200 pixels wide and 200 pixels high.
Follow these steps to resize the song player:
- Open the
«Interface»menu in the main menu, and ensure that the«Lock UI»toggle is deactivated.
- Follow one or more of these steps:
- Make your browser's window wider.
- Use your browser's zoom feature (if available) to zoom out, giving the song player more space.
- Drag and drop the song player widget to a wider column on your dashboard.
- Use the
«UI columns»menu to adjust the width of a column by dragging its slider to your desired size. - Reduce the number of columns in the
«UI columns»menu to give more space for each column.
- Your song player should now be at least 200 pixels wide and 200 pixels high.