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Podcast Subscriptions Creator Terms

Disclaimer: Anchor is now part of Spotify for Podcasters.

US creators

  1. Introduction: These Paid Subscription Rules are between you and Spotify and incorporate the Anchor Terms of Service (together, the “Terms”). By publishing subscriber-only content on Anchor (“Subscriber-Only Content”), you agree to be bound by the Terms. To the extent there is any irreconcilable conflict between the Anchor Terms of Service and these Paid Subscription Rules, these Paid Subscription Rules shall prevail. For the purposes of the Anchor Terms of Service, “Monetized Content” includes Subscriber-Only Content.
  2. Subscription access: Spotify will make available your Subscriber-Only Content to users (“Subscribers”) who choose to pay the monthly subscription price you select from the options provided by Spotify (“Subscription Price”). Once you have selected the Subscription Price, it will apply to all Subscriber-Only Content associated with your Account, and you will not be able to change the selected Subscription Price.
  3. Purchase: Each Subscriber will purchase directly from you a subscription for the Subscriber-Only Content on Anchor (“Podcast Paid Subscription”), which you authorise Spotify to sell to Subscribers on your behalf as your agent. The Subscription Price may be presented to Subscribers in the Subscribers’ local currency. The Subscription Price, excluding applicable fees and Indirect Taxes (as described in Sections 5 and 8 below), will be paid directly to your account with the Payment Service Provider (defined below). Spotify does not take part in the flow of funds in the transfer of any Subscription Price from the Subscribers to you.
  4. Account with the Payment Service Provider: In order to provide Subscriber-Only Content and receive the Subscription Price (excluding any fees and applicable Indirect Taxes), you may be required to open an account with such third party payment service provider(s) as may be notified to you by Spotify from time to time (“Payment Service Provider”). You will have a direct contractual relationship with the Payment Service Provider, who will provide services as principal (and not by or on behalf of Spotify) directly to you. Payment Service Provider may suspend or terminate the provision of the payment services to you if you do not comply with the Creator Payment Service Terms. In order to continue using the services, you may be required to agree to further terms or provide additional verification information relating to third party payment service provider(s) in the future. In this case, Spotify will provide reasonable advance notice of such requirements.
  5. Fees: The Subscription Price will be subject to transactional fees, including from the Payment Service Provider, and any fee retained by Spotify, as agreed between you and Spotify as set out in the Fee Schedule, as well as any applicable Indirect Taxes due. Such fees shall apply to the Subscription Price before the deduction of any Withholding Taxes (as described below in Section 8). The applicable fees are subject to change after, including as a result of changes to the fees charged by the Payment Service Provider. You hereby authorize Spotify, on your behalf, to direct the Payment Service Provider to deduct the applicable fees and Indirect Taxes from the Subscription Price that the Payment Service Provider receives from Subscribers, and instead for such fees to be transferred by Spotify to the Payment Service Provider, and, if relevant, for Spotify to charge and account for, collect and remit, or, as applicable, direct the transfer to, the relevant tax authorities any applicable Indirect Taxes due. Following such deduction, the remaining amount (earnings) is available on your dashboard.
  6. Earnings:
    1. The earnings from the Paid Subscription feature will appear on your dashboard on a regular basis following successful subscriber transactions. The dashboard is a technology interface operated by Spotify that allows you to view the funds in your account with Payment Service Provider based upon account information provided by the Payment Service Provider.
    2. You may cash out your earnings at any time provided there is a minimum of US$10, and you have provided all tax information necessary to enable payment, and hereby authorise Spotify to provide instructions in relation to cash out to Payment Service Provider on your behalf. The Payment Service Provider may also implement requirements relating to the frequency of cash out or the maximum duration for which funds may be held by the Payment Service Provider, and these will be communicated to you by the Payment Service Provider or Spotify.
    3. Without limiting anything in the Anchor Terms of Service, if Spotify reasonably suspects any fraudulent activity in connection with your Account or Subscriber-Only Content, or believes you are abusing the Podcast Paid Subscription feature in any way, or believes you are being misleading in your communication with Subscribers with respect to the Subscriber-Only Content (e.g. if Spotify reasonably suspects that you have infringed intellectual property rights, made false or misleading claims as to the themes, content, quality or availability of the Subscriber-Only Content, or uploaded empty, corrupted or unreadable files as Subscriber-Only Content), Spotify may, in its sole discretion and without limiting other remedies, limit, suspend, or terminate your Account(s) and/or access to the Podcast Paid Subscription feature, including your access to your earnings. Spotify and/or Payment Service Provider reserves the right to refund subscription fees paid by Subscribers to your Account, including in the event of: (a) pending, anticipated or excessive disputes, chargebacks, refunds or reversals, (b) suspected or actual fraudulent, illegal or other malicious activity, or (c) where required by law or court order, in which case you shall reimburse Spotify for such refund payments.To the extent that you fail to reimburse such payments to Spotify, you hereby irrevocably authorize Spotify, on your behalf, to direct the Payment Service Provider to deduct the amount of such refunds from subsequent payments made by Subscribers to your Subscriber-Only Content, and instead for such amount to be transferred to Spotify.
    4. You authorise Spotify to conduct activity in relation to your earnings and provide instructions to the Payment Services Provider on your behalf in order to: (a) enable the Payment Services Provider to operate your account and deposit amounts paid by Subscribers in your account with Payment Services Provider; (b) enable you, Payment Services Provider or Spotify to cash out funds in your account; (c) deduct any fees or Indirect Taxes in accordance with these terms; and (d) process any refunds in accordance with Section 6(c). You authorise Spotify to share your data with the Payment Services Provider in order to facilitate these activities and your use of the services, in accordance with the Anchor Terms of Service and Spotify's Privacy Policy.
  7. Acknowledgements: You acknowledge that:
    1. Spotify may make changes to the features and functionality of the Paid Subscriptions product by providing you with prior notice;
    2. Spotify does not guarantee, and is not responsible for, achieving any revenue as a result of participating in Paid Subscriptions program or using the Paid Subscriptions feature;
    3. Spotify does not guarantee your continued access to the Paid Subscriptions feature or any equivalent feature or functionality;
    4. Spotify may end your participation in the Paid Subscriptions program and access to the Paid Subscriptions feature at any time without prior notice if it reasonably believes that you are misusing the Paid Subscriptions feature in violation of the Terms;
    5. You may end your participation in the Paid Subscriptions program at any time by reaching out to your creator partner manager directly.
    6. All payment processing and fund transfer services are provided to you by the Payment Service Provider. You may need to agree to the Payment Service Provider’s terms, which are presented to you and which shall form a separate legal agreement between you and the Payment Service Provider as principals. You agree to only use the Services in accordance with any Payment Service Provider terms and not to use the Services for any activity that is expressly prohibited or restricted by those terms. Any obligations relating to the provision of payment processing and fund transfer services are owed to you by the Payment Service Provider, not Spotify. You expressly acknowledge and agree that: (a) we are not an agent of the Payment Service Provider and we do not provide or offer payment services on behalf of a Payment Service Provider, or otherwise; (b) we are not, nor should anything in these Terms be construed to imply that we are acting in any way under a mandate conferred by the Payments Service Provider; (c) we are not an escrow service, money aggregator, money remitter or money transmitter; (d) the Payment Service Provider is not our agent; and (e) we will communicate to the Payment Service Provider all necessary information that is required to provide the services under these Terms.
  8. Tax: You represent and warrant that your tax information entered during the creation of your account with Spotify and/or the Payment Service Provider is correct and accurate. This information will be used to file any tax reporting where legally required. You may be responsible for income tax or subject to withholding taxes which may be due as a result of payments received and for filing any returns or reports to applicable tax authorities. The Subscription Price is subject to the deduction of any taxes, duties, charges or assessments that Spotify is obliged to withhold, deduct or collect by any tax authority (“Withholding Taxes”). We may also block or hold payments for violations of our policies or for compliance reasons, including collecting tax reporting information. Unless stated otherwise, the fees that you must pay under these Terms are exclusive of VAT, GST, HST, sales taxes or other similar taxes, duties, charges or assessments (“Indirect Taxes”). Indirect Taxes shall be added on top of fees as per local legislation. Further, each party shall be solely responsible for collection and remittance to the relevant tax authorities of all Indirect Taxes it is legally obliged to collect and remit, as further described in Section 5 above.
  9. Termination: In the event of termination by Spotify in accordance with Section 11 of the Anchor Terms of Service, Spotify will provide 30 days’ notice of termination, except where such notice is not possible (for example where Spotify terminates due to legal or regulatory obligations or imperative reasons under law in accordance with Section 11 of the Anchor Terms of Service), in which case Spotify shall provide such notice as is reasonable in the circumstances. Following receipt of such notice, or if you wish to terminate in accordance with Section 11 of the Anchor Terms of Service, you agree to cash out any funds in your account with Payment Service Provider in advance of termination, and acknowledge that you may lose access to any funds remaining in your account with Payment Service Provider upon termination.
  10. Compliance with laws: You shall comply with all applicable laws and regulations when using the Podcast Paid Subscriptions feature. Without limiting the above, you acknowledge that you are solely responsible for complying with all applicable laws and regulations in connection with your use of any Subscriber data provided to you by Spotify and in relation to any communications between you and your subscribers, including by honoring any opt-outs from Subscribers. You acknowledge that you act as a data controller (as defined by the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/67) with respect to such Subscriber data.
  11. Severability: Unless as otherwise stated, should any provision of these Paid Subscription Terms be held invalid or unenforceable for any reason or to any extent, such invalidity or enforceability shall not in any manner affect or render invalid or unenforceable the remaining provisions of the Terms, and the application of that provision shall be enforced to the extent permitted by law.
  12. Waiver: Any failure by Spotify or any third party beneficiary to enforce these Terms or any provision thereof shall not waive Spotify's or the applicable third party beneficiary's right to do so.
  13. Interpretation: As used in these Terms, the words "include" and "including," and variations thereof, will be deemed to be followed by the words "without limitation." Any capitalized terms not otherwise defined herein shall have the meaning given to such terms in the Anchor Terms of Service.

All other creators

  1. Introduction: These Paid Subscription Rules are between you and Spotify AB (Regeringsgatan 19, 111 53 Stockholm, Sweden) and incorporate the Anchor Terms of Service (together, the “Terms”). When publishing subscriber-only content on Anchor (“Subscriber-Only Content”), you agree to be bound by the Terms. To the extent there is any irreconcilable conflict between the Anchor Terms of Service and these Paid Subscription Rules, these Paid Subscription Rules shall prevail. For the purposes of the Anchor Terms of Service, “Monetized Content” includes Subscriber-Only Content.
  2. Subscription access: Spotify will make available your Subscriber-Only Content to users (“Subscribers”) who choose to pay the monthly subscription price you select from the options provided by Spotify (“Subscription Price”). Once you have selected the Subscription Price, it will apply to all Subscriber-Only Content associated with your Account, and you will not be able to change the selected Subscription Price.
  3. Purchase: Each Subscriber will purchase directly from you a subscription for the Subscriber-Only Content on Anchor (“Podcast Paid Subscription”), which you authorise Spotify to sell to Subscribers on your behalf as your agent. The Subscription Price may be presented to Subscribers in the Subscribers’ local currency. The Subscription Price, excluding applicable fees and Indirect Taxes (as described in Sections 5 and 8 below), will be paid directly to your account with the Payment Service Provider (defined below). Spotify does not take part in the flow of funds in the transfer of any Subscription Price from the Subscribers to you.
  4. Account with the Payment Service Provider: In order to provide Subscriber-Only Content and receive the Subscription Price (excluding any fees and applicable Indirect Taxes), you may be required to open an account with such third party payment service provider(s) as may be notified to you by Spotify from time to time (“Payment Service Provider”). You will have a direct contractual relationship with the Payment Service Provider, who will provide services as principal (and not by or on behalf of Spotify) directly to you in accordance with the contractual terms between you and Payment Service Provider ("Creator Payment Service Terms"). Payment Service Provider may suspend or terminate the provision of the payment services to you if you do not comply with the Creator Payment Service Terms. In order to continue using the services, you may be required to agree to further terms or provide additional verification information relating to third party payment service provider(s) in the future. In this case, Spotify will provide reasonable advance notice of such requirements.
  5. Fees: The Subscription Price will be subject to transactional fees, including from the Payment Service Provider, and any fee retained by Spotify, as agreed between you and Spotify, and between you and the Payment Service Provider, as set out in the Fee Schedule, as well as any applicable Indirect Taxes due. Such fees shall apply to the Subscription Price before the deduction of any Withholding Taxes (as described below in Section 8). The fees in the Fee Schedule may be subject to change upon reasonable notice by Spotify, including as a result of changes to the fees charged by the Payment Services Provider. You hereby authorize Spotify, on your behalf, to direct the Payment Service Provider to deduct the applicable fees and Indirect Taxes from the Subscription Price that the Payment Service Provider receives from Subscribers, and, if relevant, for Spotify to charge and account for, collect and remit, or, as applicable, direct the transfer to, the relevant tax authorities any applicable Indirect Taxes due. Following such deduction, the remaining amount (earnings) is available reflected on your dashboard.
  6. Earnings:
    1. The earnings from the Paid Subscription feature will appear on your dashboard on a regular basis following successful subscriber transactions. The dashboard is a technology interface operated by Spotify that allows you to view the funds in your account with Payment Service Provider based upon account information provided by the Payment Service Provider.
    2. You may cash out your earnings at any time provided there is a minimum of US$10 or local currency equivalent, you have provided all tax information necessary to enable payment, and you hereby authorise Spotify to provide instructions in relation to cash out to Payment Service Provider on your behalf. The Payment Service Provider may also implement requirements relating to the frequency of cash out or the maximum duration for which funds may be held by the Payment Services Provider, and these will be communicated to you by the Payment Service Provider or Spotify.
    3. Without limiting anything in the Anchor Terms of Service, if Spotify reasonably suspects any fraudulent activity in connection with your Account or Subscriber-Only Content, or believes you are abusing the Podcast Paid Subscription feature in any way, or believes you are being misleading in your communication with Subscribers with respect to the Subscriber-Only Content (e.g. if Spotify reasonably suspects that you have infringed intellectual property rights, made false or misleading claims as to the themes, content, quality or availability of the Subscriber-Only Content, or uploaded empty, corrupted or unreadable files as Subscriber-Only Content), Spotify may, in its sole discretion and without limiting other remedies, limit, suspend, or terminate your Account(s) and/or access to the Podcast Paid Subscription feature. Spotify and/or Payment Service Provider reserves the right to refund subscription fees paid by Subscribers to your Account, including in the event of: (a) pending, anticipated or excessive disputes, chargebacks, refunds or reversals, (b) suspected or actual fraudulent, illegal or other malicious activity, or (c) where required by law or court order, in which case you shall reimburse Spotify for such refund payments. To the extent that you fail to reimburse such payments to Spotify, you hereby irrevocably authorize Spotify, on your behalf, to direct the Payment Service Provider to deduct the amount of such refunds from subsequent payments made by Subscribers to your Subscriber-Only Content, and instead for such amount to be transferred to Spotify.
    4. You authorise Spotify to conduct activity in relation to your earnings and provide instructions to the Payment Services Provider on your behalf in order to: (a) enable the Payment Services Provider to operate your account and deposit amounts paid by Subscribers in your account with Payment Services Provider; (b) enable you, Payment Services Provider or Spotify to cash out funds in your account; (c) deduct any fees or Indirect Taxes in accordance with these terms; and (d) process any refunds in accordance with Section 6(c). You authorise Spotify to share your data with the Payment Services Provider in order to facilitate these activities and your use of the services, in accordance with the Anchor Terms of Service and Spotify's Privacy Policy.
  7. Acknowledgements: You acknowledge that:
    1. Spotify may make material changes to the features and functionality of the Paid Subscriptions product by providing you with at least 15 days prior notice. You will be given the choice to accept or reject such material changes;
    2. To the fullest extent permitted under applicable law and (for Australian consumers) subject to Section 16.7 of the Anchor Terms of Service, Spotify does not guarantee, and is not responsible for, achieving any revenue as a result of participating in Paid Subscriptions program or using the Paid Subscriptions feature;
    3. To the fullest extent permitted under applicable law and (for Australian consumers) subject to Section 16.7 of the Anchor Terms of Service, Spotify does not guarantee your continued access to the Paid Subscriptions feature or any equivalent feature or functionality;
    4. Subject to Section 11 of the Anchor Terms of Service, Spotify may end your participation in the Paid Subscriptions program and access to the Paid Subscriptions feature at any time without prior notice if it reasonably believes that you are misusing the Paid Subscriptions feature in violation of the Terms;
    5. You may end your participation in the Paid Subscriptions program at any time by reaching out to your creator partner manager directly.
    6. All payment processing and fund transfer services are provided to you by the Payment Service Provider. You need to agree to the Creator Payment Service Terms, which are presented to you and which shall form a separate legal agreement between you and the Payment Service Provider as principals. You agree to only use the Services in accordance with any Creator Payment Service Terms and not to use the Services for any activity that is expressly prohibited or restricted by those terms. Any obligations relating to the provision of payment processing and fund transfer services are owed to you by the Payment Service Provider, not Spotify. You expressly acknowledge and agree that: (a) we are not an agent of the Payment Service Provider and we do not provide or offer payment services on behalf of a Payment Service Provider, or otherwise; (b) we are not, nor should anything in these Terms be construed to imply that we are acting in any way under a mandate conferred by the Payments Service Provider; (c) we are not an escrow service, money aggregator, money remitter or money transmitter; (d) the Payment Service Provider is not our agent.
  8. Tax: You represent and warrant that your tax information entered during the creation of your account with Spotify and/or the Payment Service Provider is correct and accurate. This information will be used to file any tax reporting where legally required. You are responsible for any income tax or withholding taxes which may be due as a result of payments received and for filing any returns or reports to applicable tax authorities. The Subscription Price is subject to the deduction of any taxes, duties, charges or assessments. We may also block or hold payments for violations of our policies or for compliance reasons, including collecting tax reporting information. Unless stated otherwise, the fees that you must pay under these Terms are exclusive of VAT, GST, HST, sales taxes or other similar taxes, duties, charges or assessments (“Indirect Taxes”). Indirect Taxes shall be added on top of fees as per local legislation. Further, each party shall be solely responsible for collection and remittance to the relevant tax authorities of all Indirect Taxes it is legally obliged to collect and remit, as further described in Section 5 above.
  9. Termination: In the event of termination by Spotify in accordance with Section 11 of the Anchor Terms of Service, Spotify will provide 30 days’ notice of termination, except where such notice is not possible (for example where Spotify terminates due to legal or regulatory obligations or imperative reasons under law in accordance with Section 11 of the Anchor Terms of Service), in which case Spotify shall provide such notice as is reasonable in the circumstances. Following receipt of such notice, or if you wish to terminate in accordance with Section 11 of the Anchor Terms of Service, you agree to cash out any funds in your account with Payment Service Provider in advance of termination, and acknowledge that you may lose access to any funds remaining in your account with Payment Service Provider upon termination.
  10. Compliance with laws: You shall comply with all applicable laws and regulations when using the Podcast Paid Subscriptions feature. Without limiting the above, you acknowledge that you are solely responsible for complying with all applicable laws and regulations in connection with your use of any Subscriber data provided to you by Spotify and in relation to any communications between you and your subscribers, including by honoring any opt-outs from Subscribers. You acknowledge that you act as a data controller (as defined by the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/67) with respect to such Subscriber data.
  11. Severability: Unless as otherwise stated, should any provision of these Paid Subscription Terms be held invalid or unenforceable for any reason or to any extent, such invalidity or enforceability shall not in any manner affect or render invalid or unenforceable the remaining provisions of the Terms, and the application of that provision shall be enforced to the extent permitted by law.
  12. Waiver: Any failure by Spotify or any third party beneficiary to enforce these Terms or any provision thereof shall not waive Spotify's or the applicable third party beneficiary's right to do so.
  13. Interpretation: As used in these Terms, the words "include" and "including," and variations thereof, will be deemed to be followed by the words "without limitation." Any capitalized terms not otherwise defined herein shall have the meaning given to such terms in the Anchor Terms of Service.
  14. Applicable law: These Terms will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the United States (including federal arbitration law) and the State of New York, United States of America, without regard to choice or conflicts of law principles.

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