Music Guidelines

last modified on 03/31/2020

If you are a musician looking to get started on Elektricity, make sure you check out our getting started for artists guide.

Elektricity values the work of songwriters, musicians, and other creative artists. As a company committed to supporting creators, we respect, and ask our users to respect, the intellectual property of those who make music and those who own or control music rights.

We know that you may have questions about what types of music content you can safely share on Elektricity. In order for you to better understand what uses of music are allowed for your content, we’ve further clarified these guidelines in the sections below.

Sharing Music on Elektricity

We ask that creators only share content for which they have the necessary rights. It is a violation of our policies to stream or upload content containing copyrighted music unless you have the appropriate rights or authority to share such music on Elektricity.

You may not include music you do not own in your Elektricity streams or VODs (Past or future Broadcasts and Uploads), except as described below or otherwise permitted by law.

Please note that buying music (such as a CD or mp3) or subscribing to a music streaming service typically does not grant rights to share the music on Elektricity. Such a purchase or subscription grants you a personal license to access the content only for your personal and private playback.

Types of Music Content

In the sections below, we describe some common types of music content, along with some information about whether you may or may not share that content on Elektricity.

Here are some example types of music content you may use in Elektricity streams and VODs:

  • Music Owned By You – Original music which was written by you and either recorded or performed live by you, and for which you own or control all rights necessary to share the music on Elektricity, including the rights to the recording, performance, and to the underlying music and lyrics. Please remember that if you have a contractual relationship with an organization that controls rights to the content you create, such as a record label or publishing company, you should make sure that you are not in violation of that relationship by sharing that music on Elektricity.
  • Music Licensed To You – Copyrighted music owned in whole or part by someone other than you, if you have secured a license to share it on Elektricity from the relevant copyright holders.

How This Impacts You

If you violate these guidelines, you may be subject to a takedown notice from music rights holders under our DMCA Guidelines. We may also take action under our Community Guidelines.

In addition, we may mute VODs, such as if our automated content filtering systems detect that audio in a VOD contains unauthorized music. If you have the necessary rights to share music in your Elektricity VODs, we want to ensure that your VODs are not muted.