A&R Terms and Conditions / A&R-Bedingungen

1. Data Processing and Storage

By submitting your demo, you accept these A&R terms and agree that Animus Found may process the personal data, contact details, project data, audio content, links, artwork and other materials you provide for internal review, evaluation, documentation and communication purposes.

Processing takes place in accordance with the privacy policy published on the Animus Found website.

2. Exclusive Review Period

By submitting your demo, you grant Animus Found an exclusive review period of 14 calendar days from the time of submission.

During this period, you agree not to sign, release, distribute or offer the submitted track to another label, distributor or comparable service provider unless otherwise agreed with Animus Found.

3. Public Availability and Duplicate Submissions

If the track was or is already publicly accessible, for example on Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Bandcamp, Dropbox links with public access or similar platforms, you must state this completely and truthfully when submitting.

Animus Found may reject submissions if a track has already been publicly exploited without this being disclosed.

Multiple submissions of the same track under different names, email addresses or project names are not permitted unless expressly agreed with Animus Found.

4. Rights to Music, Artwork and Material

You warrant that you own or have validly acquired all necessary rights to the submitted music, artwork, images, texts, recordings, vocals, beats, samples, loops, stems, videos and all other materials.

You confirm that you are authorized to submit the track, that all contributors have consented, that no existing contracts conflict with a collaboration with Animus Found and that no third-party rights are violated.

Upon request, you must provide complete and truthful information regarding credits, splits, participants, publishers, collecting societies, producer rights, master rights and other rights.

Unclear or unresolved rights situations can lead to immediate rejection of the submission.

5. Samples, Loops, Beats and Third-Party Material

You warrant that all used samples, loops, beats, vocals, presets, soundkits, acapellas, remixes, cover components or other third-party elements are used lawfully.

If license-required samples or third-party elements are included, you must disclose this upon submission and provide appropriate proof upon request.

Royalty-free or free download does not automatically mean that a commercial label release is permitted. You are responsible for checking the respective license terms.

Beats from YouTube, BeatStars, leasing platforms or comparable sources must be disclosed with the specific license type.

6. AI-generated or AI-assisted Content

If the track, vocals, lyrics, artwork, images or other components were created or edited entirely or partially using AI tools, you must disclose this upon submission.

You warrant that the use of AI tools does not violate any third-party rights and that you are authorized to use the created or edited content commercially.

Voices, faces, names, artist styles or other personal characteristics of real persons may not be used without the necessary rights, consent or legal permission.

7. Originality and Prior Releases

You confirm that the submitted track is not already exclusively bound to another label, distributor, publisher, producer, manager or other third party.

If the track has already been released, shared, monetized, pitched, promoted or made publicly accessible, you must expressly inform Animus Found of this.

You warrant that there are no takedown proceedings, copyright claims, Content ID conflicts, disputes with producers, open split conflicts or other rights problems in connection with the track unless expressly disclosed.

8. Internal Review License

By submitting, you grant Animus Found the simple, free-of-charge right, limited in time to the purpose of the review, to store, play, reproduce, technically process the track and submitted materials internally and to pass them on for A&R review.

This review license does not entitle Animus Found to commercially release, distribute or publicly communicate the track unless a separate agreement is concluded.

A submission does not transfer any master rights, copyrights, publishing rights or other commercial usage rights to Animus Found.

9. No Blocking Effect for Similar Music

You acknowledge that Animus Found continuously works with many artists, producers and songwriters and may already be working on similar songs, sounds, concepts, titles, artworks, campaigns or releases.

Your submission does not create any claim that Animus Found will not review, develop or release similar songs, artists, productions, ideas, concepts, campaigns or releases.

10. No Obligation for Release or Collaboration

Submitting your demo does not create any claim to the conclusion of a label contract, artist contract, distribution contract, publishing contract or other contract.

There is no claim to release, marketing, playlist pitching, promotion, feedback, remuneration, advance or reimbursement of costs.

Animus Found is free to decide whether a demo is accepted, rejected, ignored, reviewed again later or archived.

11. Feedback and Communication

Contact by Animus Found is usually made by email to the address you provided.

You agree that Animus Found may contact you in connection with your submission, in particular for queries, feedback, rights clearance, contract discussions or further materials.

There is no claim to a response within a specific period unless explicitly assured otherwise.

12. Confidentiality

Animus Found treats submitted demos confidentially and uses them exclusively for review, evaluation, documentation and negotiation purposes.

You agree that Animus Found may pass the track on internally to A&R employees, label partners, consultants, legal advisors or within internal listening sessions insofar as this is necessary for evaluation.

You undertake not to make public or pass on to third parties any internal communication, feedback, draft contracts, terms, offers, strategies, release plans or confidential information of Animus Found without prior consent.

13. Obligations in Case of Interest from Animus Found

If Animus Found expresses interest in your track, you are obliged to provide all information relevant to a possible release completely, correctly and immediately.

This includes legal name and artist name, complete credits, songwriter, producer and performer splits, collecting society information, beat and sample licenses, previous releases or uploads, existing contracts or ties and contact details of other rights holders.

14. Consequences of Breach

If you violate the exclusive review period, rights warranties or essential obligations from these terms, Animus Found is entitled to terminate the review immediately and break off ongoing discussions, offers or negotiations.

Further rights and claims of Animus Found remain reserved, in particular if damages, costs, legal disputes or reputation risks arise due to false information, unresolved rights, parallel negotiations, unauthorized releases or undisclosed third-party claims.

15. Liability and Indemnification

You are liable for the fact that your information is complete and truthful and that the submission of your demo does not violate the rights of third parties.

You indemnify Animus Found as well as its employees, representatives, agents, service providers and partners against all third-party claims asserted based on or in connection with the material submitted by you, including reasonable legal defense costs.

16. Technical Security and Prohibited Files

You agree not to submit files, links or content containing malware, viruses, tracking elements, phishing content or other technical risks.

Animus Found may delete suspicious files without opening them and is not responsible for unavailable links, expired download links, damaged files or missing access rights.

17. Removal and Deletion of Submitted Materials

You may ask Animus Found to delete submitted materials unless legal, contractual or legitimate reasons require further storage.

Deletion during the exclusive review period ends the review. Rights, obligations or claims already arisen remain unaffected.

18. No Public Reference

Without prior consent, you may not publicly claim or imply that Animus Found accepted, reviewed, approved, supports or intends to release your track.

A mere demo submission does not entitle you to use the name, logo, brand or other identifiers of Animus Found.

19. Changes to these Terms

Animus Found may change these A&R terms for future submissions.

For your specific submission, the version accepted at the time of submission generally applies unless otherwise agreed.

20. Applicable Law and Venue

The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies. Where legally permissible, the place of jurisdiction is the registered place of Animus Found. Mandatory consumer rights remain unaffected.

21. Final Provisions

If individual provisions of these A&R terms are or become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions remains unaffected.

By ticking the corresponding checkbox in the form, you confirm that you have read, understood and accepted these A&R terms.