Last modified: December 16, 2014
Introduction. The artist hub offers a place for solo artists and bands to set up an artist page, tell their story, and promote their own music for sale by Google. You may use the artist hub only for your wholly original content or for content that you are absolutely positive you have authorization to use and permit Google to sell as set forth below. You must have both the sound recording rights and the composition rights for any music that you upload, plus all the rights for any album art, photo, bio, or other material that you submit -- and you need to have all those rights for multiple forms of distribution. If you reside outside the United States we can presently only accept your own original compositions, and so you may not upload recordings of songs from other artists (so called “cover versions”).
Additional Terms of Service for the Google Play Artist Hub
The Google Play artist hub (the "Service") is provided by Google Inc., located at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States. Your use of the Service is subject to these Additional Terms of Service for the Google Play artist hub ("Artist Terms") together with the terms contained in the agreements listed below ("Other Agreements"). Your use of the Service requires that you agree to the following terms. Please read these Artist Terms and the Other Agreements carefully. If you do not accept any part of the Artist Terms, then you may not use the Service. The Artist Terms together with the Other Agreements are collectively referred to here as the "Terms." The Other Agreements are:
- the Google Play Terms of Service (“Play Terms”)
- the Content and Conduct Policies for Music on Google Play (“Music Policies”)
- the Google Wallet Seller Terms of Service (“Payment Terms”)
Capitalized terms not defined in these Artist Terms have the meaning given to them in the Play Terms, as applicable.
The Google Privacy Policy and the Google Wallet Privacy Policy explain how we treat your personal data and protect your privacy.
The full Google Play artist hub is currently available only to residents of certain countries and territories (the “Available Territories”). Google may make certain limited tools related to the maintenance of Store Pages (without the ability to upload music for sale by Google) available to some Artists and Artist Representatives residing outside the Available Territories. If you reside in a permitted location outside of the Available Territories and you access those limited tools, then solely to the extent of and in relation to that access: (a) these Terms shall govern your use of those tools, and (b) all references to “Google” in the Terms are to be read as references to “Google Inc., Google Commerce Limited., Google Ireland Ltd., and its affiliates.”
1. Definitions.
- “Album” means a collection of Tracks uploaded to or through the Google Play artist hub or a Store Page for sale or playback to end users, as a bundle, by Google through Google Play.
- “Artist” or “you” means an individual recording artist who (a) is acting on his or her own behalf or is authorized to act on behalf of a Band of which that artist is a member (a “Band Member”), and (b) registers for an Artist Account and/or uses the Service in any way, including without limitation by (i) creating, maintaining, managing, editing, controlling, or claiming an association with a Store Page; or (ii) uploading Artist Content and/or Artist Sound Recordings to or through either a Store Page or any other part of the Service (regardless of whether such Artist Content or Artist Sound Recordings are published or unpublished; stored; or made available for sale, promotion, or other distribution by Google). All references to an “Artist” or “you” in the Terms are to be read as including any applicable Artist Representative and, for Bands, all members of that Band including their representing Band Member.
- “Artist Account” means a Google account registered to use the Google Play artist hub according to the requirements described in Section 2 (“Account Registration”) below.
- “Artist Composition” means any composition or musical work that is embodied in an Artist Sound Recording and for which an Artist owns or controls the copyright, or has obtained all necessary rights and authorization to use and sublicense for all purposes required in the context of the Google Play artist hub, including without limitation the right to upload, use, copy, make derivatives, perform, make available to the public, or authorize Google to sell and / or distribute, as embodied in the Artist Sound Recording.
- “Artist Content” means any content other than Artist Sound Recordings that is submitted by an Artist for inclusion on a Store Page, including but not limited to text, photographs, graphics, album art, hyperlinks, data, and similar materials.
- “Artist Representative” means a person, company, or other legal entity (such as an agent, lawyer, manager, or record label) that has full legal authority to represent an Artist (but is not that Artist or a Band Member) with regard to any activity undertaken on behalf of that Artist in connection with the Service.
- “Artist Sound Recording” means an Artist’s original master sound recording uploaded as a Track to the Google Play artist hub and for which that Artist which owns or controls the copyright, or has all necessary rights and authorization to use and sublicense for all purposes required in the context of the artist hub, including without limitation the right to upload, use, copy, perform, make available to the public, or authorize Google to sell and / or distribute as a sound recording.
- “Artist Template” means an Artist-editable, Google-created template that serves as the framework for the creation of a Store Page, regardless of whether the Artist Template is first initiated by an Artist or pre-published in some form by Google, and regardless of whether the template is largely or wholly blank, or is pre-filled with some amount of content from Google’s third party licensors. Once an Artist Template has been selected by an Artist and associated with an Artist Account, it becomes a Store Page.
- “Band” means a collection of sound recording artists who regularly perform and record together under a common name.
- “Google Play” means the service offered by Google to end users to purchase and/or access digital content, including without limitation through the “Music” tab in the Google Play Store (on the web and on user devices), and any syndicated version thereof.
- “Identity” means, with regard to an Artist, the genuine identity (personal, legal, or artistic) of that Artist as demonstrated by a match of the Artist’s name with correlating biographical data and/or discography.
- “Pre-orders” means the ability of an end user to order an Artist Track or Artist Album before it has been made commercially available with the understanding that the Artist Track or Artist Album will be delivered to the end user when it becomes commercially available. The end user will be charged when the Artist Track or Artist Album is delivered to the end user. Google will cancel a Pre-order in the event that the Artist Track or Artist Album is no longer available in the Google Play Store and Google reserves the right to cancel a Pre-order in the event that the Artist changes the price of the Artist Track or Artist Album before it is delivered to the end user.
- “Previews” means the ability of an end user to stream and share 30-second or 90-second promotional clips (at Google’s election) of Artist Tracks available for purchase or access on Google Play, including Previews contained in playlists. A purchase opportunity, such as a buy link, from Google Play will be associated with each Preview.
- “Single Server Copy” means a single master copy of an Artist Sound Recording (together with associated Artist Content) that is stored on Google servers and from which end users who purchase the corresponding Artist Track may, in perpetuity, (1) stream such Artist Track through any internet browser, (2) download such Artist Track onto their authorized devices, and (3) receive or access the relevant Artist Content concurrently with such streams or downloads.
- “Social Recommendations” means the ability of an end user who has purchased an Artist Track or Album (or who accesses such Track or Album through a Google Play music subscription service) to recommend that Track or Album to friends using tools provided by Google Play for sharing to sites and destinations approved by Google (“Social Sites”) in a manner that allows such friends to stream the recommended Track one time in its entirety, provided they are logged into a valid Google account. Social Sites will be deemed approved and available only when and to the extent that they are provided as destinations via the Google Play “Share” feature on Google Play or Google Play Software; currently, Google+ is the only available Social Site. All Social Recommendations will include a purchase opportunity such as a buy link for the recommended content from Google Play.
- “Store Page” means a published or unpublished web page available through the Google Play artist hub that is formed by an Artist’s selection and use of an Artist Template that genuinely reflects that same Artist’s Identity.
- “Track” means a digital file, consisting of a copy of an Artist Sound Recording that is uploaded to or through the Google Play artist hub or a Store Page for sale or playback to end users by Google through Google Play.
2. Account Registration. In order to use the Service, you must register as a Google Play artist hub user using a valid Google account that is enabled to both make and receive payments through Google Wallet. If you do not already have a Google account, or do not have an account that is appropriately enabled for Google Wallet, you will be prompted to create one during the Artist Account creation process; you will be presented with the appropriate General Google Terms and/or Payment Terms, to which you must agree before proceeding. When establishing a Google Wallet account, you will be asked to provide relevant information to enable payments to your bank account for sales of your Albums and Tracks through Google Play. By creating or selecting a specific Google Wallet-linked account for use in connection with an artist hub account, you are representing and warranting that you have the right to use that account generally, as well as the right to use it specifically to receive, control, manage, and disburse payments for any artist hub activities that you undertake through the Service. You will provide only accurate, complete, and current information in connection with registration process, the creation of any Artist Account, or any request to associate a Store Page with an Artist Account.
3. Artist Identity, Store Page Association. Unless acting as an Artist Representative, you may associate your Artist Account with only one Artist name and Identity. You will be given an opportunity to search for your own Artist name when establishing your Artist Account (and if acting as an Artist Representative, when adding one or more Artists to your Artist Account). If Google has created an Artist Template for your Identity and makes it available on Google Play artist hub search results during the Account association process, you may select that Artist Template as the basis for your Store Page. You shall not select or use as a Store Page any page that (a) reflects the name or Identity of another person or artist with the intent to impersonate them, or (b) is subject to the rights of a person other than you without appropriate authorization. Google reserves the right to refuse, cancel, or suspend any registration, selection, association, or any use or association of a Store Page for any reason, including if it believes, in its sole discretion, that the Store Page does not reflect the Identity of the Artist using or attempting to use it, whether as a result of error or intentional misrepresentation. Intentional misrepresentation is a violation of our Music Policies with consequences up to and including account termination. Further, Google may remove any Artist Content from Google Play and Store Page in its sole discretion.
4. License from Artist; Restriction for Non-U.S. Artists. Artist grants to Google all rights necessary to use the Artist Sound Recordings and Artist Content in connection with Google Play in accordance with the Terms, including, without limitation, a worldwide, non-exclusive right and license to (a) make and store on Google’s servers such copies of Artist Sound Recordings and Artist Content as may be required for the uses licensed hereunder, including without limitation (i) in Artist Tracks and Artist Albums, and (ii) for research, development and internal tools; (b) sell and distribute Artist Tracks and Artist Albums through Google Play, including, at Artist’s election, for Pre-Order; (c) encode, stream and make available to the public Previews and Promotional Streams; (d) stream Social Recommendations; (e) stream, make publicly available and distribute copies of Artist Tracks and Artist Albums to user from Single Server Copies, including the right to provide continued access to any Artist Sound Recording and any associated Artist Content from its Single Server Copy to any purchasers who previously purchased a copy of that Artist Sound Recording from Google Play, in order to facilitate that purchaser’s permanent ability to access the purchase as authorized, regardless of when such access occurs (including after any expiration or termination of the Terms); and (f) with respect to Artist Sound Recordings for which Artist has opted into any additional promotions, stream and/or distribute those Artist Sound Recordings consistent with the additional promotion. Artists who reside outside of the United States may not upload any Tracks consisting of recordings of compositions that are owned or controlled by any third party or that are not otherwise such Artist’s sole, original content. For the sake of clarity, Artist represents that it has all the necessary rights in the compositions embodied in the Artist Tracks uploaded for exploitation of them in the United States.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, Artists who reside in one of the following countries: Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgystan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Terr., Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, UAE, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Western Sahara and Yemen ("Pass-Through Territories") also represent and warrant they full control rights in compositions embodied in the Artist Tracks and Albums for exploitation in the Pass Through Territories and are capable of licensing all necessary rights in them for exploitation on Google Play.
5. Fees.
- Sales of Tracks and Albums. The fees to be paid to you by Google for sales of your Tracks and Albums will be based on amounts that you set via the artist hub user interface or other means provided by Google expressly for such purpose (each such amount that you set, a “Base Price”). In the artist hub user interface, the Base Price may be referred to using other terminology, such as “Suggested Retail Price”; however, you acknowledge and agree that Google will, in its sole discretion, set the retail prices actually displayed and charged to Google Play end users for purchases of your Tracks and Albums via Google Play. You may be given a range or selection of amounts from which you must choose the Base Prices for your Tracks and Albums. Google shall share with you revenue from sales of any of your Tracks or Albums by Google through Google Play, which shall be the amount disclosed to you during creation of your Artist Account or thereafter (currently seventy percent (70%)) calculated on the Base Price for each such Track or Album (less any sales-related taxes such as VAT) from sales. With respect to sales to end users who reside in countries outside of the United States, Google will generally report sales to the various collecting societies who administer composition copyright payments in such countries, and we will deduct from the revenue that you receive from sales by Google of your Tracks and Albums to end users in such countries an additional eight and one-quarter percent (8.25%) to cover payments to such collecting societies. Accordingly, based on the foregoing, your revenue share for sales outside the United States shall be sixty one and three-quarters percent (61.75%) from the applicable Base Price, (and in each case, less any sales-related taxes (such as VAT)), with the revenue share in the United States being seventy percent (70%). For Artists residing in any Pass-Through Territory their revenue share for sales in the Pass-Through Territories shall be seventy percent (70%) with no additional deduction for payments to collection societies by Google in consideration of the rights in the compositions being included in the license granted from the Artist to Google. Payments received from users for sales of your Tracks and Albums shall be directed to you, provided that if there is an outstanding amount owed to Google, such payments may be directed to Google in accordance with Google’s standard policies. Google retains the right, but does not have the obligation, to immediately halt the offering or sale of any Tracks or Albums, or to prevent or restrict access to the Service or take any other action in case of technical problems, objectionable material, inaccurate listings, violation of third party rights, or actions otherwise prohibited by the Terms, Music Policies, any procedures and guidelines contained on the Site, or for any other reason in Google’s sole and absolute discretion, and to correct any inaccurate listing or technical problems on the Site. Google may redistribute previously purchased copies of your Tracks and Albums to users who have, in Google’s sole discretion, received a corrupted copy of any Track or Album, an incorrect file format version, an incomplete copy, or other non-delivery due to technical failure, on a no-fee basis to the user (i.e., the user is not charged a new fee for the redistribution). Consequently, no additional payments shall be made to you for such redistributions. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to require Google to undertake any degree of exploitation of the Artist Tracks, Artist Albums or Artist Content in connection therewith and Google makes no representation or warranty with respect to the amount of Fees that shall accrue to Artist. In the event that Google allows a user to purchase any of your Tracks or Albums using a currency other than the currency of your Base Prices, Google will calculate the conversion rate therefor in accordance with industry practice in its reasonable discretion.
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Subscription Fees. If you elect to include Your Tracks and Albums in the
Google Play music subscription service, You will be paid by Google, on a
territory-by-territory basis, Subscription Fees and Upsell Fees, as described below.
(a) “Subscription Fees” shall be the greater of:
(A): Monthly Subscription Minimum * number of Google Play music subscription service subscribers on the last day of such month * Your Subscription Activity Ratio
-- OR --
(B): Subscription Revenue Share * Music Subscription Revenue * Your Subscription Activity Ratio
“Subscription Revenue Share” shall mean 55%, except for Artists residing in any Pass-Through Territory the Subscription Revenue Share shall be sixty seven (67%) for the subscription activity within the Pass-Through Territory in consideration of the rights in the compositions being included in the license granted from the Artist to Google.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, Artists who reside in a country where composition licensing customarily is done in conjunction with sound recording licensing (“Pass-Through Territories") consisting of Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgystan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Terr., Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, UAE, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Western Sahara and Yemen also represent and warrant they fully control rights in compositions embodied in the Artist Tracks and Albums for exploitation in the Pass-Through Territories and are capable of licensing all necessary rights in the compositions embodied in the sound recordings for exploitation on Google Play.
“Monthly Subscription Minimum” shall mean the rates set forth at https://support.google.com/googleplay/artists/?p=rate_card
Google may provide users of other Google music subscription services with access to the Google Play music subscription service. Notwithstanding the foregoing, solely for purposes of the foregoing calculation, end users of other Google music subscription services and free trial users of the Google Play music subscription service shall not be deemed “subscribers” of the Google Play music subscription service, but plays of Your Tracks by free trial subscribers and end users of any such other Google music subscription service shall count towards Your Subscription Activity Ratio as defined below (i.e. free trial play events shall count towards both the numerator and the denominator of such calculation).
(b) Upsell Plays and Fees. Google shall have the option to offer one or more streams of Your Tracks to non-subscribers for the purpose of upselling such users to the Google Play music subscription service or purchase opportunities (i.e., in association with a “buy button” and/or “subscribe now” button) (“Upsell Plays”). Nothing herein alters or affects the free trial provisions set forth herein; Upsell Plays shall be available in addition to and separate and apart from such free trials. Google will pay You USD$0.0041 per Upsell Play in the Territory of Your Tracks (“Upsell Fees”). For clarity, (a) Upsell Plays shall not be counted towards Your Subscription Activity Ratio as defined below (i.e. Upsell Plays shall count towards neither the numerator nor the denominator of such calculation), (b) any plays of sound recordings that are contained in the recipient’s Google Play music locker shall not be deemed to be Upsell Plays, (c) Upsell Plays shall not include plays of preview clips of Your Tracks.
“Music Subscription Revenue” means the total actual revenue received and recognized by Google from (i) subscription payments from or on behalf of end users in consideration of the Google Play music subscription service; (ii) payments for advertising in the Google Play music subscription service’s web or mobile UI, in each case payable to, received by, or credited to Google specifically in respect of the Google Play music subscription service; and (iii) any other revenue paid or payable or credited to Google as consideration specifically for access to the Google Play music subscription service. For clarity, revenue from any Google music subscription service shall be not be included in the foregoing definition, but shall instead be addressed in the agreement between the parties related to such other Google music subscription service.
“Your Subscription Activity Ratio” shall mean the fraction: (i) the numerator of which shall be the total number of streams and plays of Your Tracks from the Google Play music subscription service; and (ii) the denominator of which will be the total number of streams and plays of all tracks from the Google Play music subscription service. The foregoing fraction shall be calculated separately for each country or territory within the Territory.
For any calendar month where the Subscription Fees owed to You are less than One Dollar (USD$1) (or the corresponding amount in the applicable currency), there will be no payment and the balance will accumulate until it exceeds One Dollar (USD$1) (or the corresponding amount in the applicable currency).
6. Representations and Warranties. By uploading any Music or Artist Content to the Site:
- you represent and warrant, and can demonstrate to Google’s full satisfaction upon request, that (a) you own or otherwise control all rights to (1) your Artist Sound Recordings, (2) the Artist Compositions embodied in your Artist Sound Recordings (or that such Artist Compositions are in the public domain, have otherwise been directly licensed to you in writing with a grant of rights sufficient to permit you to grant all of the rights set forth in these Terms, or are licensable by Google from a collecting society pursuant to your direct arrangement with such collecting society, and (3) the Artist Content (or that such Artist Content is in the public domain or has been licensed); (b) to the extent permitted by applicable law, you have full authority to act on behalf of any and all owners of any right, title or interest in and to any Artist Sound Recordings you upload to the Service and the Artist Compositions embodied therein and to the Artist Content, (c) you have permission to use the name and likeness of each identifiable individual person whose name or likeness is contained or used within the Artist Sound Recordings and/or Artist Content, and to use such individual’s identifying or personal information (to the extent such information is used or contained in the Artist Sound Recordings or Artist Content) as contemplated by these Terms, and (d) you are authorized to grant all of the aforementioned rights to the Artist Sound Recordings, Artist Compositions and Artist Content to Google and all users of the Service;
- you guarantee that the use or other exploitation of your Artist Sound Recordings and the Artist Compositions embodied therein and/or Artist Content by Google and its authorized sub-licensees and distributors and/or by users of Google Play or the Service as contemplated by these Terms will not infringe or violate the rights of any third party, including, without limitation, any privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights, or any other intellectual property or proprietary rights;
- you guarantee that no fees of any kind shall be due to any third party except as expressly contemplated herein, including, but not limited to, any union, guild, non-featured vocalist or musician, engineer or producer, for the use or re-use of your Artist Sound Recordings as authorized under these Terms; and
- you guarantee that you will not violate any territorial restrictions on Artist Sound Recordings, including by circumventing any technological measures used by Google to enforce such restrictions.
7. Disputes, Transfers and Terminations. Should you at any time lose your rights to manage any aspect of your Identity, Store Page, Artist Content, Artist Sound Recordings, or Artist Compositions (collectively, “Artist Portfolio”), you must immediately stop using the Google Play artist hub in connection with that aspect of your Artist Portfolio except as and only to the extent necessary to achieve or effect the termination of the Artist Account and/or to decouple the association of an Artist Account with an Artist Representative (“Termination”) or, if applicable, the transfer of the Artist Account to another person, Artist, or Artist Representative (“Transfer”). In the event of a dispute between or among you and any third party (including an Artist Representative) surrounding the scope or validity of your authorization to manage any aspect of your Artist Portfolio) (“Dispute”), you must immediately stop using the artist hub as to any aspect of your Artist Portfolio that is under dispute while the Dispute is pending, except as and only to the extent necessary to carry out any Termination or Transfer following the settlement of a Dispute. It is your responsibility, along with the applicable third party, to resolve any Dispute or other conflict related to or arising from your Artist Portfolio, or your use of the Service. Google will have no obligation to participate in resolving any Disputes but reserves the right to suspend, limit or terminate any Artist Account, or to decouple any Artist Representative association with an Artist Account, at any time, in its sole discretion, and for any reason (including without limitation during the pendency or following the resolution of any Dispute known to it).
Google shall have no liability to you, any Artist Representative, or to any third party in connection with the association, coupling, suspension, limitation, decoupling, re-association, Transfer, Termination, or other disposition of any account, including Artist Accounts, nor for the disposition of any Artist Content or Artist Sound Recordings as a result of such action. Google may at its election, at any time and for any reason, require you or any other party to provide evidence that demonstrates to Google’s full satisfaction any mutual agreement, legal order or other document that relates to, compels or authorizes: (a) any particular resolution of a Dispute; (b) any Termination; (c) any Transfer; or (d) your continuation or cessation as an Artist or Artist Representative with authority to manage your Artist Portfolio, and you will provide such evidence promptly upon request. You will not engage in or knowingly permit the abusive, fraudulent, coercive, or punitive use of the Service for any reason, including in connection with any Dispute, Termination, or Transfer.
8. Copyright Notices. It is Google's policy to respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement that comply with applicable intellectual property law (including, in the United States, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the local implementations of the European E-Commerce Directive) and to terminate the accounts of repeat infringers. Details of Google's policy can be found at http://www.google.com/dmca.html.
9. Termination. If you fail to comply with any material term of these Terms, Google may terminate your rights hereunder without notice. In case of such termination, Google may immediately revoke your access to the Service without notice to you and without refund of any fees. Subject to Section 4(e), which survives any termination or expiration of these Terms, You may terminate this Agreement as set forth in the General Google Terms, or simply by ceasing to use the Google Play artist hub and withdrawing your Artist Content, Artist Sound Recordings and related material from the Service. All other provisions of this Agreement which by their nature should survive termination or expiration shall survive such termination or expiration of these Terms.