Digital Distribution Agreement - Distribution & Promotions

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You keep 100% of your copyright
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Trending, Analytics, Playlist info and much more!
No yearly fees
We take a split of 20% from your income. If you don’t earn any money, we don’t earn any money. Doing the math you will generally end up paying way more using services with fixed fee’s and yearly fees

THE FOLLOWING ARTIST DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT, MUST BE ACCEPTED BEFORE DISTRIBUTION CAN COMMENCE WHETHER AS AN INDIVIDUAL, OR IF APPLICABLE, ACTING AS THE AUTHORIZED LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR AN ARTIST, BAND, GROUP, COMPANY OR OTHERWISE.

PLEASE READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY.

BY ENTERING YOUR NAME, EMAIL ADDRESS AND OTHER REQUIRED INFORMATION AND SIGNING YOU HAVE ENTERED INTO A NON EXCLUSIVE CONTRACTUAL AGREEMENT WITH APPRISE MUSIC & MEDIA. (Here after APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION) BASED ON THE TERMS, CONDITIONS & DURATIONS STATED WITHIN THIS AGREEMENT.

THE “EFFECTIVE DATE” OF THIS AGREEMENT IS THE DATE ON WHICH YOU SIGN THIS DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT

Definitions within this agreement

The following terms have the following meanings for purposes of this Agreement:

“Digital Master” or “Digital Masters” means a copy or copies of Recordings in any digital form.

“Copyright Information” means the information regarding a Digital Master or Masters, such as your name, the names of all lyric writers, composers, the name of the publisher, the title of the songs, release etc.

“Recordings” means sound recordings and audio/visual recordings and musical compositions that you have chosen for digital distribution and entered / uploaded through the use of APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION’s online DASHBOARD functions and forms. Any such sound recordings and audio/visual recordings and the musical compositions must be owned or controlled by you and / or have been cleared by you for all purposes and rights granted and authorized hereunder by you.

“DASHBOARD” means the interface provided by APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION allowing you to upload and enter audio, artwork, metadata, lyrics, biographies, promotional material, photo’s & any other digital data uploaded or manually entered by you currently available and / or available in the future. Also this in the interface provided to allow you to view, edit and update your releases, view sales reports, analytics and trends and manage artist catalog with APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION.

“Licensee” means the digital Internet consumer stores and services (DSP’s) (e.g. iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, PlayAfrica, YouTube, Zayon, Google Play, Boomplay, etc. where your music may be made available) which we may authorize to carry out the distribution and sale or other use of Recordings and Artwork pursuant to the terms within this Agreement. Additional Licensees (DSP’s) may be added or removed by us at any time.

“Artwork” means album cover artwork and any other artwork relating to Recordings that you provide to us through the DASHBOARD. All artwork shall have been cleared by you for all purposes and may not contain content, imagery, images, logos or other that is not 100% owned or controlled by you.

“Takedown” means the removal of your music from DSP’s / stores or any service delivered to by APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION. Takedown can be requested by contacting APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION.

“Metadata” means any and all data audio, artwork, copyright information or otherwise entered by you to enable APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION to deliver your music to our partners, DSP’s, stores, services or otherwise.

“DSP” means digital service provider. These are the shops, services or download stores where your music will be available to buy, stream or to subscribe.

You hereby appoint APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION as your authorized representative for the sale and distribution of Recordings, artwork and metadata provided herein. The rights that are granted by you to APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION are non-exclusive and are worldwide unless otherwise specified by you within the DASHBOARD. You hereby grant to APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION the non-exclusive right, during the agreement term to:

Convert & Reproduce Recordings into Digital Masters to the specifications of the respective licensee’s (e.g. iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, PlayAfrica, Zayon, Boomplay)

Perform and make available for promotional purposes, portions of Recordings (“Clips”, “Previews”) by “streaming” or otherwise to promote the license, sale and distribution of Digital Masters.

Distribute, sell and deliver Digital Masters & the respective Artwork, as individual tracks or entire albums, and associated metadata to licensee’s (e.g. iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, PlayAfrica, Zayon, Boomplay) who may use such Digital Masters in accordance with the terms set forth herein.

Use and copy Digital Masters to be distributed as so-called “conditional” downloads, whether tethered to a device, time limited, play limited, and subscription, streaming or otherwise.

Identify and register your Digital Masters through the use of digital fingerprinting technology (e.g., Google, YouTube, Facebook, instagram& any existing, planned or such future services), in order to help protect your Digital Masters from piracy and unauthorized duplication.

Use and distribute Copyright Information to the specifications required by licensee’s as Digital Master & metadata.

Use Recordings, and Authorized Artwork and metadata as may be necessary for us to exercise our rights stated within this Agreement.

Display when necessary and then make available any and all lyrics associated with a musical composition.

Publicly perform the Recordings via streaming. (i.e., playing the song on Internet radio stations, web sites or otherwise.)

Distribute Recordings free of charge only in connection with the promotional programs of our Licensees.

Authorize the applicable Licensees to perform any one or more of the activities specified above.

In real words; You are giving us the non exclusive right to delivery your music, artwork and other necessary data and information needed to get your music online in the shops and services such as iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, PlayAfrica, Zayon, Boomplay, etc.

You hereby confirm that you have, own and have paid if necessary for any and all clearances and licenses as may be required for uses of Recordings and Artwork. You are responsible for and shall pay:

Any royalties and other sums due to artists, authors, co-authors, copyright owners and co-owners, producers and any other royalty participants from sales or other uses of Digital Masters.

All mechanical royalties or other sums payable to publishers and / or authors or co-authors of musical compositions within and participating within the Digital Masters from sales or any other uses of Digital Masters.

All payments that may be required under any collective agreements applicable to you or any third party

Any other royalties, fees and / or sums payable with respect to Recordings, and Artwork, and other materials provided by you to APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION.

You accept that any amount payable to you is inclusive of any artist royalties that might otherwise be required to be paid.

If any licensee DSP, shop or service does not make all necessary payments regarding publishing licenses, we will not make payments to collecting societies, music publishers or otherwise. Such payments if not already accounted & deducted by licensee remain accountable by you to the respective collecting societies, publishers or composers.

In real words; you are obligated to pay any other potential right’s holder that may have a claim on the songs you are selling. We DO NOT do that for you. You are agreeing to take on that responsibility entirely.

You have the right at any time during the term through your DASHBOARD to remove the authorization of sale or other uses of digital masters, recordings, and artwork or otherwise. Within thirty (30) days following the receipt of such notice to APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION we will advise the applicable Licensees that they are no longer authorized to offer the sale or other use of the Recordings, Digital Masters or Artwork.

Please note: for your notice of withdrawal to be effective, it must be sent by email to your APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION contact person.

In real words; you can have us request a “takedown” to the shops at any time.

APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION may authorize the Licensees to use the names and likenesses of, and biographical material in respect to a release, any artists, band, producers and / or songwriters, as well as track and / or album name and Authorized Artwork, in any marketing materials for the sale, promotion and advertising of the applicable Digital Master that is offered for sale or other use under the terms of this agreement. APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION and any of our Licensees shall have the right to market, promote, sell, give away and advertise the Digital Masters in connection with promotional programs, without incurring any payment obligations to you only in connection with such promotions opportunities at APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION sole discretion.

In real words; When you deliver your music to a store you are giving them the right to promote it on their site with your album cover art, metadata, etc. at their discretion. You are also giving APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION the right to promote links to your music, metadata & artwork to the retailers. There is no guarantee that anyone will promote your music, or that any promotion will generate sales for you.

All materials, Audio, Artwork, and Biography etc. delivered by you, are and remains your property.

In real words; you own the rights to your music and are in NO WAY giving us the rights to do more than submit it to the retailers for you.

We reserve the right to change, modify, add to or remove any part of this Agreement. Notice of any agreement changes shall be sent to you by email at least thirty (30) business days prior to their effective date. In the event that you do not agree to any such changes you may terminate this agreement by written notice per email. Your failure to do so within thirty (30) business days of the date of any such email from us to you shall be regarded as your acceptance of changes.

In real words; we have no intention of changing the deal we have with you, but circumstances can change that requires us to need to have the flexibility to change our agreement. You will always be notified of this with allowing enough time to react.

If we receive a claim that the use of any Recordings, Digital Masters, Artwork or any other materials provided by you to APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION violates any rights or third party rights, you agree to indemnify and hold APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION harmless, and defend our Licensees and affiliates or otherwise from and any and all losses, liabilities, damages, costs or expenses to include all lawyers / attorneys’ fees and costs concerning any such claim. You also agree to reimburse us and our Licensees DSP’s, shops, services or our affiliates on demand for any payments made in result of any liability or claim that is subject to indemnification under this Section. APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION will promptly notify you of any such claim. You will assume control and administration of the defense of such claim. If a claim is made we will have the right to withhold payment of any monies due to you hereunder in an amount reasonably related to the claim and possible expenses.

If APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION or a Licensee, DSP, store or services receives a written notice regarding the ownership or control of a Digital master from any party and you disaffirm any rights you have to the Recording and APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION decides to issue a takedown for the disputed Content, you shall be liable for paying the applicable Take Down Fee. If we or a Licensee, DSP or store receive written notice of a summons, lawsuit, or other legal action filed in a court alleging infringement of any rights of any third party to include any claim for trademark or copyright infringement, defamation, unfair competition or infringement of privacy or publicity in connection with any Recording and APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION decide, in our sole discretion, to issue a takedown request for the Recording that is the subject of the Legal Claim, you shall be liable for paying all Take Down Fees for such Recording regardless whether you dispute the Legal Claim or not.

In real words; if the material you submit violates copyright claims you will pay for 100% of the legal fees to sort it out. You and ONLY YOU are responsible for copyright issues. Due to the manual work involved and legal activities required to respond to such takedown & royalty infringement notices the fee is Euro 100.00 per takedown. Therefore make sure you have all rights for Audio, Artwork, Sample clearance, Permission for cover versions etc. MAKE SURE WHAT YOU HAVE BELONGS TO YOU & IF IT DOESN’T MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO USE IT OR DO IT. IT CAN GET VERY EXPENSIVE IF EVERYTHING IS NOT IN PLACE.

You acknowledge and agree that, in the course of negotiating and transacting business with APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION, you may become aware of certain confidential information related to APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION’s business and practices. You agree to keep such information confidential. You hereby agree that APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION shall have the right to provide information relative to the sales of your Recordings hereunder to third parties, to supply such information in charts and other similar informational materials or otherwise.

Additional Guarantees and Warranties

You hereby agree & guarantee that you are at least 18 years of age and have the full authority to act on behalf of any and all owners of any rights, title or interest in and to the recordings, artwork or other material or data supplied to APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION.

You hereby agree, confirm & guarantee that you own or control the necessary rights, licenses and permissions in respect to audio, artwork, metadata, photos, biographies and any information, files, data or information entered or uploaded through your DASHBOARD to APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION and that the exercise of such rights, licenses and permissions by us and our Licensees shall not violate or infringe the rights of any party or third party.

You hereby agree & guarantee that:

You have the right and authority to enter into this Agreement and to grant to us all rights herein

All of the Recordings, including any sampled third party material embodied therein, Artwork, metadata, videos and any other materials supplied by you to APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION or relating to Recordings are owned or controlled by you and any distribution of the same shall not infringe on the copyrights or other rights of any person or entity.

We and our Licensees shall have the right to exploit the Recordings, Digital Masters and Artwork in all manners set forth hereunder free from adverse claim and without any obligation to make any payment of any nature to any person or entity, other than the royalties due to you as described.

APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION provides bar codes, EAN’s/UPCs & ISRC’s free of charge to you. These are for your use only in connection with the Services provided by APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION and may not be transferred re-used or resold.

Disclaimer: APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION makes no guarantees whatsoever with respect to sales of your Recordings, payments to you under this Agreement, the marketing, promotion or advertisement of your recordings by our licensees, or whether a licensee will actually offer your recordings for sale. Each licensee, DSP, shop or services has total discretion as to whether it will offer your Recordings for sale.

In real words; by submitting material for distribution to retailers via APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION, you are stating that you have all rights necessary to do so. We provide FREE barcodes; UPC numbers and ISRC codes and you may not re-sell them or transfer them. We cannot guarantee that your music will go online. Each DSP, shop or service has the right to reject deliveries from APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION. Reasons for this could be bad quality audio, bad quality artwork or the release simply does not accommodate the concept & genre of the store.

The term of the Distribution Services provided by APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION shall commence on the Date of clicking “I AGREE” and shall continue until either:

Terminated by you per email provided that you have paid all necessary outstanding legal debts to include the respective takedown fees due to infringement of third party copyrights and/or ownership

Within thirty (30) days following the receipt of such notice to APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION we will advise the applicable Licensees that they are no longer authorized to offer the sale or other use of the Recordings, Digital Masters or Artwork.

Terminated by; we may terminate this Agreement at any time in the event that you breach any of the Terms and Conditions within this agreement.

In real words; you receive 80% of all income from all sales and streams. If you terminate the agreement, it may take up to 30 days to get your music taken down at the online retailers.

In consideration for the digital distribution services provided by APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION you pay 20% or the income received from the DPS’s shop’s or services as shown on APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION website and/or signup page.

In real words; you can make as many releases as you wish but you pay 20% of the income to APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION

You agree that we are authorized to deduct any applicable taxes and other charges you may incur in connection with your use of the APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION Services from your Account / DASHBOARD with APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION. You are solely responsible for all charges, fees, duties and taxes, incurred by you in connection with APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION services. All fees paid herein are nonrefundable and you will not be entitled to reimbursement of any applicable pre-paid fees with respect to any cancelled releases or albums.

APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION will pay you an amount equal to 80 percent (80%) of our actual receipts from the Licensees, DSP’s, stores & partners in connection with the sale of your Digital Masters. All amounts owed to you will be shown in your Account / DASHBOARD within sixty (30) days of our receipt of the applicable payment from the Licensee. For the purposes of this Agreement, your Account / DASHBOARD is a non interest-bearing account that we administrate on your behalf and is subject to the terms of this Agreement.

All payments to you will be shown in your Account / DASHBOARD and can be distributed to your personal bank account designated by you once the minimum amount in your Deposit Account meets a minimum of Euro 50.00 (or the equivalent in other supported currency) plus any applicable transaction fees. It is your responsibility to ensure that your personal bank or Mobile Money account is on record with APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION and this information is correct and up to date. We will not be responsible for any payments made to the wrong personal account.

As we receive sales information from the Licensees with respect to your Recordings, we will publish this information to your DASHBOARD and make this information available to you through your DASHBOARD. Most stores (like iTunes) send your sales information and money between 30 and 60 days after the end of the month in which the sale takes place. As an example, if you had sales in the month of February, the stores typically send your sales information and money by April 30. Some stores, like eMusic send your sales information and money within 60 days after the end of each QUARTER YEAR. So if your music sold in those stores any time during January, February or March, you’ll know about all three months by June. As we receive this information, we will use all reasonable efforts to provide it to you as soon as possible. The information will include the name of the Licensee, DSP or store. The amount paid by them and whether the payment resulted from the sale of a single track, a bundled album, from streaming, subscription or royalties paid by an Internet radio station or otherwise. This information comes directly from the licensees, DSP’s, shops or services and we are not responsible for any errors or inaccuracies in the information. On the rare occasion that your sales information and money is posted late, it is due to delays in reporting from the stores and not from APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION.

In real words; you receive 80% of the money received from iTunes, Amazon, etc. for the sale of your music as soon as possible after we have received it. We forward you 80% of what we receive.

General Provisions

This Agreement shall not be deemed to create a partnership or joint venture, and neither party is the other’s agent, partner, or employee.

If any provision of this Agreement is determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable, such determination shall not affect any other provision hereof, and the unenforceable provision shall be replaced by an enforceable provision that most closely meets the commercial intent of both parties.

This Agreement shall be binding on the assigns, heirs, executors, personal representatives, administrators, and successors whether through merger or otherwise of each of the parties.

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of The Republic of Ghana. Any dispute or claim arising out of, or in connection with this Agreement shall be finally settled by binding arbitration of Ghana.

You acknowledge that in providing APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION the distribution Services and payments hereunder, APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION will be required to enter into sub- licensing agreements with our Licensees. You agree that the terms of this agreement shall be subject to any applicable terms and conditions of the agreements we enter into with respect to such Licensees.

We reserve the right to reject any materials recordings, videos, artwork, Biographies or otherwise that you submit through APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION DASHBOARD or otherwise, at our sole discretion. You agree to submit all Recordings and Authorized Artwork, at your sole expense, in the format(s) required by APPRISE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION.

I agree to the term and conditions