Understanding Symphonic's Terms of Use

Legal terms can feel overwhelming, especially when your music, livelihood, and creative work are involved. Our Terms of Use are written to establish the legal rules for using Symphonic’s websites, technology, and online services.

Here is what they mean:

First, these Terms do not replace your distribution agreement

If you have a separate agreement with Symphonic for music distribution, publishing administration, royalty payments, SplitShare, or another service, that agreement continues to govern that specific relationship.

If something in these general Terms conflicts with your separate agreement, your separate agreement controls for the services it covers.

In other words, these Terms primarily establish the rules for using our websites, platform, tools, and related services. They do not quietly replace the business terms we agreed to with you.

Your music remains your music

Uploading music, artwork, metadata, or other materials to Symphonic does not automatically transfer ownership of those materials to us.

You retain ownership of your content, subject to the rights and permissions outlined in your separate agreement with Symphonic.

We do need limited permission to host, process, display, deliver, and manage the materials you submit. Without that permission, we could not operate the platform, deliver your music, display your artwork, calculate royalties, provide analytics, or perform the services you requested.

Any rights related to distributing or monetizing your music are governed by your applicable distribution or commercial agreement.

Why do these Terms exist?

Symphonic operates within a large music ecosystem. We work with artists, labels, songwriters, producers, digital service providers, collection societies, payment providers, and many other partners.

That means we have responsibilities to help protect:

• Artists and labels from infringement, impersonation, fraud, and misuse of their work
• Digital service providers from manipulated streams, false metadata, unauthorized content, and policy violations
• Songwriters, producers, featured artists, and other rights holders whose permission may be required
• Clients whose accounts, royalties, personal information, and catalogs must be kept secure
• Symphonic and its team from illegal, fraudulent, or abusive use of our services

The Terms give us a consistent framework for handling these responsibilities fairly and protecting the health of the platform.

What we ask from you

Most of the Terms come down to a few basic expectations:

• Only submit music, artwork, video, and other content that you own or have permission to use.
• Make sure your artist names, credits, metadata, artwork, and ownership information are accurate.
• Do not purchase or generate artificial streams, views, followers, or other manipulated activity.
• Do not impersonate another artist or misrepresent who created or owns a work.
• Disclose AI-generated, AI-assisted, or synthetic content when required.
• Keep your account, identity, payment, tax, and contact information accurate.
• Protect your login information and tell us if you believe someone has accessed your account without permission.
• Follow the laws and policies that apply to the platforms where your content is delivered.

These requirements help protect your catalog and reduce the risk of stores rejecting content, withholding royalties, issuing penalties, or taking other action.

Why might Symphonic ask for identification or account documents?

Music royalties are real money, and music accounts can become targets for fraud, hacking, impersonation, and unauthorized ownership changes.

We may need to verify an account owner, authorized representative, business entity, payment recipient, or beneficial owner. This helps us make sure that:

• Royalties are paid to the correct person or business
• Catalogs are not transferred or controlled without authorization
• Account changes are requested by someone with proper authority
• Symphonic complies with payment, tax, sanctions, fraud-prevention, and identity-verification requirements

Verification is not intended to create unnecessary friction. It is one of the ways we protect accounts and royalties.

Why can content or accounts be reviewed, suspended, or removed?

Sometimes we must act quickly when we receive evidence of possible infringement, artificial streaming, fraud, identity concerns, unlawful activity, platform-policy violations, or risks to other rights holders.

Depending on the situation, we may need to:

• Request additional information
• Temporarily restrict an account or payment
• Place content under review
• Remove or block content
• Respond to a digital service provider or legal complaint
• Suspend or terminate access in serious or unresolved cases

These rights are important because digital service providers also require distributors to monitor the content and activity delivered through them. If harmful activity is ignored, it can affect not only one account, but other independent artists and labels using the same distribution network.

A review or temporary restriction does not necessarily mean that we have concluded someone acted intentionally or unlawfully. In many cases, it means we need more information before activity can safely continue.

What happens to royalties if something is under review?

Royalties may sometimes be withheld, adjusted, reserved, or offset when there is suspected fraud, a dispute, a chargeback, a platform adjustment, money owed to Symphonic, or another unresolved issue.

This protects against paying funds that may later be reversed, reclaimed by a digital service provider, or determined to belong to another party.

Where appropriate, we may request documentation or additional information to help resolve the issue. Specific royalty calculations, fees, deductions, and payment rights may also be governed by your separate agreement or the terms of the product you use.

What about artificial streaming?

Artificial streaming can harm artists, labels, distributors, and digital platforms. It can lead to removed releases, withheld royalties, financial penalties, lost access to services, or permanent account action.

Even when a third-party promotional company is involved, clients remain responsible for the methods used to promote their music. Be cautious of services that guarantee streams, playlist placement, followers, or specific levels of engagement.

Our goal is to protect legitimate artists and ensure that genuine performance is not undermined by manipulated activity.

What about AI-generated or AI-assisted content?

We recognize that AI can be a creative tool. Our Terms are not intended to prohibit responsible uses of AI.

However, clients must accurately disclose AI-generated, AI-assisted, or synthetic content when required and must have the rights necessary to distribute everything they submit.

AI cannot be used to impersonate an artist, clone a voice without authorization, misrepresent authorship, or infringe another person’s music, identity, likeness, or other rights.

These expectations help protect human creativity while allowing responsible experimentation and innovation.

Why are fees generally non-refundable?

Many Symphonic services involve immediate processing, account setup, technology, storage, third-party costs, or operational work. For that reason, fees are generally non-refundable unless a specific service says otherwise or the law requires a refund.

For self-service offerings such as Symphonic Starter, the applicable pricing page, checkout terms, and product-specific conditions provide additional information about fees, renewals, deductions, and cancellations.

What if technology or a digital platform experiences a problem?

We work hard to keep our services reliable, but music distribution depends on many interconnected systems outside of Symphonic’s direct control.

Stores may experience outages, change their technical requirements, delay processing, reject content, modify reporting, or temporarily interrupt a connection. Our Terms recognize that no technology provider can guarantee uninterrupted access or perfect performance at all times.

That does not mean we stop trying to resolve issues. It means we cannot promise that every system, partner, or connection will always operate without interruption.

Why do the Terms contain legal protections for Symphonic?

Provisions concerning warranties, indemnification, liability, disputes, and arbitration are standard parts of operating an international technology and music-services business.

They help define who is responsible if, for example, someone uploads music they do not own, provides false information, violates another person’s rights, misuses the platform, or causes a third party to make a claim against Symphonic.

These provisions are not intended to discourage legitimate questions or concerns. Our Terms actually ask both sides to try to resolve a dispute informally before moving into a formal legal process.

Can the Terms change?

Music, technology, privacy, payments, fraud prevention, AI, and digital platform requirements continue to evolve. We may update the Terms as our services or legal responsibilities change.

The latest version and its revision date will always be posted online. Material changes may also be communicated by email or through an account notification.

Keeping your primary email address current helps make sure you receive important notices.

The simplest way to think about it

Our Terms are built around a few basic principles:

• Your separate distribution or commercial agreement remains the controlling document for the services it covers.
• Your music remains yours.
• You must have permission to distribute everything you submit.
• We need limited rights to operate the platform and provide the services you request.
• Accounts, metadata, identities, and payment information must be accurate.
• Artificial activity, infringement, impersonation, fraud, and abuse are not permitted.
• Symphonic may need to investigate or act when artists, rights holders, DSPs, clients, or the platform are at risk.
• Everyone benefits when music is delivered responsibly and royalties flow to the people who legitimately earned them.

We understand that legal language can sometimes sound broader or more intimidating than its everyday purpose. Our goal is not to create uncertainty around your music. It is to provide a clear framework that allows us to operate responsibly, protect the creative community, meet our obligations to digital platforms, and continue serving independent artists and labels worldwide.

This overview is provided as a summarized explanation and does not replace or modify the official Terms of Use, your distribution agreement, or any other agreement with Symphonic. If you have a question about your specific account or agreement, please contact Symphonic Support.