Terms & Conditions

SongKit conditions

Online distribution is complicated enough as it is. That’s why we’ve written down our terms and conditions for you in plain human language. This way you know exactly where you stand and we are as transparent as possible. Do you have any questions? Feel free to send us an email.

## General

– SongKit helps you distribute your own music to the world’s largest online stores and make money with it. SongKit serves as the intermediary between musician and store.
– Creating an account on our website is free of charge. We do everything we can to make our website and account as accessible as possible, but we can’t give any guarantees about this.
– We can always block an account in case of unauthorized use.

## Distribution

– In order to distribute your music through SongKit, both your music and the cover image and associated metadata must meet a number of conditions. These can be found here. If your release does not meet these requirements when you send it, it will be ‘rejected’ on the website, giving you the chance to modify and resend it free of charge.
– We expect your music and cover image to be of high quality. Of course we understand that not everyone can pay expensive mastering engineers, but do your best to deliver the best possible product to us.
– The exact conditions and requirements of stores may change over time. Therefore, you may have to modify a release afterwards to keep it online in the stores.
– After sending out your release it can take up to 4 weeks before your release can be found online, depending on traffic and processing times at the stores.
– It’s always possible to get your music out of the stores again, you keep control. Please note that a takedown can take up to 4 weeks.
– We do not distribute racist, pornographic or otherwise offensive material. Ultimately, it is SongKit’s choice if we distribute a release. If not, you will of course get your money back.
– Your release will always be offered to all appropriate affiliated stores, but a store can always refuse a release.

## Rights

– By distributing your music through SongKit, you give us a license to publish this music in our affiliated stores and collect royalties for it.
– You should not upload your music to multiple distributors at the same time as this may cause conflicts in the stores. An exception is if you want to transfer music to or from another distributor.
– You retain all rights to your music. This means that you can have your music removed from the stores at any time, and you remain free to use, sell and publish your music in any other way.
– You can only upload and distribute music that you have created, written and performed all by yourself. That means no remixes, covers or other editing unless you have explicit permission from the copyright owner.
– If you use samples or beats in your music, we may ask you to provide a license as proof that you may use and distribute them.
– If you upload music of which you do not have full rights to distribute, a copyright holder may submit a copyright claim to a store. In this case, we will always block an account for further and royalties until proof of license can be provided or an agreement has been reached with the rights holder. In this case, you are not entitled to a refund of any distribution fees paid. Any claims made by the rightholder will always be recovered from the uploader (you).
– Occasionally we add new stores to our offer. We will often automatically distribute your music to these as well. You can always exclude a specific store by sending us an email.

## Royalties

– Royalties are reported to us with 4-5 months delay. Please keep this time after your release before you will see the first royalties back on your account. Sometimes this can be a little longer, depending on our stores and partners.
– We pay you 90% of everything the stores report to us. This is already processed as such and listed in your account. So the amount you see in your account is entirely for you.
– We can never predict or guarantee how much you will earn with your release.
– You can request a payout if you have earned at least 20 euros. Delete your releases and haven’t reached the minimum yet? Then you can send us an email for a payout.
– It is possible that VAT, conversion, bank charges will be deducted before you receive your royalties. We have no influence on this.
– If you are an entrepreneur, in some countries we pay your VAT on top of your royalties, which you have to pay to the tax authorities.

 

## Support

We have put a lot of time and effort into our platform to make it as simple and clear as possible. You can arrange everything via the website, from making releases, to requesting a payout. If you do have any questions we offer support via email and Facebook messages.

## Complaints

Don’t you agree with us? Send us an email or message and we’ll see what we can do for you.