Terms for artists

1. Scope

The contracting parties are Dr. Peter Mayer, sole proprietor, Würzburgerweg 18, 4840 Vöcklabruck, Austria ("Bitsound"), and the person who expressly accepts this artist agreement before their first upload ("you"). The agreed terms and conditions apply in addition. Information on data processing is in the privacy policy; taking note of it is not a general consent under data protection law.

2. How selling works

Bitsound sells your music to buyers in its own name and for its own account. You set the prices yourself. For every sale you receive 90 % of the net price (price without VAT). The share remaining with Bitsound is 10 %. If Bitsound has to acquire a licence for your works from a collecting society (point 4), the fee payable for it is deducted from your share.

We settle your remuneration by the agreed self-billing (credit note) procedure. You agree to this procedure. You tell us your actual tax status, your country of residence and any VAT ID and keep this information up to date. We only show VAT where it is legally owed and must be shown for your service. Please report errors without delay; statutory rights to correction and objection are not excluded by a one-month period.

Download codes and press links: you can create free download codes and press links for your releases. With them you instruct Bitsound to provide the music free of charge to the people redeeming them or to the press, with the rights of use as for a purchase (press links for coverage only). There is no revenue, no commission and no credit note for them; in stats and studio they count as given away. If a fan buys your music as a gift, this is a normal sale and you get your share as for every sale. If a fan pays with a voucher from Bitsound, you also get your share as for a normal sale; Bitsound covers the voucher part.

3. Payout

We pay out monthly, after the end of the month, as soon as your balance is at least €20.00. Smaller amounts are carried over to the next month. We transfer by SEPA to the IBAN from your verification. Balances at Bitsound earn no interest.

A completed verification is required (point 9). After a change of mobile number or bank details, payouts are blocked for seven days for security reasons.

In case of a justified reversal we correct the remuneration attributable to the sale concerned and show the correction in the statement. A mere payment dispute does not automatically lead to a final charge. Statutory restrictions on set-off remain unaffected; no additional fees are agreed by this.

4. Your rights and indemnity

You assure that you hold all rights or the necessary licences to everything you upload (recordings, compositions, lyrics, covers, images, samples, contributions of guest musicians) to grant Bitsound the rights under point 5, and that no third-party rights are infringed. If you are a member of a collecting society (for example AKM, austro mechana, GEMA or SUISA), you state this when signing up as an artist in the studio, with your membership or IPI number, and keep this information up to date.

If rights in a work are managed by a collecting society or a publisher, tell us the works, contributors and societies concerned before publication. Such releases can only be bought on Bitsound and are only offered as previews or for streaming once Bitsound holds the necessary licence. The fee payable to the collecting society is deducted from your share (point 2). Your authorship alone does not mean that you can grant rights again that you have already transferred. A licence Bitsound needs is not replaced by your statement.

You indemnify Bitsound against all third-party claims based on a breach of this assurance, including reasonable costs of legal defence, to the extent you are responsible for the breach. If such a claim is made, we inform you immediately.

5. Licence to Bitsound

For the period in which your music is offered on Bitsound, you grant Bitsound the non-exclusive, worldwide right to

• store your content and convert it into the necessary formats (lossless downloads, streams, previews),
• sell it for download in its own name and grant buyers the licence under point 5 of the terms and conditions,
• stream it according to your setting and play it in Bitsound Radio,
• present it with name, image, cover and text on Bitsound and in references to Bitsound.

With the removal, the right to offer the release to new buyers and to provide it for new free streams ends. For purchases lawfully concluded before, the buyer rights already granted remain. To that extent you grant Bitsound the rights needed beyond removal and the end of the contract to store this content, reproduce it technically and provide it again to previous buyers within the agreed scope. This continuation allows no new sales. Statutory obligations to delete and block remain unaffected. Backup copies are subject to the deletion concept described in the privacy policy.

For technical fulfilment we may involve commissioned hosting and processing service providers to the necessary extent. Beyond that, no rights for independent use are granted to third parties.

6. Fully playable or preview only

For every release you choose: Fully playable means that signed-in listeners can stream every track in full length for free. There is no remuneration for streams, you earn with purchases. Preview only means that signed-in listeners also only hear 90 seconds. Guests always hear 30 seconds. Only fully playable releases play in Bitsound Radio. You can change the setting at any time.

7. AI disclosure

Before submitting a release you state whether it was created with AI: no, partly (for example AI vocals or AI-assisted production) or mostly. The statement is shown publicly with the release and must be true. If you use AI tools, you make sure their terms allow commercial sale. False statements are a breach of these terms.

8. Storage plans

Every artist account has 2 GB of storage for free, enough for an album in hi-res. There is no limit on the number of releases and tracks, only submissions for review are limited per day (the limit is shown in the studio). More storage is available with a storage plan for one year at a time: 100 GB: €25.00, 500 GB: €90.00, 1 TB: €150.00. The exact price including statutory VAT is shown in the studio before purchase. A plan does not renew automatically for a fee.

You can renew a plan in the studio for one more year at a time at the price then in effect. There is no free renewal.

If a plan ends and you use more than the free storage, you can upload again once enough space is free. Existing releases stay online.

A paid annual plan ends after the agreed term without a paid renewal. As a consumer you can withdraw from a storage plan within fourteen days: if you expressly requested that it starts immediately, we refund the price proportionally for the remaining time, otherwise in full (see right of withdrawal). Your statutory warranty rights remain. If Bitsound ends the plan early, we refund the fee for the remaining term no longer provided. Statutory counterclaims remain unaffected.

9. Verification

Before you get paid out, you verify yourself: legal name and address, mobile number by text message code, a photo of your ID (only for the manual review, deleted immediately after the decision, at the latest after 30 days if not reviewed), IBAN, information on your tax status, your VAT ID if you have one and, if you are a member, your collecting society with membership or IPI number. If there are justified doubts, we can ask for further evidence. Your information must be correct and up to date.

10. Content and obligations

• Titles, names, credits, genre and all information must be correct. You do not pretend to be someone else.
• No unlawful content, in particular no hate speech, glorification of violence or depictions that endanger children.
• No manipulation of plays, likes or sales, for example through bots, bought plays or purchases with other people's payment methods.
• No mass uploads of nearly identical content and no spam.

11. Suspension for abuse

In case of violations or justified suspicion, for example of infringement or fraud, we can hide or remove releases, withhold payouts until clarified and suspend projects or accounts. We choose the mildest effective measure, give reasons for it (Art. 17 DSA) and you can complain against it (point 13).

12. Termination

You can remove releases at any time and close your artist project at any time. Write to us at support@bitsound.com so that we can make the final payout. We can terminate the contract with one month's notice, for good cause also immediately.

After the end we pay out your balance even if it is below the minimum amount, unless there are justified counterclaims. Buyers keep the music they bought.

Discontinuation of the service

If we discontinue Bitsound as a whole, we announce this at least three months in advance by email. Until the discontinuation, buyers can continue to download your releases, and their rights of use remain. We pay out your open shares even if they are below the minimum amount of €20.00, and we refund a paid storage plan proportionally for the unused term.

13. Notice and action procedure (DSA)

Anyone can report content on Bitsound that they consider unlawful or a violation of our terms (Art. 16 DSA): with "Report" on a release, profile, playlist or comment, signed in or without an account by giving your email address, or by email to support@bitsound.com.

A report should contain:

• the exact address (URL) of the content,
• an explanation of why the content is unlawful (for copyright infringements: which work, and that you are the rights holder or authorised to act),
• your name and email address,
• a statement that your information is accurate and complete to the best of your knowledge.

What happens next:

1. Receipt: We confirm receipt of a report by email if you are signed in or have given us an address.
2. Review: A human reviews the report promptly, diligently and objectively. We do not decide automatically.
3. Decision: We inform the reporting person of the outcome by email. If content is removed or restricted, for example a release blocked or a comment removed, the person affected receives a statement of reasons by email with the facts, the legal or contractual basis and the options to challenge it (Art. 17 DSA).
4. Complaint: You can complain against a decision within six months by replying to our email or writing to support@bitsound.com. We review the decision again diligently, impartially and by a person responsible for this.
5. Other options: You can turn to a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body under Art. 21 DSA or to a court.

If someone repeatedly sends manifestly unfounded reports, we can stop processing their reports for a reasonable period after a prior warning.

Where Art. 16 DSA provides an exception for reports about certain offences related to child sexual abuse, name and email address are not required. Without a contact address we cannot send a personal confirmation of receipt or notice of decision.

14. Liability

The statutory liability rules apply as set out in the terms and conditions. Keep your original files yourself as well. This recommendation does not limit statutory claims for data loss, outages or other breaches of duty.

15. Changes

Changes to existing artist agreements require your express consent, unless mandatory statutory requirements apply directly. We send you proposals by email at least one month before they are intended to take effect. Silence and continued use do not count as consent; without consent the existing contract remains unchanged.

Changes to the remuneration shares only apply after a valid agreement and not retroactively for sales already concluded. Agreed termination rights remain.

16. Applicable law and place of jurisdiction

Austrian law applies, excluding its conflict-of-law rules and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. The place of jurisdiction is Bezirksgericht Vöcklabruck. If you are a consumer, the mandatory protective provisions and places of jurisdiction under point 13 of the terms and conditions apply.

17. Fan lists and messages

You may only use fan data within the scope of a demonstrable valid consent or another actually applicable legal basis. Consent to messages about your artist project does not allow passing the list on to other artists, selling the list or advertising outside its stated purpose.

For your own sending and for exported lists you comply with the data protection and advertising rules that apply to you. Every marketing message must contain a simple, free way to unsubscribe. Withdrawals and objections must be applied without undue delay, also in exported lists. If Bitsound informs you about a withdrawal, you may no longer write to the address concerned on the basis of that consent.

Protect exported data against unauthorised access, limit access to the people who need it and delete data as soon as it is no longer needed for permitted purposes. Proof required by law may only be kept to the extent necessary.