Terms of Service

1. Our agreement

These terms describe your agreement with Independent Radio FM (IRFM) when you join, submit content, or use our services. Please read them before joining or submitting music. If you act for an artist, band, label, or another person, you must have authority to accept these terms and grant the permissions below on their behalf.

These terms apply prospectively. They do not create permissions from someone who has not agreed to them or from a copyright owner you do not represent. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information. Advertising consent is separate from these terms.

2. Membership and radio pitching

Membership costs $49 USD per month and renews monthly until canceled. Your payment provider processes your payment and may apply its own terms. Joining authorizes the recurring membership charges disclosed at checkout; these terms do not authorize unrelated purchases.

Membership includes pitching to a directory of 100+ worldwide radio stations, subject to genre eligibility, station requirements, review, availability, and submission limits. We prepare and send pitches where stations accept them; some stations require you to submit through their own forms. A complete artist profile and an active paid membership are required for member pitching features.

Guaranteed weekly airplay applies to eligible songs submitted for our own Independent Radio FM Saturday show, under its submission deadlines and clean-edit requirements. We do not guarantee airplay, replies, interviews, playlist placement, sales, streams, or any other result from outside stations. Each station makes its own decisions.

3. You keep ownership

You retain ownership of your music and other content. Uploading a song does not transfer your copyright, publishing, master ownership, or artist identity to IRFM. Your license to us is non-exclusive, so you can release and promote your work elsewhere.

Your content includes the recordings, compositions and lyrics you submit, along with your artwork, photos, videos, artist name, approved likeness, biography, quotes, links, and promotional information. You can grant permission only for rights you own or are authorized to license.

4. Permission to deliver and promote the services

When you agree to these terms and submit content, you grant IRFM a worldwide, non-exclusive license to use that content to deliver, document, and promote your participation in our services. To the extent you control the relevant rights, this includes hosting, storing, copying, transmitting, distributing, streaming, publicly performing, displaying, and making the content available for these purposes.

This permission covers playing your submitted music on our broadcasts, replays, and show archives; embedding it on your artist page and station listening pages; sending it or a listening link in station pitches; and allowing the stations you submit to to download copies for evaluation and authorized airplay. It also covers creating and publishing your artist profile, reviews, press articles, show recaps, and artist-specific promotional emails and social posts.

For promotion of your participation and the IRFM service, you authorize use of your submitted artist name, biography, artwork, photos, approved likeness, quotes, and reasonable music or video excerpts in IRFM's website, social posts, emails, and advertisements. This includes synchronizing excerpts with IRFM promotional visuals where you control both the recording and composition rights. We will not imply an unrelated endorsement or create a materially misleading portrayal of you.

We may make technical and editorial adaptations needed for those uses, such as encoding audio, adjusting playback levels, resizing artwork, excerpting content, formatting text, and preparing pitch copy or articles. This is not permission to sell your masters, release an unrelated commercial remix, train an AI model on your music, or license your work for unrelated third-party products.

The license is royalty-free as between you and IRFM only for rights you can legally grant on that basis. It does not waive mandatory royalties, statutory remuneration, collecting-society rights, or any rights held by others. Those obligations remain subject to applicable law and the relevant licenses.

5. Service providers and recipient stations

We may authorize our hosting, email, media-processing, and promotional service providers to use submitted content only as needed to carry out the permitted services on our behalf. Selected recipient stations may listen, retain an evaluation copy, and broadcast submitted music only within the rights you have authorized and any licenses they must independently obtain.

IRFM does not transfer ownership to stations, guarantee a station's licensing compliance, or grant rights belonging to your label, publisher, collaborators, or collecting society. A station is responsible for its own broadcast and royalty obligations. We share your pitch, relevant artist information, and artist contact details with the stations you submit to so they can evaluate your music and reply directly.

6. Rights and clearances you must have

You confirm that you own or have secured every permission needed for the uses above. This includes rights in both the sound recording and underlying composition, as well as permissions from co-writers, featured artists, performers, producers, labels, publishers, photographers, and other rights holders where required.

Samples, beats, cover songs, remixes, purchased instrumentals, artwork, and videos may require separate licenses. Buying a beat, giving credit, or having permission to upload a song does not necessarily authorize station distribution, broadcasts, downloads, or promotional synchronization. Do not submit content for a use your license does not permit. Tell us about restrictions before submitting, and contact us if you are unsure.

You remain responsible for collaborator payments and permissions you have agreed to provide. IRFM must separately obtain any licenses that the law requires of IRFM; your submission cannot replace those licenses. We may request evidence of your authority and withhold or remove content while rights are unresolved.

7. Duration, withdrawal, and existing copies

The service license continues while we provide the services for your submitted content. You may request withdrawal of a song or promotional permission by emailing studio@independentradio.fm and identifying the content and uses you want stopped. Cancellation stops future membership renewals; contact us separately if you also want existing public content removed.

After a valid withdrawal request, we will stop new pitches and new promotional uses of the affected content and remove or disable public access we control within a reasonable time. We may retain non-public records and backups as needed for legal obligations, payment records, security, and dispute resolution, but not for new promotion.

Withdrawal does not undo past lawful uses or automatically recall emails, downloads, broadcasts, reposts, or copies already received by stations or other third parties. We will cooperate with reasonable removal requests, but cannot promise removal of copies outside our control. We do not claim an unlimited right to create new promotions after permission is withdrawn.

8. Clean edits, reviews, and account conduct

Submit clean radio edits and accurate artist information. Do not submit infringing, unlawful, abusive, deceptive, or impersonating content. Automated lyric checks can make mistakes; staff may review songs and ask for a clean edit or proof of rights.

For radio pitching, a first staff-confirmed explicit song results in a warning. A second distinct staff-confirmed explicit song results in a permanent pitching ban and cancellation of unsent pitches. A failed transcription alone is not confirmation of explicit content. Trust affects review queueing, not a member's underlying eligibility.

We may reject submissions or restrict access to protect rights, safety, station relationships, and service integrity. DJ reviews are opinions, not promises of commercial success. You are responsible for account access and for activity you authorize.

9. Cancellation and payment questions

You can cancel anytime by emailing studio@independentradio.fm or using the available membership or payment-provider cancellation controls. We process emailed cancellation requests within 24 hours. Contact us before your next renewal to help prevent another charge. Cancellation does not reverse a payment already processed.

Contact us about billing errors, failed delivery of paid services, or refund requests. Refunds and cancellation rights remain subject to applicable law and any additional terms clearly disclosed at checkout. Nothing here removes a consumer right that cannot legally be waived.

10. Privacy and communications

We send necessary account, payment, review, and service communications. Public artist profiles, published articles, broadcasts, and selected station pitches are intended to be seen or heard by their audiences. Private member messages and unpublished material are not licensed for unrelated public promotion.

Personal information is handled under our Privacy Policy. Acceptance of these terms is not consent to enhanced advertising matching or a substitute for cookie choices. Marketing preferences and advertising consent remain separately controllable.

11. Copyright concerns

Report suspected infringement to studio@independentradio.fm. Identify the protected work, the IRFM page or content at issue, your relationship to the rights holder, your contact information, and why you believe the use is unauthorized. Please provide accurate information and any supporting documentation.

We investigate rights concerns and may remove or restrict disputed content. Repeat infringement can result in account restrictions or termination. This contact is not a representation that IRFM has registered a statutory copyright agent, obtained copyright certification, or received permission for every submitted work.

12. IRFM materials and third-party services

IRFM's branding, site software, and original editorial materials remain owned by IRFM or their respective owners. You may share your published artist page, articles, and show links for personal artist promotion, without misrepresenting an endorsement or reselling the service.

Payment providers, social platforms, recipient stations, and linked sites have their own rules. Their availability and decisions are outside our control. We may use automated tools to assist with lyric transcription and editorial preparation; generated text may contain errors and does not replace rights clearance.

13. Service limitations and responsibility

We use reasonable care to provide the membership services we advertise. Outages, provider failures, rights disputes, and other circumstances can delay service; contact us so we can address missed services. Outside-station decisions and audience response are not guaranteed.

To the extent permitted by law, IRFM is not responsible for indirect or consequential losses, lost profits, or third-party decisions outside our control. Nothing in these terms excludes liability for fraud, willful misconduct, or any responsibility that applicable law does not allow us to exclude.

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to reimburse IRFM for reasonable, documented losses and costs arising from a third-party rights claim caused by your unauthorized submission or material breach of these terms. This does not apply to losses caused by IRFM's own misconduct. We will notify you of a claim and will not agree to obligations on your behalf without your consent.

14. Changes and disputes

We may update these terms and will give reasonable notice of material changes. Expanded rights to your content require your agreement; an update does not retroactively authorize a use you never permitted. Any pricing change will be disclosed before it applies to a future renewal.

Please contact us first so we can try to resolve a dispute. Applicable law and courts determine your legal rights and remedies; these terms do not impose mandatory arbitration, waive class-action rights, or select an undisclosed jurisdiction. If one provision is unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue to apply to the extent allowed by law.