Last.fm

Terms and Conditions

Digital Music Promotion and Broadcast Agreement between You and Last.fm (the “Agreement”)

This Agreement was last updated on  22 May 2008

THE TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT IN A NUTSHELL:

1               You have permission to upload all of your content and make it available worldwide (without restriction) or you have obtained permission from the relevant rightsholder(s).

2               Last.fm may use your tracks solely for its internet radio streaming and on-demand service and for 30 second on-demand previews worldwide. If or when you make tracks available for free download (which will automatically make the tracks eligible for inclusion in the podcast service) and/or full-length preview is up to you.

3       If you upload music videos, Last FM may use them solely for its video streaming service, which streams full-length videos.

4               During the registration process, you were given the option to share in royalties from the use of your content on the Last.fm service.

5               This Agreement does not cover music publishing. Last.fm will pay royalties for the use of any musical compositions (except where downloads or podcasts are made available free of charge on the Last.fm service) directly to collection societies who administer music publishing rights (for example MCPS/PRS in the UK).

6               Last.fm does not claim any ownership rights in your content. You will continue to own your content and can use it in any way that You choose.

7               You or Last.fm can terminate this agreement at any time by: (i) You removing your content using the facility provided by the Last.fm service; or (ii) one party providing the other party with 30 days' prior written notice of termination.

THE PARTIES AGREE AS FOLLOWS:

This Agreement sets out the terms agreed between You and Last.fm Limited ('Last.fm') on the basis that:

·       Last.fm intends to promote music over the Internet on its online and desktop player and affiliated outlets, such as third party software client applications, widgets, blogs and social networks and third party hardware applications (for example internet radio players, media adapters and other hardware where music can be played);

·       You own or have the right to exploit and to grant a worldwide licence to Last.fm to use the music videos, sound recordings (and, where you choose to make Your Content available for free downloads (which will automatically make the tracks eligible for inclusion in the podcast service)  on the Last.fm service, the underlying musical compositions and lyrics) and any performance of any artist and/or performer embodied in Your track or video, together with any artwork and sleeve notes which You upload and provide to Last.fm (together, “Your Content”).

1               GRANT OF LICENCE

1.1           Your Content

By uploading Your Content, You grant to Last.fm a non-exclusive licence (including the right to sub-license for all purposes related to the Last.fm service (such as, for example, embedding the Last.fm player on third party websites or as personal blogs)) during the Term (as defined in clause 3) throughout the world to:

         (a) communicate and make Your Content and any thirty (30) second preview clip of Your Content available on the Last.fm service; and

(b) to copy and otherwise exploit Your Content as necessary for all purposes associated with the Last.fm service.

Depending on Your choices when You registered or the choice You subsequently select, the licence is either royalty-free or in return for royalties. Please see clause 5 below.

1.2           Reserved Rights

All rights and licences not expressly granted to Last.fm under this Agreement are reserved by You. Ownership of Your Content shall remain with You or Your licensors.

2               DELIVERY

2.1           You shall deliver to Last.fm:

(a)         Copies of the master versions of Your Content from which Last.fm shall be entitled to make copies for the purpose set out in this Agreement (see clause 2.4);

(b)         All necessary, related artwork for use by Last.fm in connection with the marketing and promotion of Your Content;

(c)         A written schedule of the names and contact information of the author(s), composer(s) and music publisher(s) and performers of the songs embodied in Your Content, together with any additional copyright information and metadata in Your possession or under Your control relating to such songs and Your Content; and

(d)         The following information shall be included in metadata associated with Your Content which is delivered to Last.fm:

(i)              Artist name

(ii)             Track name

(iii)            Version name

(iv)           Album name (if applicable)

(v)            ISRC (if available); and

(vi)           Credits that You are contractually obliged to provide to Last.fm to display on Last.fm’s website at www.last.fm (the “Website”) in connection with the use of Your Content under this Agreement.

2.2           Last.fm requires the information set out above to ensure that Your music is displayed correctly and to enable Last.fm, where applicable, to report to collection societies so that the relevant payments can be made.

2.3           Last.fm may encode or transcode Your Content, but shall not modify it.

2.4           You can deliver Your Content and the material set out in clause 2.1(a) to (c) above in the following ways:

·       CDs

·       Digital uploads

·       Hard drives

·       Any other digital carrier

3               TERM

3.1           This Agreement shall start on the date that You either deliver the Content to Last.fm or upload the Content using the facility on the Last.fm service, and shall continue from then until such time as You or Last.fm terminate this Agreement by:

(a)     You removing Your Content using the facility provided by the Last.fm service; or

(b)     one party providing the other party with 30 days' prior written notice of termination. 

3.2           If You choose to terminate this agreement by giving 30 days’ written notice and You do not remove Your Content following the end of such 30 day period, Last.fm shall have a royalty-free licence to use Your Content in accordance with Clause 1.1 until You remove Your Content.

3.3           Your right to share in royalties from the use of Your Content on the Last.fm service under clause 7 shall start on the date that Last.fm launches the royalty share scheme (the “Launch Date”). Last.fm will confirm the Launch Date to You by email and in a news item posted on Music Manager.

4               WARRANTY

4.1           You warrant and represent to Last.fm that:

(a)         the information that You have provided to set up Your Music Manager account is true, accurate, current, complete and is compliant with the Website Terms of Use and Privacy Policy;

(b)         You are the owner or authorised user of Your Content throughout the world and have obtained all necessary rights, clearances, consents, releases, waivers, and authorisations in respect of Your Content;

(c)         You have full right and authority to enter into this Agreement and grant the licence at clause 1.1;

(d)         There is no present or prospective claim or litigation in respect of Your Content;

(e)         The use by Last.fm of Your Content shall not infringe the rights of any third party;

(f)         You have cleared all rights and made all payments due to any performing artist, collecting society, producer or contributor to Your Content (including but not limited to music synchronisation clearances and fees, where applicable), that such payments are equitable in accordance with relevant legislation and that no further payments shall be payable by Last.fm; and

(g)         Your Content will not contain any contaminated file, viruses, worms, Trojan horses or other similar harmful or destructive code or program.

4.2           Last.fm warrants that it has the full right and authority to enter into this Agreement.

5               RIGHTS IN THE CONTENT

5.1           Last.fm enters into licence arrangements with collection societies who administer music publishing rights. In order to be paid any royalties due to You under this Agreement for the use of any musical compositions in Your Content, You should join Your local collection society and register Your Content with them.

5.2           During the registration process, You were asked to select one of four options dependent on who owns the rights in Your Content. The option You selected determines how royalties will be paid from the exploitation of Your Content, as further explained below:

·       BOX 1: - I want to collect Radio and On-Demand royalties for all my songs.

By ticking BOX 1:

(a) You confirm that You wish to participate in Last.fm’s royalty share scheme:

(b) You warrant to Last.fm that as of the date when You tick BOX 1, You are not a member of any collection society established for the collection of royalties for the communication to the public of sound recordings (for example, PPL in the UK or SoundExchange in the US); and

(c) You agree that if You become a member of such a collection society, sign a deal with a record label or assign the rights in Your Content to a third party, You will immediately inform Last.fm by accessing your label account and selecting Box 2 or 3. You must also provide Last.fm with all relevant details of Your membership with any collection society.

·       BOX 2: – I want to collect On-Demand royalties for all my songs. I’m a member of a collection society for Radio use.

By ticking BOX 2:

(a) You confirm that You wish to participate in Last.fm’s royalty share scheme;

(b) You warrant to Last.fm that as of the date when You tick BOX 2, You are a member of a collection society solely for the collection of royalties for the communication to the public of sound recordings on the radio (for example, PPL in the UK or SoundExchange in the US); and

(c) You will provide Last.fm with all relevant information reasonably required by Last.fm for reporting radio usage of Your Content to such collection society. If Your membership with the collection society changes to include on-demand use of Your content, You must immediately inform Last.fm by accessing your label account and selecting Box 3.

·       BOX 3: - I’m ineligible to collect royalties directly. I’m a member of a collection society for Radio and On-Demand use.

By ticking BOX 3:

(a) You confirm that as of the date when You tick BOX 3, You are a member a collection society for the collection of royalties for the communication to the public of sound recordings for both radio and on-demand use of Your Content; and ...

(b) You will provide Last.fm with all relevant information reasonably required by Last.fm for reporting use of Your Content to such collection society.

·       BOX 4: – I don’t want to collect royalties or have entered into a direct royalty agreement with Last.fm.

By ticking BOX 4:

(a) You confirm that as of the date when You tick BOX 4, You are not a member of a collection society for the collection of royalties for the communication to the public of sound recordings; and

(b) You confirm that You do not wish to participate in Last.fm’s royalty scheme, or

(c) You have entered into a direct royalty agreement with Last.fm, in which case the terms of such royalty agreement shall govern the way in which royalties accrue and are paid to You.

5.3           You agree that the acceptance by Last.fm of Your Content for inclusion on the Last.fm service and the payment of any royalty (where applicable) represents the entire consideration for the grant of the licence at clause 1.1 above.

5.4           If, for any reason, You need to change how royalties are paid for the use of Your Content on the Last.fm service, You can do so by logging on to Your label account and clicking on the ”Royalties” tab. Any change will only become effective from the date on which You make the change to your label account.

5.5           If You have a direct royalty agreement with Last.fm, regardless of which option You selected during the registration process, the terms of such direct royalty agreement shall apply. Royalties will accrue and be payable in accordance with the terms of Your direct royalty agreement. If there is any conflict between the provisions of Your direct royalty agreement and this Agreement, the terms of Your direct royalty agreement with Last.fm shall take precedence.

6               INDEMNITY

You hereby indemnify and will at all times keep Last.fm fully and effectively indemnified from and against all actions, proceedings, claims, damages, costs and losses whatsoever made against or incurred by Last.fm in consequence of any breach or non-performance by You of any of the representations, warranties or covenants on the part of Last.fm contained in this Agreement.

7               ROYALTY SHARE

7.1           Last.fm will pay You royalties from making Your Content available on the Last.fm service. If You ticked BOX 1 or BOX 2, You are eligible to take part in the royalty scheme.

7.2           If You ticked BOX 3, royalties will be paid to the collection society, the details of which You must provide to Last.fm.

7.3           If You ticked BOX 4, You have granted Last.fm a royalty-free licence pursuant to clause 1.1 above. This means that Last.fm will be able to use Your Content without direct payment to You or payment to a collection society unless and until You either:

(a)         terminate this Agreement by removing Your Content using the facility provided by the Last.fm service; or

(b)         You become a member of a collection society, in which case You must immediately inform Last.fm by logging on to Your label account and selecting Box 2 or Box 3 and provide all relevant details of Your membership.

You should not have ticked BOX 1 if You are a member of a collection society for the collection of royalties (such as the PPL in the UK or SoundExchange in the US) for radio and/or on-demand use of sound recordings because in those circumstances, Last.fm will pay the relevant royalties set out below to the relevant collection society. You must provide details of the collection society to Last.fm.

7.4           Last.fm shall pay the following royalties in respect of the transmission of Your Content as permitted by You:

·       for the free radio service, 10% of the Share of Last.fm’s Net Revenue from the free radio service.

·       for the personalised premium radio service, the greater of 10% of the Share of Last.fm’s Net Revenue from the personalised radio service or US $0.0005 for each complete transmission on the personalised radio service of a track which forms part of Your Content transmitted on the Last.fm service. This service will be is discontinued as of 22nd April 2009

·       for the subscription radio service, the greater of 10% of the Share of Last.fm’s Net Revenue from the subscription radio service or US $0.0005 for each complete transmission on the subscription radio service of a track which forms part of Your Content transmitted on the Last.fm service. This service was started on the 22nd April 2009

·       for the free on-demand service, 30% of the Share of Last.fm’s Net Revenue from the free on-demand service. for the premium on-demand service, the greater of 30% of the Share of Last.fm’s Net Revenue from the premium on-demand service or US $0.005 for each complete transmission on the prepaid or subscription on-demand service of a track which forms part of Your Content transmitted on the Last.fm service.

            In this section:

            “Share” means a share of the Net Revenue royalty pool which is calculated by dividing the number of times Your Content is played with the total number of complete performances of sound recordings on the Last.fm service;

            For the personalised premium radio service and premium on-demand service, “Net Revenue” means all advertising revenue (including sponsorship revenue and subscription revenue), actually received by Last.fm on all pages on the Website where a user has streamed music content through Last.fm’s media player and/or through a Last.fm widget after the deduction of any advertising agency commissions paid to advertising agencies, sales houses or re-sellers.

            For the free radio service and free on-demand service, “Net Revenue” means all advertising revenue (including sponsorship revenue but excluding subscription revenue), actually received by Last.fm on all pages on the Website where a user has streamed music content through Last.fm’s media player and/or through a Last.fm widget after the deduction of any advertising agency commissions paid to advertising agencies, sales houses or re-sellers.

7.5           No royalty shall be payable by Last.fm for preview clips or any play of Your Content that is less than 30 seconds.

7.6           Where Last.fm discovers a duplicate item of Your Content, Last.fm shall only be liable to pay a royalty to the party who is legally authorised to grant a licence to Last.fm. If you believe someone has uploaded your tracks to the Last.fm service without your consent, you may notify Last.fm by following the procedure set out in Last.fm’s Website Terms of Use and Last.fm will act in accordance with such procedure..

7.7           Royalties shall only start to accrue from the Launch Date (as defined in clause 3.3) provided that  You have accepted these terms and conditions. Last.fm shall not be liable to You or a third party for any retrospective use of Your Content on the Last.fm service or for any royalties that are or have been paid incorrectly paid by Last.fm to any third party who claimed ownership of Your Content.

7.8           The minimum royalty amount payable pursuant to Clause 7.9 is either US $10.00, £5.00, €7.00 or ¥1000 depending on your local currency (the “Minimum Royalty”). Where the amount in any given month does not amount to the Minimum Royalty, the sums due to You shall accrue until the amount owing is at least the Minimum Royalty. 

7.9           Where Last.fm is paying royalties directly to You, payments shall only be made following a written request from You via the Music Manager system (which can be made no earlier than 1 July 2008) to the person identified as the nominated payee in Your label account on the date that You request the payment to be made (the “Nominated Payee”). Payments shall be paid 30 days after the end of each quarter via a payment method chosen by Last.fm in its sole discretion.

7.10         Last.fm shall have discharged its obligation to pay royalties pursuant to clause 7.9 by paying the amount to the Nominated Payee. Last.fm shall have no further liability in this regard. It is Your responsibility to make sure that the Nominated Payee details are correct.

7.11         You can use royalties that have accrued to You to purchase Last.fm products to promote Your content on the Last.fm service at any time, even where the amount is less than the Minimum Royalty.

7.12         Payments shall be converted from US dollars to Your local currency at the spot rate on the date that the payment is made.

7.13         You shall be able to access information online [via the Music Manager system] detailing how many times Your Content is played and the royalty payments due to You. This information will be updated by Last.fm once every three months (in April, July, October and January) commencing in July 2008 or as soon as is reasonably practicable.

7.14         If this Agreement is terminated by You or Last.fm for any reason, any royalties of the Minimum Royalty or over owing to You shall be paid in full 30 days after the end of the calendar month in which the Agreement is terminated. Any royalties owing to You that are less than the Minimum Royalty shall be credited to You for the purchase of Last.fm products on the Last.fm service.

8               free downloads and PODCASTS

8.1           Last.fm gives You the opportunity to make Your Content available for free download on the Last.fm service. Where You choose to make Your Content available for free download:

(a) You acknowledge and agree that your tracks will automatically become eligible to be included as a podcast and made available on the Last.fm service. For more information please see the music manager FAQ.

(b) You acknowledge and agree that You are not entitled to any royalties from the exploitation of such downloads and/or podcasts and Last.fm is not obliged to pay royalties for the use of any musical compositions in such downloads or podcasts to collection societies who administer music publishing rights (for example MCPS/PRS in the UK).

(c) in addition to the warranties set out at clause 4, You warrant and represent to Last.fm that:

(i) You are authorised to make Your Content available for free download and podcast on a worldwide basis; and

(ii) You own the copyright in the underlying musical composition(s) and lyrics.

9               ABUSE OF THE LAST.FM WEBSITE

The Music Manager service is intended as a fair platform to help emerging artists and labels find a legitimate audience online. By using the service, you agree that you shall not do or cause anything to be done that causes you to receive an unfair advantage or revenue or in any way prejudices the operation of the Last.fm website or any part of it. In particular, you will not authorise, enable or engage in any activity which is or is intended to be fraudulent, unlawful, false or which artificially alters any information on or relating to the website, including (by way of example) falsifying the number of site impressions, uploading content that is already licensed to Last.fm or uploading duplicates of Your Content. Last.fm reserves the right, but is not obligated, to delete, move or edit Your Content and any information relating to Your Content on the website, in whole or in part, in our sole discretion. Last.fm reserves the right to suspend or terminate your access to the Website, with immediate effect and without notice to you, and pursue all legal remedies if Last.fm believes, in its sole discretion, that you are in breach of any part of this clause.

10               OTHER TERMS

The terms of the Website Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, also form part of this Agreement. Please read the terms and ensure You accept and are familiar with them. To the extent that there is any conflict between the Website Terms of Use and this Agreement, the terms of this Agreement shall prevail.

11             RELATIONSHIP

You acknowledge and agree that this Agreement sets out the business relationship between You and Last.fm.

The business relationship between You and Last.fm is of licensor and licensee and nothing in this Agreement shall be construed (i) to give either party the power to direct or control the daily activities of the other party; or (ii) to constitute the parties as principal and agent, employer and employee, franchisor and franchisee, partners, joint venturers, co-owners, or otherwise as participants in a joint undertaking.

12             NO OBLIGATION

Last.fm shall be under no obligation to stream or use Your Content.

13             MISCELLANEOUS

All notices or other communications required under this Agreement shall be given by email to the relevant party at the email addresses stated below and shall be deemed to have been given on the date that the email is read by the recipient (evidenced by a read receipt automatically sent to the sender).

Last.fm: labels@last.fm

You: The email address supplied by You when You registered.

For the purpose of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999, nothing in this Agreement shall confer or purport to confer on any third party any benefit or the right to enforce any term of this Agreement.

If any provision of this Agreement (or part of any provision) is found by any court or other authority of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that provision or part of such provision shall, to the extent required, be deemed not to form part of this Agreement, and the validity and enforceability of the other provisions of this Agreement shall not be affected.

This Agreement is governed by and shall be construed in accordance with English law and in the event of a dispute the parties shall submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

Last.fm may, at its sole discretion, make changes to this Agreement at any time. If Last.fm does this, it will post the changes on this page.  In certain circumstances, Last.fm may send an email to You notifying You of the change. You should, however, check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes.

If You find any change unacceptable, You should terminate this Agreement by removing Your Content using the facility provided by the Last.fm service. Failure to terminate this Agreement by removing Your Content following any change shall constitute Your acceptance of the new terms of the Agreement.

THIS AGREEMENT SETS OUT THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS GOVERNING USE OF YOUR CONTENT ON THE LAST.FM SERVICE. IF YOU ARE UNSURE ABOUT ANY OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS YOU ARE ADVISED TO OBTAIN INDEPENDENT LEGAL ADVICE BEFORE ACCEPTING THEM.

Great, You made it to the end ;) We look forward to establishing a long term, mutually-beneficial relationship with You.