Anti-Fraud Policy

Acknowledgement

By using the our website, you acknowledge that you have read, understand and accept the legal provisions in these terms and conditions (Terms).

All materials on this website are protected by copyright and other laws and are the property of Star Makers Distribution Limited. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, publish, display, modify or share any content on this site to a third party.

For the purpose of this Policy, the “User” will be the person or legal entity that has entered into a contractual relationship with us, accepting the Terms of Use and providing content that will be made available on Digital Streaming Platforms ( DSPs). ”We” or ”Us” are the providers of the service, Star Makers Distribution Limited.

Anti-Fraud Policy

This Anti-Fraud Policy sets a course of action for the Account Holders of our platform and services, and defines the actions taken and consequences of fraudulent behaviour. Specifically, the purpose of this Policy is to provide:

• A clear definition of what we mean by “Fraud”;
• A definitive statement to take the distance of fraudulent activity in all its forms;
• A summary to the User’s responsibilities in avoiding fraudulent activities;
• Guidance to all parties involved as to action which should be taken when we, the Distributor or any other third party suspect any fraudulent activity;
• Clear guidance as to responsibilities for conducting investigations into fraud-related activities; and
• Protection to right holders in circumstances where they may be victimized as a consequence of fraudulent activities.

Definition of Terms

• Account Holder: Is the person or legal entity that has entered into a contractual relationship with Music.Info Oy for the use of the musicinfo distribution platform, accepting the Terms of Use and providing content that will be made available to DSPs. The Account Holder is responsible for all content provided by any content creator that they represent and whose content is distributed under the respective account of the Account Holder.

• “We” or “Us” are the providers of the service of Music Distribution (Star Makers Distribution).

• DSP: Digital Streaming Platform (such as Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, QQ or Netease, etc.) or any other channel connected to Us by a contractual relationship, including also Content ID providers.

• Fraud: Any activity contrary to the Law, the DSP Policies and/or our own Policies. We will categorize the following activities as fraud:

1. The unauthorized exploitation of material protected by Copyright (Copyright Infringement).

1. The infringement of any Law that regulates the ownership of legal right holders.

1. The use of (misleading) artist, band or label names or artwork which may create confusion or false expectations related to content which is served to consumers by DSP (i.e., Musical Spam and Misleading Content).

1. The use of automated digital bots or other means to “click” on payment-generating links pretending to be consumers (i.e., Click Fraud), producing unnatural and fraudulent incomes.

1. The upload of distorted music, silenced songs, or with any other deceptive features, also to generate revenues and other unauthorized activities which are in breach with the Terms of Use and/or the agreements we have with DSP.

1. The use of manual or automated resources, bots or any other means with the intention to stream and monetize DSP content in violation with DSP terms and conditions.

1. The use of manual or automated resources, bots or any other means to unlawfully monetise content through MDFS.

• MDFS: Monetization through Digital Fingerprinting Systems (i.e. YouTube Content ID, Facebook Rights Manager, among others).

• Royalties: Economic income/revenue that corresponds to the original(s) rightsholder(s). We differentiate between “legitimate royalties” which are the result of an actual and rightful exploitation of any content, and “illegitimate royalties” which are the result of any fraudulent exploitation or activity that generates illicit and unrightful income.

Fraud detection

Every release will need to pass our Quality Check process which is designed to identify the use of fraudulent metadata. Release data is crosschecked against existing artist profiles, Account Holder information, social media and other internet footprints to detect possible irregular activity. All sound files and artwork are matched against several databases to avoid multiple uploads of the same content, uploads of “white noise”, “empty songs”, “copyrighted materials” and, in general, any unauthorized activity.

Fraud Repercussions

Where a User is deemed breaching the Terms of Use, we reserve the right to disable such User’s account and/or terminate the contractual relationship.

Any amount due to a User from any DSP derived from any fraudulent or unauthorized use of the service may be recouped by withholding such amounts from future payments due to such User.

To the extent that fraudulent and/or infringing activities are determined to be caused by a User’s actions, the User may be held responsible for any costs incurred by us or our providers (including legal fees and expenses) in connection therewith. These costs, in addition to other remedies, may be deducted by us from any future payments due to such User.

Strike Policy

Once possible fraudulent contents or Accounts are detected, a strike will be applied and the User Account may be blocked in the following cases, divided into 4 severity tiers:

• Tier 1: Critical issues related to an User Account;

• Tier 2: Issues related to Click Fraud, Misleading, Musical Spam and/or Artificial Streams;

• Tier 3: Issues related to Copyright, Intellectual Property or Trademark; and

• Tier 4: Issues related to Abusive Usage of MDFS.

Tier 1: Critical issues related to a User Account

Particularly, but non-exclusively, we will categorize as Tier 1 the following:

1. A User Account profile contains fake or deliberately incomplete information or unauthorized content and/or information that belongs to a third party;

1. Repeated, inconsistent IP activity versus declared country or address of origin on any given user Account;

1. Users, when required to present documents of any kind, send falsifications and/or deceptive, suspicious documents;

1. Any other signs that any User is deliberately trying to avoid a correct identification or validation of identity or address; or

1. Any User account generating royalties without having any detailed profile information in “My account” page.

Tier 2: Critical issues related to Click Fraud, Misleading, Musical Spam and/or Artificial Streams

Particularly, but non-exclusively, we will categorize as Tier 2 the following activities:

1. An Account contains releases from unknown artists which are generating a considerable number of streams (Click Fraud) or views and subsequently, revenues in a short period of time without a minimum, credible fanbase to support it;

1. Any sudden, suspicious uplift in sales without corresponding numbers in profile views or social media activity to support it;

1. Any signs of intention to take advantage of well known artists’ names, song titles or other copyrighted audiovisual content to attract consumers to click (Misleading); or

1. Hiring a Streaming/Followers Growth Service in order to generate artificial, unnatural, revenue and popularity.

Tier 3: Issues related to Copyright, Intellectual Property or Trademark

Particularly, but non-exclusively, we will categorize as Tier 3 the following activities:

1. Whenever an impersonation of any artiste, recording company, unauthorized use of trademarks, distinctive signs, song or album titles, etc., is confirmed;

1. A release contains copyrighted material from a Rightsholder who did not grant publishing permission to the User;

1. We received a content infringement notification from a DSP and/or any third party in relation to a content that has been sent to DSP; or

1. We receive a direct infringement claim from the original Rightsholder or his/her representative.

Tier 3: Issues related to abusive usage of MDFS

Particularly, but non-exclusively, we will categorize as Tier the following activities:

1. Insert of an own original content within or among a third party’s original copyrighted content, with the intention of taking advantage of such content’s popularity, in order to generate higher income;

1. Artificial Streams/Plays applied to abusive usage of MDFS cases (i.e. the use of bots to generate false plays of a monetized content); or

1. Any sudden, suspicious uplift in sales related to MDFS, without proper historical consistency or plausible reason.

Where a Tier 1, Tier 2 ,Tier 3 and/or Tier 4 issue is detected in a User Account, a strike is applied to the Account and additional actions from the User may be required, such as:

• Completing the information details in their “My Account” page.
• Sending Us a copy of an identification document (passport or national ID).
• In most cases, we also request artiste profiles, website URLs, social media profiles, as well as any information from the artiste in order to contrast this with the sales data.

Where a strike is applied and the User deliberately ignores our notice, refuses or cannot provide the requested information within 5 working days (counting from the day the notice is sent), the infringing or unauthorized activity is confirmed, a Strike will be applied to the User Account, which will have the following consequences:

STRIKE 1

• User is informed.
• Takedown of questioned content.
• Warning of royalty payment delay on 2nd strike and block on 3rd strike.

STRIKE 2

• User is informed.
• Takedown of questioned content.
• Royalty payment delay: Any Royalty outpayment request will be processed with a delay of 3 months counting from the moment an outpayment is requested.
• Warning that the account will be blocked and royalties will be kept in escrow if a 3rd strike is applied.

STRIKE 3

• User is informed.
• User account is blocked.
• The entire User’s catalog will be taken down.
• Legitimate royalties will be kept in escrow for a minimum of 24 months, and up to 5 years, in accordance with DSPs policies and the Spanish Civil Law. Illegitimate royalties will be returned to DSP.

Blocked Account Policy

Where a User repeatedly violates our Terms of Use, this Anti-Fraud Policy and/or the agreements we have with DSP, we can proceed to disable or block the User Account.

This will have the following implications:

• We may discontinue the contractual relationship with the User.

• The entire User’s catalog will be taken down.

• Blocked Accounts will not be able to access the platform and, therefore, enjoy our services.

• Legitimate royalties are kept in escrow for a minimum of 24 months, and up to 5 years, in accordance with DSPs policies and the Spanish Civil Law, or until the dispute between claimant and claimed parties is solved.

In the context of a dispute, the disputing parties shall inform us about the result of the dispute, so we can determine what amounts should be returned to them, including incurred expenses or economic claims, penalties or compensations determined by Law. Once this process is concluded, and the escrow period has passed, any remaining funds will be released to be transferred to the User (if claimed).

Unblocking an Account

Where a User provides the requested information within 5 working days, and the information can be verified, the account can be unblocked.

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

• The User information must be fully completed.
• The User has to send us a copy of an identification document (passport or national ID).
• In most cases we also request artist profiles, website urls, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc., profile information from the artist in order to contrast this with the sales data. These profiles must have historical data to support the sales data.

Resolving a Strike

Once a Strike has been applied, we may request the User to take the following steps in order to release the Strike and reduce the risk of blocking their Account and/or takedown of the uploaded tracks:

• Correcting the release metadata: Where there is doubt about the ownership of the uploaded tracks, the User must provide proof of this, by sending us a license, contract or ownership certificate.

• Acquiring the applicable licenses: Where the provided information suffices, the Strike will be resolved. Where the information requirements are not met, the Strike will remain applied and will be added to the existing ones.