Welcome to Stageunderground. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of the Stageunderground platform (the "Service"), operated by Stageunderground ("we," "us," or "our"). By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms.

1. Eligibility & Accounts

You must be at least 13 years old to use the Service. Users under 18 require parental or guardian consent. Accounts created by minors are subject to additional safety restrictions, including limited messaging and content filtering.

You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You agree to provide accurate information during registration and to keep it updated.

2. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

Upload content that infringes on copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights
Distribute music or content you do not have the rights to distribute
Use the Service for fraudulent, illegal, or harmful purposes
Harass, abuse, or threaten other users
Attempt to disrupt, hack, or reverse-engineer the Service
Create fake accounts or impersonate another person or entity
Use bots or automated systems to inflate play counts, followers, or engagement

3. Content Ownership & Music Uploads

You retain full ownership of all music, artwork, and content you upload to Stageunderground. By uploading content, you grant Stageunderground a non-exclusive license to host, display, stream, and distribute that content through the Service for the purpose of operating the platform.

You are solely responsible for ensuring you have all necessary rights to any music, artwork, or content you upload, including master recording rights, publishing rights, and any third-party clearances. Stageunderground reserves the right to remove content that is suspected of infringing third-party rights.

4. Releases & Platform Publishing

Stageunderground allows artists to upload and publish releases for streaming and discovery within the Stageunderground platform. Artists control the release information they submit and remain responsible for the accuracy, ownership, and legality of their music, artwork, credits, and metadata.

Stageunderground may review, restrict, or remove releases that violate these Terms, applicable law, or the rights of another person or organization.

5. Payments, Merch, Tickets & Memberships

The Service processes payments through Stripe, a third-party payment processor. By making a purchase, you agree to Stripe's terms and authorize charges to your payment method.

Merchandise

Artists are responsible for fulfilling merchandise orders, including shipping, returns, and customer service. Stageunderground facilitates the transaction but is not the seller of record for merchandise.

Tickets

Event tickets are sold by the artist or event organizer. Stageunderground facilitates the purchase. Refunds for canceled events are the responsibility of the event organizer, subject to applicable law.

Memberships & Subscriptions

Fan club memberships are recurring monthly subscriptions that can be canceled at any time. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. Paid fan memberships have a $10 monthly minimum. Artist plan subscriptions (Artist Pro, Label, Enterprise) are also recurring and follow the same cancellation terms.

6. Platform Fees

Stageunderground charges a platform fee on certain transactions, including merch sales, ticket sales, and membership payments. The current standard platform fee is 10% of the merchandise, ticket, or membership transaction subtotal. Artists receive 90% of that subtotal. Stageunderground absorbs Stripe payment-processing fees for these transactions from its platform share. Shipping, taxes, refunds, chargebacks, and fulfillment costs are handled separately and are not artist proceeds.

7. Artist Payouts

Artists earn revenue from merch, tickets, memberships, and other transactions. Earnings are credited to the artist's balance and can be withdrawn via Stripe Connect once payout eligibility is met. Artists are responsible for their own tax obligations. Stageunderground may issue tax forms as required by law.

8. User-Generated Content

Stageunderground hosts user-generated content including posts, comments, and profiles. We do not endorse and are not responsible for the accuracy or legality of user-generated content. We reserve the right to remove any content that violates these Terms or applicable law.

9. Copyright & DMCA

We respect intellectual property rights and respond to valid DMCA takedown notices. If you believe content on Stageunderground infringes your copyright, please see our DMCA Policy for instructions on filing a notice.

10. Service Availability & Limitations

Stageunderground is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. We do not guarantee uninterrupted service availability, and we are not liable for data loss, service interruptions, or third-party failures. The Service may be updated, modified, or discontinued at any time.

11. Termination

You may delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, engage in fraudulent activity, or pose a risk to the platform or its users.

12. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Stageunderground shall not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits or revenues, arising from your use of the Service.

13 Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify users of significant changes. Continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

14. Contact

If you have questions about these Terms, please contact us at support@stageunderground.com.