Bootlegs
We do not permit unofficial recordings such as Radio Broadcasts, Live Albums, Rare/Early/Leaked Recordings, Interviews, and other releases commonly classified as “Bootlegs”, unless they are delivered to us by the same partners who delivered the respective artist’s recognized discography.
Public Domain Recordings
We do not permit Public Domain (“PD”) recordings unless delivered by the same partners who delivered the respective artist’s recognized discography. (“PD” is defined as recordings which have fallen out of copyright protection in specific territories.)
Misleading Metadata
We do not permit content that misleads customers by mimicking popular titles or common search terms. This includes content that contains images, artist names, album titles, or song titles that are identical or similar to other well-known entities.
For example:
1. Content featuring artist names in metadata where the artist is not a collaborator on the track or album (including slightly edited versions of popular artist names).
2. Illegitimate use of well-known song/album/artist names in track or album titles.
3. Artist, album or track titles containing references to popular movies, books, theatre productions, video games, social media, TV shows, or other cultural brands, franchises or characters, unless published by an established rights holder of the same.
4. Use of artist image or likeness on cover art where the artist does not feature on the tracks within the release.
Generic Artists
We do not permit content where generic words or genre names are used as the artist name. e.g., “sleep sounds”, “top hits”, “relaxing jazz”, “white noise”, “Christmas”, “hip-hop”, “meditation music”.
Illegal Content
We do not permit publishing of content within territories where publishing such content violates the applicable territory’s laws/regulations. For example, we do not permit cover art containing banned symbols in Germany.
Advertising
We do not permit content with advertising references contained within the cover art, metadata or audio. Content must not contain advertising search terms or keywords, URLs, logos, or any promotional information about future product releases.
Karaoke Versions/Ringtones
We do not permit karaoke recordings (unless they are backing tracks with no vocals, and they use “karaoke” as the primary genre) or music albums with ringtones as tracks.
Misleading Sound-alikes / Cover Versions
We do not permit cover versions, tributes or sound-alikes that are misleading or confusing to customers.
Sped up / edited versions of popular content
We do not permit sped-up, slowed-down or altered versions of pre-existing content unless sent as an authorized remix.
Duplicate Album Artwork / Metadata
We do not permit content where the same or very slightly altered album artwork and/or metadata is being repeated across multiple releases for different artists.
Track Count Limit
We do not permit albums containing more than 300 tracks.
Manipulated Track Durations
We do not permit content where track durations are shortened without a valid stylistic or aesthetic reason.
Royalty Collection Society References in Metadata
We do not permit any reference to royalty collection societies (such as GEMA in Germany), or any promotion or indication of content eligibility for commercial use, within metadata or cover art.
Low Audio and Metadata Quality
We do not permit content that does not meet our:
1) Audio quality standards (e.g., clean clear sound, the sound you expect to hear) unless it is for clearly artistic purposes.
2) Metadata style standards (e.g., artist names with correct spellings, formatting, band name, instrument, birth and death date inclusions, correct genres, etc.).