Antifraud Policy
FIVESOUND’S WARNING SYSTEM
Fivesound will not issue a warning to a Client before considering terminating their account: except in extreme cases of violation and damage to our business, where we may be forced to cancel an account immediately. Fivesound will notify Customer of any violation within 3 business days of resolving the issue. discovered or reported to Fivesound. Such violations include, but are not limited to:
- Intellectual property or trademark violations
- Significant levels of artificial streaming
- Violations of any of the DSPs' Terms of Use
- Violations of YouTube’s monetization policy
CONSEQUENCES OF FRAUDULENT ACTIVITIES
If we deem that a Client and/or their End User is breaching the Terms of service, we will have the right to take the following actions:
- Takedown Content by Fivesound
- Freeze your royalties
- Disable distribution to specific DSPs for the Client and/ or their end users
- Terminate end user accounts and Terminate the client’s account
To the extent any fraudulent and/or infringing activities are determined to be caused by the Client or their End Users’ actions, we will have the right to terminate the contractual relationship and close the account at any point. Any costs incurred by us or our providers (including legal fees and expenses) in connection therewith may, in addition to other remedies, be deducted by us from any future payments due to a Client. Additional legal action may be taken if damages exceed withholdings.
UNBLOCKING AN ACCOUNT
The Client will receive a ticket or notice via email indicating we have detected potential infringing or unauthorized activity. The corresponding account will be blocked preventively while information from the Client will be required. When the Client provides the requested information within 5 working days, and the information can be verified, the account will be unblocked.
WE MAY REQUEST THE CLIENT TO TAKE THE FOLLOWING STEPS IN ORDER TO UNBLOCK THE ACCOUNT:
- The Client’s information must be fully fixed
- The Client must send us a copy of an identification document (passport or national ID).
- In most cases, we also request artist profiles, website url(s), Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc., and profile information from the artist in order to contrast this with the sales data. The Artist’s profile must have historical data to support the sales data.
BLOCKED ACCOUNT POLICY
In the case where a Client cannot or refuses to provide the requested information within 5 working days, we may block and withhold revenues in their account that are received in connection with content that we believe, in our sole discretion, to violate our Terms of Service or violate our agreements with DSPs.
- Clients with blocked accounts will not be able to access the platform and, therefore, any of our services.
- All Client content will be taken down.
- Royalties will be kept in escrow until a timeframe of 24 months has passed. Please note that DSPs contractually have the right to reclaim royalties during a timeframe of 24 months. That is why we need to respect this period as well.
WITHHOLDING ROYALTIES (¨ESCROW¨) FOR BLOCKED ACCOUNTS:
In the case where a Client cannot or refuses to provide the requested information within 5 working days, we may block and withhold revenues in their account that are received in connection with content that we believe, in our sole discretion, to violate our Terms of Service or violate our agreements with DSPs.
- We may block and withhold revenues in any Client’s account that are received in connection with content that we believe, in our sole discretion, violate the Terms of Service or the agreements we have with DSPs.
- The money is kept in escrow for a timeframe of 24 months or until a claim is received.
- The royalties will be held in escrow in order to be able to respond in the following situations:
- An End User proves his account is not fraudulent, and therefore, royalties will be made available to the End User.
- We receive claims from DSPs asking for a refund of the royalties in case any DSPs deems it was generated through unauthorized or fraudulent activity. (As mentioned above, DSPs have the right to reclaim these royalties during a timeframe of 24 months).
- We receive claims from legitimate rights holders, claiming the payout of the royalties that have been retained, plus royalties that already have been paid to End Users with claimed unauthorized or fraudulent activity.
This document was last updated on June 1, 2023