Terms of Service

1. About these terms

These terms (Terms) govern your use of the Aether service (Aether, we, us). By creating an account or using the service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy.

In these Terms, Account means the user account you register with Aether; Content means audio files and related metadata you upload; Notification Contact means a person you add to a track to receive match notifications; and Rights Holder means any person with a legal interest in a track (such as the artist, manager, label, publisher, featured artist, or remixer).

2. Eligibility

You must be 18 or over and have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms in order to use Aether. If you are using Aether on behalf of an organisation, you confirm that you have authority to bind that organisation to these Terms.

3. Your account

You are responsible for keeping your Account credentials secure and for all activity on your Account. Please keep your contact details up to date. Notify us immediately if you suspect unauthorised access.

4. What Aether does

Aether allows you to upload tracks, generate acoustic fingerprints of those tracks, and receive notifications when the tracks are identified being played at connected venues. Aether is not a performing rights organisation, a royalty collector, or a legal enforcement service. Match results are informational; we do not guarantee that every play will be detected or that every detection will be accurate.

5. Your content and the licence you grant us

You retain all ownership and intellectual-property rights in the Content you upload. To operate the service, you grant Aether a limited, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, fingerprint, and process your Content, and to share acoustic fingerprints (not the original audio) with our detection partner so that plays can be identified. This licence lasts only for as long as needed to operate the service for you, and ends when you delete the Content or close your Account.

You warrant that you own or have the rights to upload all Content and to add the Notification Contacts you associate with each track.

6. Acceptable use

You agree not to: upload Content you do not have the rights to; use Aether for unlawful purposes; attempt to reverse-engineer, interfere with, or disrupt the service; abuse the notification system by adding Notification Contacts without authority; scrape or bulk-export data beyond the features provided; or use Aether to harass or spam others.

7. Notification Contacts

When you add a Notification Contact to a track, you confirm that you have the authority to share that person's contact details with Aether for the purpose of receiving match notifications. You are responsible for ensuring your Notification Contacts are aware that Aether will contact them on your behalf.

Notification Contacts can opt out of receiving WhatsApp, SMS, or email messages from Aether at any time, and we will honour those opt-outs regardless of your settings.

8. Service availability

We aim to keep Aether available and reliable, but we do not offer a specific service-level guarantee while the product is in early access. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue features with reasonable notice. We will give you advance notice before any material change that negatively affects you.

9. Fees

Aether is currently free to use during early access. We may introduce paid tiers in future; if we do, we will give existing users clear notice before any charges apply to them.

10. Ending your account

You can close your Account at any time by contacting us at the email below. We may suspend or terminate your Account if you breach these Terms, if your use of the service creates risk for us or other users, or if required by law. When an Account ends, we will delete or anonymise your Content in line with our Privacy Policy.

11. Disclaimers

Aether is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. We do not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted, that match results will be complete or free from error, or that the service will meet your specific requirements. Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

12. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither party will be liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential loss arising out of or in connection with these Terms. Our aggregate liability to you for any claim arising from these Terms is limited to the greater of the fees you have paid to Aether in the twelve months before the claim, or one hundred pounds sterling. This section does not limit liability that cannot lawfully be limited (for example, for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud).

13. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify Aether against claims arising from Content you upload without the necessary rights, or from your breach of these Terms.

14. Reporting infringing content

If you believe Content on Aether infringes your rights, please contact us at hello@aether-id.com with: your name and contact details; a description of the work you claim is infringed; a link or identifier for the Content on Aether; and a statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorised. We will review reports and take appropriate action, which may include removing Content and notifying the uploader.

15. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make a material change, we will notify you at the email address on your Account and give you a reasonable period to review before the change takes effect. Continued use of Aether after the change means you accept the updated Terms.

16. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising from or in connection with these Terms.

17. Contact

If you have any questions about these Terms, please email us at hello@aether-id.com.