Terms of use

1. Who we are

Soundmark is run by Jorge Mendieta Almansa and Fabrizio D'Ambrosio, from the United Kingdom, as a personal project. We may add paid features or advertising in the future; if we do, we'll update these terms and tell you first. To contact us about anything in these terms, including reports, complaints, appeals and rights requests, write to:

• contact@soundmark.uk

Soundmark isn't connected to, or endorsed by, the artists, record labels, Apple or Spotify. How we handle your personal data is explained in our privacy policy.

2. Agreeing to these terms

These terms are an agreement between you and us. You accept them when you create an account; if you only read Soundmark without an account, the rules in sections 6 to 13 still apply to how you use it. If you don't agree, please don't use Soundmark.

These terms are written in English and Spanish. If the versions differ, the English one applies, unless another version is more favourable to you.

3. Who can use Soundmark

• You must be 18 or over to create an account. If we learn that someone under 18 has an account, we'll delete it.
• One account per person, with an email address that is yours.
• Keep your password to yourself. You're responsible for what's done with your account. If you think someone else has got into it, change your password and tell us.
• Fan accounts named after an artist are welcome, as long as it's clear you're a fan and not the artist (for example "fan" or "stan" in your username or bio). Your username must not be offensive, or make people believe you are someone you're not. We may change a username that breaks this rule.
• Anyone can read most of Soundmark without an account.

4. What you post

Your ratings, reviews, comments, mixtapes, profile photo, bio and rankings stay yours. By posting them, you give us permission to store them, show them to anyone on Soundmark, show them in different parts of Soundmark (for example on the home page, an album's page or a share image you create), and adapt their format to fit those places (for example resizing or cropping a photo, or shortening a review with a link to the full text). We won't change what you said. This permission is free, isn't exclusive, applies worldwide, and ends when you delete the content or your account (copies in backups disappear within 90 days).

Only post what you have the right to post. Short quotes from a song's lyrics in a review are fine; whole lyrics, or other people's photos or texts, are not. The titles, descriptions and notes of your mixtapes count as things you post: keep notes short, don't paste lyrics in them, and don't put links in them.

Reviews, ratings and comments are the opinions of the people who post them, not ours. We don't check them before they appear.

What you post is public. Think before sharing anything about yourself or others.

5. Honest reviews

Ratings and reviews are only useful if they're genuine. So:

• Rate and review only music you have actually listened to, with your own opinion.
• If you're connected to the music (you're the artist, you work for them or their label, or you were paid or given something to review it), say so clearly in your review.
• Don't post reviews or ratings for someone else, or in exchange for money, gifts or favours, and don't ask or pay others to do it.
• Don't use several accounts, or work with others, to push a rating, ranking or vote up or down.

We may remove reviews and ratings we have good reason to think are fake or bought, and leave them out of averages, charts and votes.

6. What's not allowed

These rules apply to everything you post, including mixtape titles, descriptions and notes. Don't post or do anything that is illegal in the United Kingdom, and in particular nothing that:

• promotes terrorism or violence, or threatens anyone;
• sexually exploits or abuses children, or tries to contact a child for sexual purposes;
• attacks people for their race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability or gender identity;
• harasses, bullies or stalks anyone, including organising others to pile on someone;
• encourages or helps someone to take their own life or harm themselves;
• shares intimate images of someone without their consent, or pornography;
• is a scam, or sells or offers drugs, weapons or other illegal things;
• shares someone's private information (address, phone number…) without their permission;
• says false things about a real person or company that harm their reputation.

Also not allowed on Soundmark:

• pretending to be someone else (fan accounts are fine, see section 3);
• spam, advertising, and accounts or bots used to post automatically;
• copying other people's work (see section 4);
• collecting content or data from Soundmark in bulk, by software or by hand ("scraping"), or using it to train software, without our written permission;
• using Soundmark for business purposes without our permission;
• trying to get into other people's accounts, getting around our limits or blocks, or trying to break or overload Soundmark.

7. How we protect you from illegal content

• Reporting: every comment, review, profile and mixtape has a "Report" button. Pick the reason that fits. Without an account, or for anything else, write to us at the address in section 1, saying what it is and where it appears.
• We're told immediately: every report reaches us on our phones. There are two of us and we cover for each other, including when one of us is away, so the times below still apply.
• Terrorism: hidden from everyone as soon as one person reports it as threats or violence. We aim to decide within 24 hours, remove it, and remove accounts run by or for an organisation banned under UK law.
• Child sexual abuse: hidden from everyone as soon as one person reports it under child safety. We aim to remove it within 24 hours, report it to the UK's National Crime Agency, and close the account.
• Other illegal content: threats to life, self-harm and suicide are hidden as soon as one person reports them, and we aim to decide within 24 hours. For other reasons, content is hidden after reports from three different people, and we aim to decide on any report within 72 hours. Whenever we find something illegal or against these terms, we take it down.
• Blocking: you can block any account from its profile. Neither of you can then comment on, reply to, like or follow the other, and neither of you sees the other's profile, reviews, comments or mixtapes, or finds the other in search or in follower lists. We don't notify them, but they may notice they can no longer see your content.
• No automatic scanning: we don't use software to scan what people post. Content is only hidden automatically by the report rules above, and a person always makes the decision.

If someone is in danger right now, don't wait for us: in the UK call 999. If you're struggling yourself, you can talk to Samaritans for free, at any time, on 116 123.

8. What we can do if the rules are broken

If something breaks the law or these terms, we may hide or delete it, remove a profile photo or bio, change a username, or suspend or close the account. We decide based on how serious it is and whether it has happened before; serious or repeated breaches mean the account is closed, and we may refuse a new one. Where we can, we'll tell you what we did and why, unless the law or someone's safety means we shouldn't. While something of yours is hidden because of a report (a mixtape, or your profile photo and bio), you can't edit it until we've decided; you can still delete it.

9. Complaints and appeals

Anyone, with or without an account, can write to us at the address in section 1 if:

• you reported something and think we got it wrong, or didn't act;
• we hid or removed something of yours, changed your username, or suspended or closed your account, and you think we shouldn't have (an appeal);
• you think we're not following these terms or the UK's online safety law.

Tell us what it's about and why. We'll confirm we've received it within 7 days, tell you what can happen next, and normally let you know our decision within 14 days. Where possible, an appeal is looked at by the one of us who didn't make the first decision. If we find we were wrong, we'll restore what we removed. We may not reply to complaints that are clearly abusive or repeat one we've already answered.

For complaints about your personal data, see the privacy policy.

10. If something posted about you is untrue

If you think something posted on Soundmark is defamatory of you (says false things that harm your reputation), write to us at the address in section 1 with:

• your name and email address;
• what was posted and where (a link is best);
• what you think it means, and which parts are untrue or are opinions not based on facts;
• whether you'd agree to us telling the person who posted it your name and email address.

We'll then follow the process set by UK law: within 48 hours (not counting weekends and bank holidays) we'll send your complaint to the person who posted it and ask whether they want it removed. If they don't answer within 5 days, or we can't reach them, we'll remove it. We may also remove it straight away if it clearly breaks these terms.

11. Music, covers and other people's rights

Album covers, artist photos and music belong to their owners (labels, artists, photographers). Soundmark shows covers to identify the music people review; artist photos come from Wikimedia Commons under the licence shown with each one; the 30-second previews come from Apple and the full player from Spotify, under their own terms.

If you own the rights to something on Soundmark (a cover, photo, text or recording) and want it removed, write to us at the address in section 1 with: who you are and how you own the rights; what the work is; where it appears on Soundmark; and a statement that you believe in good faith that its use isn't allowed. We'll remove it promptly. If we remove something you posted because of such a request, you can appeal (section 9).

12. Our part of Soundmark

The name, logo, design and software of Soundmark, and the way its catalogue and charts are put together, belong to us or to those who license them to us. You may use Soundmark for your own personal, non-commercial use, and share links to it.

Soundmark uses and links to services run by others, such as Apple, Spotify, Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. When you use them (for example when you press play), their own terms and privacy policies apply, and we aren't responsible for them.

13. The service

Soundmark is free. We work to keep it running and safe, but we can't promise it will always be available or free of errors, or that the catalogue information (release dates, chart positions, tracklists) is always complete and correct. We may change, pause or close Soundmark, or any part of it; if we close it, we'll tell you in advance where we can, so you can ask us for a copy of your data first.

14. Responsibility

You're responsible for what you post and for how you use Soundmark.

Nothing in these terms limits our responsibility for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law doesn't let us limit, and nothing affects your legal rights as a consumer. Apart from that, as Soundmark is a free service, we're not responsible for what other people post, for services run by others that Soundmark uses or links to, or for any loss caused by Soundmark being unavailable or by a mistake in its information.

15. Ending your account

You can delete your account at any time in Settings. Everything you posted is deleted with it (copies in backups disappear within 90 days). We can suspend or close your account as described in section 8. If we close Soundmark altogether, these terms end too.

16. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms, for example when the law or Soundmark changes. If we change anything important, we'll update this page and the date at the top, and let you know on Soundmark before the change applies. If you don't agree with the new terms, you can delete your account before they apply.

17. If Soundmark changes hands

We may transfer Soundmark and these terms to someone else, for example a company we set up to run it. If we do, we'll tell you, and your rights under these terms won't be reduced.

18. Other legal points

• If a court decides that part of these terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies.
• If we don't enforce a rule straight away, we can still enforce it later.
• Only you and we can enforce these terms; nobody else has rights under them.

19. Law and courts

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and disputes go to its courts. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can also go to your local courts. If you live in another country, you keep any protection its law gives you and can also go to its courts.