Rights and licensing

How GMXMusic clears every track it features, and the license artists sign.

1. What may be published

| Track license (SoundCloud `license` field or equivalent) | Publish? | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| `no-rights-reserved` (CC0 / public domain dedication) | Yes | Attribution still given as courtesy. |
| `cc-by` | Yes | Full CC 4.0 attribution (§3). |
| `cc-by-sa` | Yes | Attribution plus the video is marked CC-BY-SA in the description. |
| `cc-by-nc`, `cc-by-nc-sa` | **No** | The channel earns ad revenue; non-commercial terms are violated. |
| `cc-by-nd`, `cc-by-nc-nd` | **No** | A music video with normalized audio is an adaptation. |
| `all-rights-reserved` (default) | Only with a signed license (§4) | This covers nearly every trending track. |

A "free download" button, a "free to use" caption, or a tag like #nocopyright is not a license. Only the license field or a written agreement counts.

2. Exclusions regardless of license

Rejected automatically or on review:

• Remixes, bootlegs, flips, edits, reworks, VIP mixes, mashups, covers, sped-up or slowed versions, nightcore, "type beats" of named artists, tracks "free for profit" (those are beat licenses, not publication rights).
• Tracks with uncleared samples or interpolations. The license form asks the artist to warrant originality; the recognition gate (AudD/ACRCloud) checks for matches to other artists' releases.
• Vocals cloned from real artists with AI.
• Tracks containing third-party trademarks or brand audio.
• Anything the artist asks us to remove, at any time, even if the license allows us to keep it.

These exclusions are about what we scout and feature: someone else's slowed upload, remix or edit is never a track for the channel. Our own slowed version of a track we license is a different thing and is allowed only where the artist said yes to clause 1a of §4 for that track in writing (an email, the form's optional question): it is published as a Short labelled "(Slowed)", credited to the artist like the original, under the same terms. No answer is a no, a later no takes it down, and clause 1a never applies to a Creative Commons track or to an agreement that did not say yes to it.

4. Artist license (non-exclusive) — template

Collected through the intake form (Tally/Google Form with e-signature) or by an email reply that quotes the terms and says "I agree". A track whose tags suggest a sampled vocal (such as memphis), or one offered to a label or a role address, is licensed through the form only, whose box confirms the artist owns 100% of it, samples and vocals included: an email yes for it is kept on file and answered with the form link. Archive the form response or the email thread under data/evidence/<track_slug>/. A plain yes that never saw the terms (one the reply reader's model read, or an unclear reply the owner marked as a yes) is consent to clause 1 only: the video goes out, the acceptance mail restates the terms in short, and the download of clause 2 waits until the form or an explicit "I agree" confirms them (licenses.terms_confirmed). A form that arrives for a track already licensed this way is added to the same licence as evidence; it never creates a second agreement. Clause 1a is optional and per track: the acceptance mails and the form request ask it in one sentence while nothing is on file, the form has an optional "Slowed versions (optional)" question, and an artist licensed before the clause existed is asked once by email (edits_ask); the answer is read by rules (an explicit "slowed ok", a bare yes only in reply to that ask; any no wins) and kept on the licence (licenses.edits), a later answer replacing an earlier one.

NON-EXCLUSIVE MUSIC LICENSE

Licensor: {Artist legal name / stage name, email}
Licensee: {Channel operator name}, operating the YouTube channel "{Channel}"
Track(s): {Title(s)} (the "Work")

1. Grant. Licensor grants Licensee a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to
   reproduce, synchronize the Work with visuals, publicly perform, display, and distribute
   the resulting videos on YouTube and the Licensee's social accounts, and to normalize
   loudness and create short excerpts for promotion.
1a. Edits (only where Licensor said yes in writing for the Work): Licensee may also publish slowed
   versions of the Work (tempo and pitch lowered, light reverb), labelled as such and credited to
   Licensor as such, under these same terms. Licensor may withdraw this yes at any time; Licensee
   then takes the slowed versions down.
2. Creator use. Licensor agrees that third parties may use the Work in their own online
   videos provided they include the credit block published by Licensee ("creator use"),
   without payment, on a non-exclusive basis. Licensee may make the Work available for
   download from its website for creator use only, with the credit block shown alongside.
   Creator use includes YouTube's Shorts remix ("Use this sound") of Licensee's Shorts of the
   Work, where YouTube's own link to Licensee's Short stands for the credit block. (In the terms
   offered from 2026-10-19 13:00 UTC: `rights/downloads.remix_allowed`; earlier agreements do not include it.)
3. Term. Perpetual, unless terminated under clause 6.
4. Ownership. Licensor keeps all copyright. No exclusivity. Licensor may continue to
   license, sell, or distribute the Work anywhere.
5. Warranty. Licensor warrants that they own or control all rights in the Work, including
   all samples, vocals, and co-writer shares, and that no distributor or publisher will
   claim Licensee's videos through Content ID; Licensor will whitelist the channel or
   release such claims. Licensor indemnifies Licensee for breach of this warranty.
6. Termination. Either party may terminate on 30 days' written notice for future uses.
   Videos published before notice may remain online unless Licensor requests removal,
   in which case Licensee removes them within 7 days. Creator uses already made are unaffected.
7. Credit. Licensee credits Licensor in every video description as agreed.
8. Promotion. Licensee may use Licensor's name, artwork, and likeness as provided by
   Licensor for the purpose of promoting the videos.
9. Governing law: {your jurisdiction}.

Agreed by Licensor: {name, date}        Agreed by Licensee: {name, date}

Keep clause 5 even if an artist pushes back. It is the only protection against a track that contains an uncleared sample.

7. Takedown and dispute procedure

1. Any rights complaint (email, YouTube claim, artist request): set the video to private within 24 hours and log it.
2. Check the evidence record. If the claim is valid or unclear, keep it private and delete on request. If invalid (we hold a license or CC evidence), dispute through YouTube with the evidence attached.
3. Never accumulate strikes to "test" a dispute. Two active strikes freeze all publishing until resolved.
4. Record the outcome in the track record (retired status with reason) and blocklist the artist if they misrepresented ownership.