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      Family in Music's Anti-Fraud Policy

      Learn about the proactive measures that Family in Music takes to combat fraud

      Introduction

      Family in Music's Strikes System

      Review for Account Termination

      Consequences of fraudulent activities 

      Unblocking an account

      Blocked account policy

      Takedowns

      Report a copyright violation

      Introduction

      The purpose of this policy is to provide:

      • A definition of the term "fraud" as used in this context

      • Guidance to all parties involved as to actions that should be taken when we, the
        DSP or any other third party suspects any fraudulent activity

      • Defined responsibilities for conducting investigations into fraud-related incidents

      • Safeguards for rightsholders in case they become victims of fraudulent activities

      • This document serves as a guidance resource and should be read alongside:

      Definitions


      • User: Is the person or legal entity that has entered into a contractual relationship with Family in Music for the use of the platform
      • User Account: Accounts owned by users
      • DSP: A Digital Service Provider refers to online platforms such as iTunes, Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and YouTube Music, where users can access digital albums and singles for purchase or streaming
      • Fraud: This includes, but is not limited to, unauthorized exploitation of copyrighted material (Copyright Infringement), violation of laws governing ownership rights, usage of (modified) artist, band, or label names or artwork that may cause confusion or false expectations regarding content served to consumers by DSPs (i.e., Musical Spam), utilization of automated digital bots or other methods to "click" on payment-generating links, falsely impersonating consumers (i.e., Click Fraud), uploading distorted music with the intent to generate unnatural revenue, and engaging in other unauthorized activities that contravene the Terms of Service, Distribution Agreement, or agreements with DSPs.

      Family in Music’s strikes system

      Family in Music will issue up to 2 strikes to a User before considering terminating their account — except in extreme cases of violation, where we may be forced to terminate an account immediately.

      The purpose of the strikes is to inform the User about potentially fraudulent/infringing activity and provide instructions and a process to correct the situation. Family in Music expects Users to investigate such strikes and act accordingly in a timely manner so as to ensure that their actions do not lead to repeated infringement. 

      Family in Music will notify a User of any violation within 3 business days of the issue being discovered or reported to Family in Music. 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

      First strike 

      If the User's content violates any of the cases mentioned above or any other provisions outlined in the Distribution Agreement, a first strike will be issued. We encourage you to review the Distribution Agreement for a comprehensive understanding of our policies.

      Second strike 

      A second strike will be issued in the following cases:

      • Failure to act against a violation within reasonable timeframes and/or indicated deadlines on repeated occasions
      • Persistent instances of the same type of violation or any other actions that contravene our Distribution Agreement‍‍

      Review for account termination 

      Upon issuing the second strike, Family in Music will communicate with the User a plan in order to avoid full takedown and/or the termination of their account.  

      However, Family in Music maintains the right to decide when to withdraw access to distribute to the DSP(s) via Family in Music and to terminate the User's account. These actions are considered a "last resort" but will be done at Family in Music's sole discretion and regardless of the number of fraud cases associated with the User. 

      ‍

      ‍Consequences of fraudulent activities

      If it is deemed that a User is breaching the Terms of Service and/or Distribution Agreement, we will have the right to take the following actions:

      • Takedown Content
      • Withhold Royalties and place them in escrow
      • Disable distribution to specific DSPs
      • Terminate User account

      To the extent any fraudulent and/or infringing activities are determined to be caused by the User's actions, we will have the right to terminate the contractual relationship and close the account at any point. 

      ‍

      Unblocking an account

      The user will be promptly notified via email upon the detection of possible infringing or unauthorized activities. As a preventive measure, the associated account might be temporarily blocked. However, if the user furnishes the requested information within three business days, and such information substantiates the absence of fraudulent conduct or copyright infringement, and is verifiable, the account will be unblocked.

      We may request the User to take the following steps in order to unblock the account:

      • The User's information must be fully fixed
      • The User must send us a copy of an identification document (passport or national ID)
      • The user has to provide 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 User cannot or refuses to provide the requested information within 3 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 and Distribution Agreement or violate our agreements with DSPs.

      • Users with blocked accounts will not be able to access the platform and, therefore, any of our services
      • We reserve the right to take down any user content at our sole discretion

      Takedowns

      We will initiate takedowns of suspicious content for blocked accounts and all content that is involved in fraudulent issues.

      However, please also note that any content may be marked as suspicious by DSPs at their sole discretion and may be taken down at their discretion.

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      Report a copyright violation

      If you would like to notify Family in Music regarding a copyright violation or any other legal claim relating to your content, please fill out this form.

      Once we have the information, we will investigate your claim and get back to you as soon as we can. We take these claims extremely seriously.