Frequently asked Questions & Copyright

What is Voisey?

Voisey is a mobile music creation app and community for creators. It provides users with access to instrumental backing tracks (that we refer to as ‘beats’) and vocal effects to make studio quality recordings and videos, known as 'voiseys'.

Users can collaborate with each other using the social features in the app. Voiseys can then be shared onto social media sites like Instagram, into messaging apps or downloaded as video files.

Who owns the beats on Voisey?

All beats on Voisey remain the property of whoever created or owns the rights to them, and whoever uploads them promises to Voisey that they are permitted to do so.

Uploading a beat to Voisey does not grant Voisey any ownership in the underlying music or recording, but does grant us the right to display and offer that beat to Voisey users to write and record over in the app, and for the voiseys that emerge to then be hosted and played on Voisey, or shared to a third party site like Instagram or Twitter.

Every voisey, whether in the app or exported is watermarked with the username of the beatmaker so any viewers will see who created or owns that beat.

In an effort to try and prevent people uploading beats they do not own, Voisey uses fingerprinting technology.

Who owns the recordings/compositions rights to a voisey?

Voiseys that are created on Voisey are owned by whoever owns the beat and whoever performed/recorded over that beat. If multiple people collaborate on one voisey, the resulting recording/composition is owned by all of them.

Voisey does not own any share in these voiseys, nor does it help negotiate agreements between creators. We do however believe in creators equally sharing in things.

What records does Voisey keep?

Voisey keeps records of every beat upload and every voisey made over each beat. We have a time/date of each upload and recording, and details of every user account involved in the creation of a voisey.

We also keep a record of the license agreement that each user agrees to on initial entry into the app. If a new user does not consent to the license agreement, Voisey does not grant them access to the service.

What rights am I giving Voisey?

In the case of beats, you are granting Voisey the rights to host and make beats available for other creators to record over in the app.

In the case of creators (those who record voiseys in the app), you are granting Voisey the rights to host and make available the voiseys that you save and publish in the app and to allow users to share them to third party sites or apps where people can listen to/watch them.

Voisey also has the rights to use these voiseys to promote Voisey in advertising or other promotional campaigns without further approval from the creators/owners. Voisey has the right to adapt voiseys to fit these campaigns, such as editing multiple voiseys together to form a longer composition, or layering different voiseys over each other to create interesting new sounds.

Does Voisey make money?

Currently Voisey is not a revenue generating platform and makes no money. Our focus is entirely on empowering creativity and building a community. We do anticipate generating revenue at some point in the future and this will most likely be through advertising or in app purchases. We are currently supported entirely by investors.

Does Voisey pay royalties?

No plans are currently in place for this, however updates to the Terms of Service will be made before any changes to the service are made.

Will Voisey ever own rights to music on the platform?

In the future, Voisey may decide to offer specific partnerships to certain creators on Voisey. This would only ever be on a case-by-case basis, and a separate license or partnership agreement would be entered into.

Can you sell my content to any 3rd parties without my consent?

If you want to commercially release or license a voisey, you must make sure that you have the permission of any other creators that share in its ownership. Voisey does not currently sell content to any third parties. It may be that Voisey is in the future acquired by, or its assets transferred to, a third party, in which case you can contact us if you have an objection to your content being included in such a transfer.

What happens if I want to remove my beats or voiseys from Voisey?

You can make private or delete any voisey by visiting your profile.

If you want to take down a beat, you may do this, and this beat will cease to become available for creators to use to make further voiseys. However, voiseys created using that beat will still be available.

If you wish to remove one or more of your beats you can delete any beat by visiting your profile.

What about copyright?

At its most basic, copyright is the legal protection for the expression of an idea. It protects original musical, literary and artistic works, as well as sound recordings and films.

If you are the creator of a copyrighted work, unless you have assigned your ownership, you are also the owner of the copyright in that work. As the owner, you have certain rights in respect of copyright – only you, or others you have authorised, are able to perform these actions. You also have the right to restrict others from doing these acts without your permission, subject to certain exceptions. The exact scope of what acts are exclusive to you as the owner and what exceptions apply will vary depending on the particular jurisdiction you are in.

What can I do if someone is using my copyrighted works?

Respecting copyright and other intellectual property rights is extremely important to Voisey, and we are committed to complying with U.S. copyright law and responding to claims of copyright infringement. If you think that any materials accessible through our app or website infringe your copyright, you may request that the material be removed, or access to it disabled, by submitting written notice to our designated copyright agent. You should only submit a written notice if you are the owner of copyright, or an agent of the owner.

Please note that the information below is provided to report copyright infringement only. If you would like to notify us of infringement of another right, please get in touch with us at infringement@voisey.app.

How to report copyright infringement?

To comply with the certain laws in the U.S., the written notice of infringement ("Infringement Notice") must include all of the following:

• your physical or electronic signature (or the physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on your behalf);
• identification of the copyrighted work you believe is being infringed;
• identification of the material that you believe is infringing copyright and that is to be removed or access to it disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to allow us to locate it (for example, the user profile where it has been made available and a description of the voisey);
• information that we can use to contact you (including your name, address, phone number and, if available, email address);
• a statement that you have a good faith belief that the use of the copyrighted material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agents or the law;
• a statement that the information in your notice is accurate; and
• a statement that, under the penalty of perjury, you are the owner or are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

Failure to comply with all of these requirements means your Infringement Notice may not be effective.

Who is our designated agent?

The details of our designated copyright agent are as follows:

Oliver Patrick Barnes
Voisey Entertainment Limited
77 Shaftesbury Avenue, Soho, London, United Kingdom, W1D 5DU

Phone: +44 20 7550 9361
Email: dmca@voisey.app

Infringement Notices must be sent to our designated agent. Please also send a copy to infringement@voisey.app.

What about false claims of copyright infringement?

You should know that under the certain laws that apply in the U.S., if you knowingly materially misrepresent that content or activity on our website or app is infringing your copyright, you may be liable for damages incurred as a result of the blocking of the content (including costs and attorneys' fees). Before submitting your written notice, you may consider consulting an attorney to obtain legal advice about the alleged infringement, and to receive guidance as to whether any of the exceptions to copyright infringement apply.

What about repeat infringers?

Voisey does not tolerate repeat infringers. Where appropriate, Voisey's policy is to disable or terminate the accounts of individuals who repeatedly infringe copyright.

This section does not constitute legal advice nor does it replace our requirement that each user reads and understands the Terms of Service before agreeing to it. As with every set of terms and conditions, if you are in doubt about any terms, it is always best to seek independent legal advice.

Why is my voisey disabled?

We may disable voiseys for a number of reasons, including when a voisey violates our Terms of Service, beat upload guidelines, infringes copyright or other laws or is subject to a takedown request.

What happens when my voisey is disabled?

When your voisey is disabled it is either inactive and not visible to anyone, or in other cases still visible to you, but you won’t be able to share the voisey or make it public. If the beat in a voisey violates our beat upload guidelines or copyright or other laws, we may replace the beat with white noise.

Why do I need to update the voisey app to see why my voisey is disabled?

When you are using an older version of the Voisey app you may not have access to all products and features, including additional information on why a voisey is disabled. We always recommend to update to the latest version of the Voisey app, this way you always have access to the latest features and best user experience.

How does Voisey protect the intellectual property rights of others?

To protect the intellectual property rights of others, we use third party filtering technology that scans uploaded audio against a database of registered content. If there’s a match between registered content and the uploaded audio we won't make it available on Voisey. If you don’t agree with the decision to not upload your audio you can contact beats@voisey.app. We we will determine at our sole discretion and on a case by case basis whether the uploaded audio will be made available through Voisey.