Terms & Conditions
***Acceptance Page Language***
If you would like, please print this page for your records.
The terms and conditions in this document represent the standard terms and conditions on which AWAL may agree to distribute recordings (“Terms & Conditions”), but AWAL will not be bound by this document unless and until AWAL has sent you an email specifically accepting to be so. In addition, You (and any data subject in your organization that is, or is likely to be, affected by the arrangements set out in these Terms & Conditions) should also read the Privacy Statement contained in the Exhibit to these Terms & Conditions before submitting personal data to us. Whenever you (or any of your data subjects) submit personal data to us, you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of that data in accordance with the Privacy Statement.
By clicking on the “Accept & Submit” button on the AWAL website, you (a) acknowledge that you have carefully read and understand these Terms & Conditions, the Privacy Statement and any website privacy and cookie policies and consulted with your own business and legal advisors; and (b) accept and agree that you will be legally bound by them. This agreement is made by you clicking “Accept & Submit” and AWAL sending to you an email in response confirming our agreement under these Terms & Conditions.
If you do not agree to these Terms & Conditions, please select the “Decline” button below. If you do not accept these terms, you may not access or use the AWAL services.
AWAL DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT
Capitalized terms (as well as “you” and “your”) are used as defined herein. Key definitions:
“Agreement” means this AWAL Distribution Agreement.
“AWAL” means AWAL Digital Limited (Company Number 4430703) with a registered office at 2 Canal Reach, London N1C 4DB.
“Digital Distribution” means distribution (or other authorization of use) of the Recordings by any current or future means or media as selected by AWAL in good faith, other than the distribution of physical products.
“Outlets” is defined in Section 1.01.
“Product Uploader” means the software, features and tools provided or made available by AWAL via which digital files can be added to the AWAL Portal.
“Properties” means all Recordings and all material to be delivered and exploited under this Agreement (including anything delivered by you (or on your behalf) under Section 1.02.
“Recordings” means all audio and/or audio‐visual recordings of commercial quality (as determined in AWAL’s sole discretion) delivered by You (in your sole discretion) to AWAL during the Term, including via the Product Uploader.
“Talent” means all recording artists, musicians, vocalists, producers, (re-)mixers, writers, musical performing artists, engineers, sample rights owners, songwriters, photographers, crew and any and all others who performed or participated in the making of any Properties.
“Term” commences on the date AWAL sends to you an email agreeing to be bound by these Terms & Conditions (“Effective Date”) and continues until terminated by either party on 30 days’ written notice in accordance with these Terms & Conditions.
“Territory” means the world, except as more narrowly specified by you via the Product Uploader on a Recording by Recording basis.
“you,” “your” and “Client” each mean the individual or legal entity which registered your application via the AWAL website and, to the extent you are a legal entity, “you,” “your” and “Client” also mean the recording artist or other individual(s) who own(s) the entity.
1. Distribution Rights.
1.01 AWAL as Distributor. You hereby appoint AWAL as the exclusive distributor of the Recordings during the Term and throughout the Territory, via Digital Distribution. This appointment includes the exclusive rights to sell, copy, distribute, perform, sublicense, monetize and otherwise exploit the Recordings (or any part thereof) via any and all forms of Digital Distribution, including direct to retailers, digital service providers, direct to consumers, and to others of any description that exploit sound or audiovisual recordings by any and all means and media (whether now known or existing in the future) as selected by AWAL in its discretion (“Outlets”), including as “art tracks” (such as via YouTube), and to sublicense such rights to Outlets accordingly. The appointment also includes the right to obtain for and assign to the Recordings ISRC and EAN/UPC‐A codes as needed. However, you reserve the right to request a takedown of any applicable Recording on thirty (30) days’ Notice hereunder, for convenience or for any other reason in your sole discretion, after which AWAL’s exclusivity with respect to such Recording will terminate unless and until you elect to redeliver it to AWAL hereunder.
1.02 Artwork; Name & Likeness. You hereby grant AWAL and the Outlets the right, solely in order to exploit and promote the Properties, to use: (i) artists’ names, trademarks, logos, likenesses, photographs and biographical material, and (ii) album and production artwork, video stills, thumbnail images, and the names, likenesses and biographical material of Talent; but solely to the extent delivered or otherwise approved by you.
2. AWAL’s Distribution Activities.
2.01 General. As between you and AWAL, you retain copyright ownership of all Recordings and expressly reserve all rights in and to the Properties not expressly granted to AWAL. AWAL does not guarantee placement of Recordings with any Outlet, and is not obliged to distribute Recordings delivered by you (including if a Recording is technically unsatisfactory or inappropriate in any way), but AWAL will promptly notify you as to the extent of any decision not to distribute and all applicable Digital Distribution rights in the relevant Recording will revert to you on AWAL’s notification. You acknowledge that the sale and exploitation of Properties is a highly speculative business, that AWAL makes no guarantee as to any degree of sales or exploitations, and that AWAL retains absolute discretion over its sales and exploitation policies.
2.02 Affiliates and Contractors. AWAL may elect to operate in part via its corporate affiliates and third-party contractors, and may sublicense its rights hereunder to the extent needed for such operations. However, AWAL remains directly liable for all of its payment and other obligations to you subject to Section 4 below.
2.03 AWAL Portal Access. In connection with your Recordings, AWAL will provide you access to release and track-level sales and streaming reporting via AWAL’s workstation portal. Subject to applicable data protection and privacy laws and regulation, AWAL may use information and data arising from or generated, obtained, or acquired by AWAL in connection with the exploitation of Properties, including demographic, statistical, usage and anonymised data relating to such activity, including for purposes of calculating AWAL’s market share.
3. Your Obligations.
3.01 Delivery. You are solely responsible, at your cost, for the creation and delivery to AWAL of all Properties. AWAL will not remix, re-master, edit or alter any Recording (except as required for technical or timing reasons), without your prior written approval. You are responsible for audio and video encoding costs prior to delivery. If AWAL incurs any further encoding costs, AWAL may in its discretion deduct such amounts from any payments due to you, or request reimbursement of any such amounts and you will promptly pay AWAL such amounts.
3.02 Third-Party Consents, Permissions, Obligations. In connection with exploitation of the Properties under this Agreement, you are solely responsible for all costs and expenses (other than storage costs in connection with the Recordings), and any obligations or liabilities to third parties related to the exploitations authorised in this Agreement. For example, you are responsible for (a) taxes that you owe; (b) clearing the rights of and paying amounts due to Talent, and any other persons who contributed to the Properties; (c) amounts due to any party for samples, or for footage in the Properties; (d) music publishing licenses, including synchronization, lyric use and mechanical licenses to the extent not covered by the Outlets; (e) any advertising, marketing or promotion you choose to do; and (f) sound recording and artwork clearances. To the extent you fail to cover any of the foregoing, AWAL has the right but not the obligation to cover them for you, and to deduct such amounts from any payments due to you, or request reimbursement of any such amounts and you will promptly pay AWAL such amounts.
3.03 Notification of Changes to Rights, Claims. Without limiting your warranties or your indemnification obligations, if you no longer have the necessary rights to an individual Recording or other Property, or if the Property is the subject of any third-party Claim (as defined below), you must promptly inform AWAL as set forth in Section 6 below.
3.04 AWAL Content Guidelines. All Recordings and other Properties must abide by the terms of the AWAL Content Guidelines (as updated from time to time), and must comply in all respects with all applicable “style guides” (or content guidelines or community guidelines, etc.) of Outlets, including the iTunes Style Guide and the Spotify Content Infringement Guidelines. If AWAL believes in good faith that you have violated this Section 3.04, AWAL may: (i) withhold payments to you until such violation is resolved and remedied to AWAL’s reasonable satisfaction; (ii) issue take-downs of any offending Recordings and other Properties; and/or (iii) terminate this Agreement upon notice to you, with immediate effect.
3.05 Fraudulent Practices. You will not, and will not authorise or encourage any third party to, directly or indirectly manipulate streams or queries, or generate impressions of or clicks on any ad(s), through any automated, deceptive, fraudulent or other invalid means, including by way of repeated manual clicks, the use of “bots,” the hijacking of accounts or otherwise. You acknowledge that doing so may result in the removal of some or all of your Properties from Outlets, as well as the withholding of royalties by such Outlets. In addition, in no event will you represent yourself as AWAL’s, The Orchard’s or Sony Music’s representative, or use any of their trademarks without express permission, or represent yourself as affiliated or connected with them in any way that is not strictly accurate, whether in connection with this Agreement or otherwise. Both you and AWAL may accurately state that your Recordings are “distributed by AWAL.” If AWAL believes in good faith that you have violated this Section 3.05, AWAL may: (i) withhold payments to you until such suspected fraud is resolved and remedied to AWAL’s reasonable satisfaction; (ii) issue take-downs of any offending Recordings and other Properties; and/or (iii) terminate this Agreement upon notice to you, with immediate effect.
4. Distribution Share; Accountings, Audits, Claim Limits, Tax and Reimbursements.
4.01 Distribution Share. AWAL will pay you eighty-five percent (85%) of all gross receipts actually received by (or credited against an advance to) AWAL with respect to Digital Distribution of the Recordings to end users, subject to Section 4.03 below (your “Distribution Share”).
4.02 Accountings; Audits; Limitations on Claims. AWAL will account to you by way of a permission-limited section of your AWAL Portal, which generally includes historical data back to the Effective Date. Accounting and payments will be made available to you on a monthly basis, forty-five (45) days after the end of the month in which the applicable amounts were received by AWAL. Monthly balances under the equivalent of fifty pounds (£50) will be rolled into the following month and paid in the accounting following when your balance reaches the equivalent of fifty pounds (£50). If any Outlet issues any corrections to prior statements, or after six (6) months has failed to pay AWAL amounts that were previously paid or credited to you, or other errors are discovered, AWAL may adjust its accountings and payments to you and (if applicable) charge and/or otherwise make appropriate reconciliations with regards to your account accordingly. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Agreement, at its sole election, AWAL may direct you to a third party payment provider service of AWAL’s choice (“Payment Provider”) in order for you to receive any payments due to you under this Agreement, and, resultantly: (a) you acknowledge that the Payment Provider may require you to set up an account (“Payment Provider Account”) and/or provide certain banking, tax-related or other details prior to any due payments being made; (b) payments made by the Payment Provider on AWAL’s behalf shall constitute payments to you by AWAL as due hereunder; (c) you expressly confirm and agree that such Payment Provider shall pay (where relevant) into the bank account and/or rely on the tax forms that you last set up with the Payment Provider in your Payment Provider Account subject to any timing restrictions set out in the Payment Provider’s terms and conditions; (d) you acknowledge, agree and warrant that you shall: (i) read and comply with any and all terms and conditions which may apply for the use of the Payment Provider services and that you shall be solely responsible for any charges or costs that apply for your misuse or non-compliance of such terms and conditions: (ii) be solely liable for the accuracy (including up-to-date accuracy), applicability and maintenance of payment details (including bank account details, payee information, tax information, etc) provided and/or necessary for use of the Payment Provider services; (iii) not allow any other entity or person to use your Payment Provider Account or gain access to the Payment Provider’s interface unless expressly permitted in, and in strict accordance with, such Payment Provider’s user terms of conditions (acknowledging that you shall be solely liable for all actions taken or omissions made by any user (whether or not authorized) of such account with you agreeing that any loss incurred as a result of any party gaining access to the Payment Provider Account which that party was not authorized to obtain (including improper or unauthorized use of your identity and password) shall, as between AWAL and you, be your responsibility). You shall indemnify AWAL, and keeps AWAL indemnified, in respect of the breach and/or acts and/or omissions in contravention of the preceding sentence and all its constituent parts. You have the right to audit AWAL’s books and records to verify the accuracy of payments. Audits are permitted once per year during AWAL’s normal business hours, on at least thirty (30) days’ prior Notice, at the place where AWAL maintains such records. Audits are at your expense, and may only be conducted by an independent chartered or certified public accounting firm retained on a non-contingency fee basis, and only once with respect to any particular payment. Any lawsuit by you regarding any statement or payment must be commenced within one (1) year after the date the applicable statement covers. After such year, you have no right to sue AWAL in connection with any such statement. You irrevocably waive any longer statute of limitations that would otherwise apply by law.
4.03 Required Withholdings; Deductions; VAT; Reimbursements. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, AWAL or (if applicable) its Payment Provider is entitled to deduct from all payments due to you (a) any sums (such as withholding taxes) which AWAL or its licensees or related entities are obliged to pay or withhold in any country by reason of any law or regulation, and (b) any costs or expenses charged to AWAL by YouTube or other applicable Outlets arising specifically and directly from the sale or placement of advertisement(s). All payments to you or charges to be made by AWAL under this Agreement are expressed as exclusive of VAT, which if applicable are payable by you in addition to the sums otherwise set out in this Agreement. To the extent AWAL is permitted under this Agreement to charge or claim back any amounts to you, and with respect to any costs or expenses approved by you (such as for additional services that you request), AWAL may require payment in advance, or simply recoup such charges against your account. If, however, you receive a bill from AWAL for any such charges (if for example your account has a negative balance after the Term), you must pay it promptly. In the event that AWAL directs you to a Payment Provider as set out in Section 4.02 above, you acknowledge and expressly agree that any payment transfer charges applicable to payments to be rendered to you shall be borne by you in their entirety, and AWAL and its Payment Provider reserve the right to deduct such costs and charges from any sums due to you or request reimbursement of any such amounts which shall be promptly repaid.
5. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. EXCEPT AS SPECIFICALLY PROVIDED OTHERWISE, AND WITHOUT LIMITING SECTION 8, NEITHER PARTY WILL BE LIABLE TO THE OTHER PARTY FOR SPECIAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS OR GOODWILL, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, REPUTATIONAL DAMAGE AND THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE PERFORMANCE, NON-PERFORMANCE OR BREACH OF THIS AGREEMENT. WITH RESPECT TO TAKE-DOWNS, PROVIDED THAT AWAL CONTINUES TO WORK WITH YOU IN GOOD FAITH TO SEND TAKE-DOWN NOTICES TO OUTLETS WHENEVER APPROPRIATE, AWAL WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY FAILURE TO EFFECT SUCH TAKE-DOWNS.
6. Notices. All formal notices with respect to this Agreement (each referred to hereunder as a “Notice”) will be given in writing by registered first class post, or by messenger or courier, or by nationally recognized overnight express mail service, by you to AWAL’s address set forth herein and to [email protected] and by AWAL to the address (or, optionally, the email address) associated with your account. All other instructions, approvals and consents may be (as directed by AWAL) sent via email or via the AWAL Portal.
7. Representations and Warranties. You warrant, represent, covenant, and agree the following: You have the full right and authority to enter into, perform all of your obligations under, and grant the rights granted in accordance with this Agreement; you have the right to grant to AWAL all rights you purport to grant hereunder or are required to be granted in accordance with these Terms & Conditions; AWAL’s exercise of its rights hereunder and use of Recordings and other Properties as per these Terms & Conditions will not violate any law or regulation of any country nor violate or infringe upon the rights of any third party and you have a valid and enforceable agreement with, and have obtained all necessary licenses, clearances and rights from, all third parties (including Talent) whose work, performances or services are embodied in any Recordings or other Properties to allow you to grant the rights granted in accordance hereof; you will be solely responsible for all payments, fees or royalties that may be due to any such party arising from AWAL’s exercise of the rights granted to it hereunder; none of the Recordings or other Properties contain material which is criminally obscene or defamatory, that may expose AWAL to civil or criminal proceedings, or that otherwise violate community standards in particular countries; all metadata, label copy, credits and similar information supplied by you is complete and accurate in all respects; you will not (and, where relevant, you will procure that artists will not) assert any “moral rights” arising in connection with these Terms and Conditions against AWAL, its licensees or agents authorised by AWAL (whether under a specific or blanket licence); that you are at least 18 (eighteen) years of age as of the date of your application via the AWAL website; and if you are sales tax registered, you will inform AWAL via the AWAL Portal (and AWAL’s Payment Provider via the Payment Provider Account interface) and if you are UK VAT registered you will enter into any tax related documentation in a form reasonably required by AWAL or its Payment Provider. You will comply with all applicable laws (including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR EU 2016/679) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)), rules (such as BPI and IFPI guidelines), and regulations, including the application of parental advisory or other warnings or designations. AWAL and/or its Payment Provider will not be required to make any payments of any nature to any third party for or in connection with the exercise or exploitation of rights by AWAL under this Agreement.
8. Indemnification. You will defend and indemnify AWAL (including its parents, subsidiaries, and affiliates, and each of their respective stockholders, predecessors, successors, assigns, agents, directors, officers, attorneys, employees and representatives) against any expenses or losses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses) resulting from any third-party claim arising from a breach, or a claim which if true would constitute a breach (any such claim, whether or not asserted in a formal legal action, a “Claim”), of any of your representations, warranties or obligations. You will (unless expressly directed otherwise by AWAL in writing on a case-by-case basis) be responsible for defending against any such Claim and for engaging counsel at your cost without any liability for the same being placed on AWAL, and you will at your cost use best efforts to cause AWAL to be dismissed from any proceedings. You may not settle or resolve any Claim in a manner that imposes any liability or obligation on AWAL, or affects AWAL’s rights, without AWAL’s prior written approval. For purposes of clarity, AWAL may cease distribution and take down any Properties that become subject to a Claim, and withhold payments to you in an amount reasonably related to the Claim and potential associated expenses and damages.
9. Confidentiality. Without AWAL’s prior written consent, you may not disclose any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement, any information you learn regarding AWAL’s business or proprietary systems, or any data provided to you. This does not include information which (a) is generally available to the public through no wrongful or negligent act or omission on your part; (b) you have received from a third party free to make such disclosure without breach of any legal obligation; or (c) is required to be disclosed pursuant to any statute, regulation, order, subpoena or document discovery request (as to which you will give AWAL prompt Notice in enough time to enable AWAL to seek a court order limiting or otherwise governing such disclosure). Because your obligations under this Section 9 are integral to AWAL’s business dealings, you agree that AWAL is entitled to injunctive relief to enforce them.
10. Interpretation and Enforcement. This Agreement contains the entire understanding between you and AWAL as to the matters herein, and supersedes all prior agreements, promises, assurances, warranties, representations and understandings between you and AWAL, whether written or oral, as to such matters. Other than as set out in clause 16 below, this Agreement can only be amended by an instrument signed by all parties. A waiver of any term or condition of this Agreement in any instance is not a prospective waiver of such term or condition, nor of any subsequent breach. All remedies, rights and obligations in this Agreement are cumulative, and do not limit any other remedy, right or obligation. As used in this Agreement, “including” signifies one or more illustrative examples, not an exclusive list. Unless otherwise specified, “or” is used in its inclusive sense. The provisions of this Agreement are severable and distinct from one another; if any provision is or becomes invalid, illegal or unenforceable, the validity, legality or enforceability of the others will not be affected. If either party is in breach of this Agreement, the other party will permit a reasonable time to cure such breach. This Agreement does not give rise to any rights under a Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of this Agreement. The Agreement is governed by the laws of England and Wales. In the event of any dispute arising out of or in relation to this agreement, including any question regarding its existence, validity or termination, you must seek settlement of that dispute by mediation (administered by the London Court of International Arbitration (‘LCIA’)) before having recourse to litigation. The mediation will be conducted in accordance with the LCIA’s Mediation Rules then in force, which Rules are deemed to be incorporated by reference into this provision. Thereafter, the parties grant the courts of England, exclusive jurisdiction to hear any disputes arising out of or relating to this Agreement. Nothing in this provision prevents either party from applying to such courts for interim relief. Each party waives the right to request a trial by jury.
11. Relationship of the Parties. You and AWAL are independent contractors to each other. Nothing in this Agreement authorises any party as agent of the other, nor creates a partnership, fiduciary or employment relationship. Without limiting AWAL’s payment obligations to you, you have no right, title or interest in or to revenues received by AWAL, AWAL is not obligated to segregate any revenues from other funds, and AWAL is not a trustee, pledgeholder or fiduciary of amounts owed to you. AWAL acts as principal in all transactions with its customers.
12. Assignment. AWAL may assign its rights and obligations under this Agreement in whole to a party who agrees to be obligated hereunder. You may not assign this Agreement or any rights or obligations, in whole or in part, without AWAL’s prior written consent. Any purported assignment in violation of this paragraph is null and void ab initio.
13. Force Majeure. If the fulfillment of any of AWAL’s obligations is materially hampered due to an event not reasonably within its control (e.g., flood, water damage, power failure, epidemic, pandemic, catastrophe, terrorism, strike, war, failure of technical facilities, etc.), AWAL will not be in breach as a result and may, on Notice to you, suspend the Term for the duration of such event. AWAL must continue to fulfill its payment obligations, to the extent not affected by such event.
14. Post-Term Provisions. Sections 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 14 of this Agreement survive the end of the Term. After the Term, if AWAL receives any income from Outlets on Properties, AWAL’s sole liability to you will be the obligation to pay you in full as though the Agreement were still in place, and to send renewed take-down notices whenever reasonably requested and appropriate.
15. Further Assurances. You will do such acts and execute such documents as AWAL may reasonably require to ensure AWAL the full benefit of this Agreement. In particular, you will promptly provide copies of all documents necessary to evidence your right and title in and to any particular Properties.
16. Updates to Agreement. AWAL reserves the right to amend or update these Terms & Conditions or any part thereof upon notice to you, such notice to be given via the AWAL portal. However, AWAL will not amend or update the definitions of Recordings, Term, Territory or Distribution Share without your prior approval, such approval to be given via the AWAL portal or by email.
Exhibit – Privacy Statement
This Privacy Statement describes the information AWAL Digital Limited, AWAL Recordings Limited, AWAL Recordings Licensing Limited, AWAL Recordings America Inc, AWAL Recordings Licensing America Inc (jointly and severally referred to herein as “AWAL”) and their affiliates collect when a person or business enters into a client agreement with AWAL. Each AWAL entity is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. Where we refer to “us” or “we”, we mean AWAL or any Sony Music Entertainment entity using your data in accordance with this policy.
You (which for the purposes of this Privacy Statement shall include any data subject (from within or contracted to Your organisation to the extent you are entering into the client agreement on behalf of a group of individuals or an organisation) whose personal data is shared with us at any time) should read this Privacy Statement before submitting personal data to us.
You confirm that before you submit personal data to us, you have read and understood the practices set out in this Privacy Statement.
To the extent you are contracting on behalf of an organisation, you warrant that you have obtained such confirmation from all relevant data subjects within or contracted to your organisation and have received the necessary confirmation to enable us to process their data in accordance with this Privacy Statement.
Personal data we collect about you
The types of personal data we collect about you include: (i) contact information, such as title, name, postal address, email address, telephone number and company name (if applicable); (ii) financial information, such as bank account details; (iii) online identifiers, such as IP address, and user IDs and passwords; and (iv) in certain cases limited identification documents, such as passport, driving licence, credit card statement(s) and social security / national insurance number, strictly for the purposes of registering your details with the collection societies as per their registration requirements (as applicable).
As you use our website or apps, some additional personal data may be collected using various tracking technologies, such as cookies and pixel tags. Please click on the relevant link to our Privacy & Cookies Policy (in our apps, websites and emails) for further information about how we use cookies and other tracking technology, and how to block or delete them.
How we use your personal data
We use your personal data: (i) to verify your identity; (ii) to perform our obligations under the client agreement; (iii) to respond to any requests you may make; (iv) to follow up with you after you have communicated with us or submitted information to us; (v) for our legitimate interests to improve our services and website; (vi) to notify you about important changes to our services and updates to this Privacy Statement; (vii) to communicate with you via our newsletters (depending on your marketing preferences); and (viii) as otherwise specified in our Privacy & Cookies Policy made available to you at the point we collect your personal data on any of our websites or via our apps.
You can tell us whether you would like us to contact you with email updates or information regarding our services, at the point such information is collected on our websites or via our apps or, where you do not wish us to continue to use your information in this way, by following the unsubscribe instructions on any communications sent by us to you. You can also exercise this right at any time by contacting us (using the details set out below in this Privacy Statement).
When we share your personal data
We may share personal data you provide to us with: (i) other companies within Sony Music Entertainment; (ii) pursuant to our obligations under the client agreement, any third party to whom disclosure is necessary to enable us to provide you with any services which you have requested, including without limitation consultants, collection societies and digital service providers (who will have agreed to keep information confidential and use it only to provide the applicable service); (iii) where required to do so by court order or where we are under a duty to disclose or share your information in order to comply with (and/or where we believe we are under a duty to comply with) any legal obligation; (iv) with any person to whom disclosure is necessary to enable us to enforce our rights under this Privacy Statement or under the client agreement or to protect our rights or the rights of third parties (this includes exchanging information with law enforcement agencies or other similar government bodies); and (v) to any company or prospective buyer of all or substantially all of AWAL’s assets in connection with the sale or transfer of those assets to any prospective buyer.
We may transfer your personal data outside of the European Economic Area. This may include transferring it to or accessing it from other jurisdictions that may not provide a level or protection equivalent to the laws in your jurisdiction. Where we transfer personal data we will seek to take account of any applicable statutory obligations relevant to personal data transfers and, in the absence of a European Commission (“EC”) adequacy decision, we will seek to rely on appropriate safeguards such as EC-approved standard contractual clauses.
We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and after receipt. However, no method of internet transmission or electronic storage is 100% secure or error-free, and we cannot guarantee its absolute security. Moreover, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any user ID and password you use. If you have any questions about the security of your personal information, you can contact us by email at [email protected].
Your personal data will be retained by us for the duration of your account and may be retained for a period after this time as necessary and relevant to our legitimate operations, the terms of the client agreement and in accordance with applicable legal obligations. This may include retention necessary to meet our tax reporting requirements as well as time required to enforce the relevant terms of the client agreement or to identify, issue or resolve legal proceedings.
You have options and choices over how we use your personal data. These include the right to see the personal data we hold about you, and the right to request that we correct, erase and cease processing such data (in certain circumstances). You may also be entitled to receive the personal data or ask us to transfer it to a third party, in a commonly used electronic format.
Please contact us if you have any questions relating to these rights or this Privacy Statement in general, by email at [email protected], or by writing to us, marked for the attention of: Privacy Office, Sony Music Entertainment, 2 Canal Reach, London N1C 4DB.
If you remain unhappy with a response you receive from us in relation to a data privacy query, you can also refer the matter to your data protection supervisory authority: https://ec.europa.eu/justice/article-29/structure/data-protection-authorities/index_en.htm.
Additional information for California residents
In addition to the information provided above regarding the categories, sources, uses, and sharing of personal information we collect, we are providing the following additional information to California residents consistent with applicable law.
We collect the information described above (including identifiers, commercial information, internet or other electronic network activity, and geolocation data) from consumers, artists and/or their authorised representatives, business partners, local agents and/or consultants engaged by us, other applications (e.g. social networks), advertising networks and digital service providers. We may use this information for any of the business purposes described above. We may also share this information with the following categories of third parties: Sony Music and affiliated companies, artists and/or their authorised representatives, agents and/or consultants engaged by us, advertising networks, digital service providers and other business partners for such business purposes. In addition to the aforementioned sources and categories of third parties, we also may share this information with law enforcement and professional service companies for the limited purposes of addressing our compliance and legal obligations and exercising our legal rights.
California Consumer Rights.
Subject to certain exceptions, California residents have the following rights: (i) Access and portability (upon a verifiable request, California residents can request access to specific pieces of personal information that we collect, use, disclose or sell and information about our data practices); (ii) Deletion (request deletion of your personal information); and (iii) opt out of sharing with third parties for certain commercial purposes. To the extent permitted by applicable law, we may be required to retain some of your personal information, and certain personal information is strictly necessary in order for us to fulfil the purposes described in this Privacy Statement.
Do Not Sell My Personal Information.
We do not sell your personal information to third parties for money. However, we share personal information with other companies and service providers in compliance with the law in order to deliver more meaningful ads and other communications to consumers and for other similar reasons provided for in this Privacy Statement. California residents have the right to opt-out of this information sharing. If you wish to exercise this right, please complete the form at https://www.sonymusic.com/ccpa-contact-form/ or call the following toll-free number: 1-833-380-0676. To the extent that you elect to designate an authorised agent to make a request on your behalf, they must select “An Authorized Representative” on the form. We will not share the personal information of California minors who are under the age of 16 with third parties for commercial purposes without affirmative consent, which can be provided at the point of collection.
Exercising other California Consumer Rights.
If you are a California resident and wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us by completing the form at https://www.sonymusic.com/feedback/ with the specific nature of your request, referencing “Your California Privacy Rights” or call the following toll-free number: 1-833-380-0676. When submitting your request, you must affirm that you are a California resident or an authorised representative for a California resident. Authorised agents must be registered with the California Secretary of State, and the consumer must designate the authorised agent by providing the authorised agent with a valid power of attorney or written permission to act for the consumer. All requests should be properly labelled and contain all the necessary information. You may be asked to provide additional proof of identification so that we can verify your identity and validate the request. Please note that you are limited by law in the number of requests you may submit per year. We will not discriminate against you by offering you different pricing or products, or by providing you with a different level or quality of products, based solely upon you exercising your rights under the CCPA.
California “Shine the Light”.
If you are a Californian resident, California Civil Code Section 1798.83 provides you the right to receive: (a) information identifying any third party(ies) to whom we may have disclosed, within the preceding calendar year, your personal information for that third party’s direct marketing purposes; and (b) a description of the categories of personal information disclosed. To obtain such information free of charge, please write to us at: Privacy Office, Sony Music Entertainment, 2 Canal Reach, London N1C 4DB, or submit your request via the form at https://www.sonymusic.com/feedback/. We will respond to these requests within thirty (30) days. Requests that come to us by other means may result in a delayed response.
This Privacy Statement was last updated on 3rd October 2022.
