Terms of Service

Last updated June 19, 2026

Terms of Service

Effective Date: June 3, 2026 (version artist-terms-2026-06-03)

Welcome to riffDrops. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the riffDrops website, platform, and services (collectively, the "Service") operated by riffDrops ("we," "us," or "our").

By accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, you may not use the Service.

1. Description of Service

riffDrops is a direct-to-artist independent music platform that connects independent musicians, labels, and listeners. The Service enables artists to publish and sell music, labels to manage rosters, and listeners to discover, stream, and purchase music. riffDrops takes a 30% platform fee on sales, with 70% going directly to the artist or their designated label.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years of age to create an account on riffDrops. By creating an account, you represent that you meet this age requirement. If you are under 18, you must have the consent of a parent or legal guardian to use the Service.

3. User Accounts

3.1 Registration

To access certain features of the Service, you must create an account by providing a valid email address, password, and a unique username. You may also sign up using Google OAuth. You must provide accurate and complete registration information and keep your account information up to date.

3.2 Account Security

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account. We are not liable for any loss arising from unauthorized access to your account.

3.3 Username Policy

Usernames must be between 3 and 16 characters, containing only letters, numbers, underscores, and hyphens. We reserve the right to reclaim usernames that violate our policies, are inactive for extended periods, or create confusion.

3.4 Account Termination

You may permanently delete your account at any time from Settings → Delete account in the riffDrops app. Deletion is immediate and irreversible: your profile and personal data are removed as described in our Privacy Policy, and anonymized transaction records may be retained where required by law (for example, tax and accounting compliance). If you solely own an artist or label profile, you will first be asked to transfer ownership of it or unpublish it at riffdrops.com. You can also contact us for assistance at any time.

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account for violations of these Terms, including but not limited to fraudulent activity, abuse, or posting prohibited content.

4. Listener Terms

4.1 Free Streaming

Unregistered users may stream music at standard quality (128 kbps). Registered users may stream at standard or high-definition quality (320 kbps) at no cost.

4.2 Purchases

Registered users may purchase releases from artists. All prices are displayed in your local currency (EUR, USD, or GBP). Purchases are processed through Stripe. By completing a purchase, you agree to Stripe's terms of service.

4.3 Downloads

Purchased releases may include downloadable files in lossless audio formats, subject to the artist's settings. Downloads are for personal, non-commercial use only.

4.4 Refunds

Full refunds may be issued at our discretion and will immediately revoke access to the purchased content. Partial refunds may be logged but do not revoke access. Refund requests should be directed to our support team via the contact form.

4.5 Play Tracking

We track play counts to provide analytics to artists and to power platform features. Play verification uses token-based confirmation to ensure accurate statistics.

5. Artist Terms

5.1 Application and Approval

Artists must submit an application, which is subject to review and approval by riffDrops administrators. Approval is at our sole discretion.

5.2 Content Ownership and Distribution License

Artists retain full ownership of all music, artwork, and other content they upload to riffDrops. By uploading content, you grant riffDrops a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable license to host, store, transcode, reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, communicate to the public, stream, and display that content, and to sublicense those rights to the digital service providers and content-delivery networks riffDrops uses to operate the Service (for example, our audio and image CDNs). This license also permits riffDrops to use excerpts of your content to promote it and the Service.

This license lasts for the duration of your account and, solely for copies already delivered to third-party providers, for a reasonable wind-down period after your content is removed or your account is terminated. You may revoke this license at any time by deleting the content or terminating your account; revocation does not affect copies already distributed before removal.

5.3 Rights Warranty

All uploaded content must comply with applicable laws. For every item you upload, you represent and warrant that:

  • (a) Master rights — you own or control all rights in the sound recording (the "master");

  • (b) Composition rights — you own or control, or have secured all necessary licenses for, the underlying musical work and lyrics (the "composition"), including any publishing or mechanical rights;

  • (c) No undisclosed third-party fees — no payment is owed to any third party as a result of riffDrops hosting, streaming, or distributing the content, except to collecting societies you have identified;

  • (d) Non-infringement — the content does not infringe any third party's copyright, trademark, publicity, privacy, or other rights; and

  • (e) No conflicting agreement — you are not party to any agreement (for example, an exclusive distribution or label deal) that would prevent you from granting the license in Section 5.2.

If your content contains samples, interpolations, or is a cover or remix, you are responsible for clearing and holding all required licenses before uploading.

5.4 Revenue and Payments

Artists receive 70% of each sale. riffDrops retains 30% as a platform fee. Payments are processed through Stripe Connect. Artists must connect a Stripe Express account to receive payouts. We are not responsible for delays or issues caused by Stripe or your financial institution.

5.5 Price Tiers

Artists may set prices using our predefined price tiers, which include amounts in EUR, USD, and GBP. Artists may also offer releases for free.

5.6 Content Moderation

We reserve the right to remove or restrict visibility of any content that violates these Terms, infringes on intellectual property rights, or is otherwise objectionable at our sole discretion.

6. Label Terms

6.1 Application and Approval

Labels must submit an application for review. Approval is at our sole discretion.

6.2 Roster Management

Labels may invite artists to their roster. Artists must accept roster invitations. Labels may claim payment routing for confirmed roster artists, in which case payments are routed through the label's Stripe Connect account with the same 70/30 split.

6.3 Label Responsibilities

Labels are responsible for ensuring they have proper agreements with their roster artists regarding payment distribution and content rights.

7. Team Management

Artists and labels may invite team members with designated roles (Owner or Manager). The Owner role has full control including team management and ownership transfer. Transfer of ownership is a permanent action that demotes the former owner to Manager.

8. Forum and Community

8.1 Forum Rules

Artists and labels have access to internal forums. Users must be respectful and constructive. The following are prohibited:

  • Harassment, hate speech, or personal attacks

  • Spam, self-promotion, or off-topic content

  • Sharing confidential or private information

  • Posting illegal or infringing content

8.2 Moderation

We reserve the right to lock, archive, or delete threads and comments that violate forum rules. Users may delete their own comments within 6 hours of posting. Administrators may moderate content at any time.

9. Intellectual Property

9.1 Platform Content

The riffDrops name, logo, website design, and all related intellectual property are owned by riffDrops. You may not use our trademarks without prior written consent.

9.2 User Content

You retain ownership of content you upload. However, you grant us the license described in Section 5.2 to operate the Service. You are solely responsible for ensuring your content does not infringe on the rights of any third party.

9.3 Copyright Infringement & Takedown Policy

riffDrops respects intellectual property rights and operates a notice-and-takedown process modeled on the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and applicable law. We act on valid infringement notices wherever the rights holder is located.

Takedown notices. If you believe content on riffDrops infringes your copyright, send a written notice to our copyright contact (below) including: (1) your physical or electronic signature; (2) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed; (3) identification of the allegedly infringing material and information reasonably sufficient to locate it (e.g., the track or artist URL); (4) your contact information; (5) a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized; and (6) a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information is accurate and that you are the rights holder or authorized to act on their behalf. We will promptly remove or disable access to material that is the subject of a valid notice.

Copyright contact. Send takedown notices and counter-notices to copyright@riffdrops.com (subject line: "Copyright Notice"). We review every notice and aim to respond within a few business days.

Counter-notice. If your content was removed and you believe this was a mistake or misidentification, you may submit a counter-notice to the copyright contact containing the elements required for a counter-notice under the DMCA (17 U.S.C. § 512(g)). If we receive a valid counter-notice, we may restore the content in 10–14 business days unless the original complainant files a court action.

Repeat infringers. We will, in appropriate circumstances and at our discretion, disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who are determined to be repeat infringers. Two substantiated infringement claims against an artist within any 12-month period may result in termination.

10. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to:

  • Use the Service for any unlawful purpose

  • Upload content that infringes on intellectual property rights

  • Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of the Service

  • Manipulate play counts, likes, or other metrics

  • Use bots, scrapers, or automated tools to access the Service

  • Interfere with or disrupt the Service or servers

  • Impersonate any person or entity

  • Circumvent any access controls or security measures

  • Resell, redistribute, or commercially exploit purchased content

  • Upload malicious code or content

  • Post, upload, or share objectionable content, including content that is hateful, harassing, threatening, defamatory, sexually explicit, pornographic, gratuitously violent, or that promotes discrimination, self-harm, or illegal activity

  • Harass, bully, abuse, stalk, threaten, or impersonate other users, artists, or labels

10.1 Zero Tolerance for Objectionable Content and Abusive Users

riffDrops has zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive users. Objectionable content — including content that is hateful, harassing, threatening, defamatory, sexually explicit, gratuitously violent, or otherwise objectionable — and abusive, harassing, or bullying behavior toward other users, artists, or labels are strictly prohibited and have no place on the Service.

Reporting. Any logged-in user can report objectionable content or an abusive user directly in the app. Every artist profile, label profile, release, and track includes a Report action, as do forum threads and comments. Reports go directly to our moderation team.

Blocking. Any logged-in user can block an artist or label in the app. Blocking immediately removes that author's content from your feed and browse views and notifies us for review.

Our commitment. We review every report and act within 24 hours — removing objectionable content and terminating the accounts of users who post it or who engage in abusive behavior. We may remove content and suspend or permanently ban offending accounts at our sole discretion, with or without notice. This Section applies to all users and supplements the moderation rights described in Sections 3.4, 5.6, and 8.2.

11. Third-Party Services

The Service integrates with third-party services, including but not limited to:

  • Stripe for payment processing

  • Google for OAuth authentication

  • Google Analytics for site analytics

  • Sentry for error tracking

Your use of these services is subject to their respective terms and privacy policies. We are not responsible for the practices of third-party services.

12. Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure, or that any defects will be corrected.

13. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, RIFFDROPS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE.

OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID TO US IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM.

14. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless riffDrops, its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses arising out of or in connection with: (a) your use of the Service; (b) your violation of these Terms; (c) your violation of any rights of another party, including intellectual property rights; or (d) any content you upload to the Service.

15. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the European Union and the applicable laws of the jurisdiction where riffDrops is established, without regard to conflict of law principles.

Any disputes arising under these Terms shall first be attempted to be resolved through good-faith negotiation. If negotiation fails, disputes shall be resolved through binding arbitration or the courts of competent jurisdiction.

16. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify you by posting the updated Terms on the Service and updating the "Effective Date" at the top. Your continued use of the Service after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

We maintain a version history of these Terms accessible through our platform.

17. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

18. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and any other policies referenced herein, constitute the entire agreement between you and riffDrops regarding the Service.

19. Contact Information

If you have questions about these Terms, please contact us: