Copyright & Takedown Policy

SERENADA DISPUTES POLICY

Purpose

This Disputes Policy explains how Serenada handles disputes relating to content, rights ownership, contributor allocations, royalty payments, referral payments, moderation decisions, account actions and other matters arising from use of the Platform.

This Policy should be read alongside Serenada's Terms of Service, Royalties & Payments Policy, Referral & Referral Payment Policy, Content & Community Rules and any other applicable platform policies.

Platform Role in Disputes

Serenada helps resolve administrative, reporting, payment processing, referral, and royalty allocation issues.

Serenada is not responsible for determining:

  • Legal ownership

  • Copyright ownership

  • Authorship

  • Contribution levels

  • Commercial entitlement

  • Contractual rights between third parties

  • Revenue ownership outside the Platform

Where disputes arise between users, contributors, rights holders or other third parties, Serenada may:

  • Investigate disputes

  • Request evidence

  • Temporarily withhold payments

  • Freeze balances

  • Restrict content

  • Suspend accounts

  • Remove content

  • Take any other action permitted under its Terms and Policies

However, Serenada does not act as a court, arbitrator or legal decision-maker and is not responsible for resolving underlying legal disputes between parties.

Parties remain responsible for resolving their own legal, contractual, ownership and entitlement disputes through negotiation, mediation, legal proceedings or other appropriate means.

Scope

This Policy applies to disputes involving:

  • Rights ownership

  • Contributor allocations

  • Revenue share allocations

  • Royalty payments

  • Referral payments

  • Account access

  • Platform moderation

  • Payment processing

  • Other matters arising from use of the Platform

Types of Dispute

Serenada may classify disputes into one or more of the following categories.

Rights Disputes

Including:

  • Copyright ownership disputes

  • Master ownership disputes

  • Authorship disputes

  • Contributor entitlement disputes

  • Contributor allocation disputes

  • Revenue share disputes relating to Platform earnings

Serenada does not administer publishing ownership, publishing registrations, collection society registrations or publishing royalty allocations between rights holders.

Payment Disputes

Including:

  • Royalty payment disputes

  • Contributor payment disputes

  • Referral payment disputes

  • Missing payment claims

  • Payment calculation disputes

Moderation Disputes

Including:

  • Content removal disputes

  • Account suspension disputes

  • Account termination disputes

  • Content restriction disputes

  • Community guideline enforcement disputes

Referral Disputes

Including:

  • Referral attribution disputes

  • Referral qualification disputes

  • Referral fraud investigations

  • Referral payment disputes

Account Disputes

Including:

  • Account ownership disputes

  • Access disputes

  • Identity disputes

  • Verification disputes

Submitting a Dispute

A party wishing to raise a dispute must provide sufficient information for Serenada to investigate the matter.

A dispute submission should include:

  • Full name

  • Account details

  • Contact information

  • Description of the dispute

  • Relevant Track, content or account information

  • Supporting evidence

  • Any other information reasonably requested by Serenada

Serenada may refuse to investigate disputes that contain insufficient information.

Evidence Requirements

Parties raising disputes may be required to provide evidence including:

  • Contracts

  • Licences

  • Agreements

  • Contributor agreements

  • Royalty agreements

  • Split sheets

  • Registration records

  • Payment records

  • Correspondence

  • Identification documents

  • Other supporting documentation

Submission of false, misleading or fraudulent information may result in account suspension or termination.

Investigation Process

Upon receiving a dispute, Serenada may:

  • Review submitted information

  • Request additional evidence

  • Contact affected parties

  • Review platform records

  • Review payment records

  • Review account activity

  • Review content history

  • Review referral records

  • Seek professional advice where appropriate

Serenada will use reasonable efforts to investigate disputes in a timely manner.

Response times may vary depending on complexity.

Temporary Actions During Investigation

Whilst a dispute is being investigated, Serenada may take temporary action including:

  • Withholding payments

  • Freezing balances

  • Delaying payments

  • Restricting account access

  • Suspending referral eligibility

  • Suspending contributor payments

  • Restricting content visibility

  • Removing content

  • Suspending accounts

  • Preserving evidence

Such actions do not indicate that Serenada has reached a final determination.

Rights Disputes

Rights disputes may involve ownership, authorship, contribution, master rights or revenue entitlement relating to content distributed through the Platform.

Serenada may:

  • Request evidence from affected parties

  • Temporarily withhold payments

  • Restrict access to disputed content

  • Remove disputed content

  • Freeze contributor allocations

  • Suspend distributions relating to disputed content

Rights disputes are administered in accordance with the Platform Role section of this Policy.

Serenada does not determine publishing ownership, publishing registrations, collection society entitlements or publishing royalty allocations between rights holders.

Serenada may rely upon:

  • Agreements between parties

  • Court orders

  • Settlement agreements

  • Legal determinations

  • Other reliable evidence

when determining how to administer the Platform.

Copyright Complaints and Takedown Requests

A person who believes that content available through the Platform infringes their copyright, neighbouring rights, trademark rights or other intellectual property rights may submit a complaint or takedown request to Serenada.

Complaints and takedown requests should be submitted to:

copyright@serenada.music

A complaint should include:

  • Full name and contact details of the complainant

  • Company name, where applicable

  • Details of the rights claimed

  • Identification of the content in dispute

  • A description of the alleged infringement

  • Evidence of ownership or authority to act on behalf of the rights holder

  • Any supporting documentation reasonably available

  • A statement that the complainant has a good-faith belief that the use of the material is not authorised by the rights holder, its agent or the law

  • A statement that the information provided is accurate to the best of the complainant's knowledge

  • An electronic signature or full legal name

Evidence may include:

  • Copyright registrations

  • Label agreements

  • Distribution records

  • Split sheets

  • Licence agreements

  • Chain of title documentation

  • Other supporting evidence

Upon receipt of a complaint, Serenada may:

  • Request further information

  • Contact affected parties

  • Restrict access to content

  • Remove content

  • Suspend distributions

  • Freeze payments relating to the disputed content

  • Preserve platform records and evidence

  • Take any other action reasonably necessary to investigate the complaint

Submission of a complaint does not automatically result in content removal.

Serenada will review the information available and determine what interim action, if any, is appropriate.

For the avoidance of doubt, submission of a copyright complaint does not require Serenada to determine ownership of publishing rights or publishing royalty entitlements.

Serenada may take action based upon the evidence available in order to protect the Platform, its users and the rights of third parties whilst any underlying dispute is resolved by the parties concerned.

Counter-Notice Procedure

A person whose content has been subject to a complaint or takedown request may submit a counter-notice.

A counter-notice should include:

  • Full name and contact details

  • Identification of the affected content

  • A statement explaining why the content was uploaded lawfully

  • Supporting evidence

  • Any relevant agreements, licences or ownership documentation

  • An electronic signature or full legal name

Serenada may review the counter-notice, request further information and determine whether content, payments or account access should be restored.

Contributor Disputes

Contributor disputes may include:

  • Contributor status disputes

  • Contributor allocation disputes

  • Contribution entitlement disputes

  • Revenue participation disputes

Where a Contributor dispute arises, Serenada may temporarily withhold disputed amounts pending investigation.

Serenada acts solely as an administrator of contributor allocations supplied through the Platform and does not determine creative contribution or commercial entitlement between collaborators.

Royalty and Payment Disputes

Users may dispute:

  • Royalty calculations

  • Payment amounts

  • Missing payments

  • Contributor payments

  • Referral payments

  • Reporting information

Serenada may investigate platform records and payment data to determine whether an administrative error has occurred.

Where an error is identified, Serenada may:

  • Correct reports

  • Adjust balances

  • Issue corrective payments

  • Recover overpayments

Referral Disputes

Referral disputes may include:

  • Referral attribution disputes

  • Referral qualification disputes

  • Referral eligibility disputes

  • Referral fraud investigations

  • Referral payment disputes

Serenada may review:

  • Referral records

  • Account records

  • Subscription history

  • Payment records

  • Fraud prevention systems

  • Platform activity

Serenada may amend, remove or reassign referral attribution where necessary to enforce platform policies or prevent abuse.

Moderation Appeals

Users may appeal moderation actions including:

  • Content removals

  • Account suspensions

  • Account restrictions

  • Community guideline enforcement decisions

Moderation appeals should be submitted in accordance with the process set out in Serenada's Content & Community Rules.

Where a moderation decision was communicated by email, the affected party should follow the appeal instructions contained within that communication and any applicable deadlines specified in Serenada's Content & Community Rules.

Serenada may review the original decision and any additional evidence submitted by the affected party.

The outcome of an appeal may include:

  • Reinstatement

  • Modification of the action

  • Confirmation of the original action

Fraud and Abuse

Where Serenada reasonably suspects fraud, abuse, manipulation or other prohibited activity, it may:

  • Suspend accounts

  • Restrict functionality

  • Remove content

  • Freeze balances

  • Withhold payments

  • Reverse payments

  • Recover payments

  • Refer matters to relevant authorities

Fraud investigations may remain confidential where necessary to protect platform integrity.

Repeat Rights Infringement

Serenada may suspend, restrict or terminate accounts that repeatedly upload, distribute or otherwise make available content that infringes the rights of others.

Serenada may take repeat infringement history into account when determining whether content, accounts or payment rights should remain active on the Platform.

Final Determinations

Following investigation, Serenada may:

  • Reject a dispute

  • Uphold a dispute

  • Partially uphold a dispute

  • Correct platform records

  • Amend contributor allocations

  • Amend referral attribution

  • Release withheld funds

  • Continue withholding disputed funds

  • Remove content

  • Restore content

  • Take any other action permitted under the Terms

Serenada's decision regarding platform administration shall be final unless required otherwise by law or a binding legal determination.

Court Orders and Legal Proceedings

Where a dispute becomes the subject of legal proceedings, Serenada may:

  • Continue withholding disputed funds

  • Restrict disputed content

  • Suspend platform activity relating to the dispute

  • Comply with court orders

  • Comply with legal obligations

Serenada may require evidence of legal proceedings before taking action under this section.

Changes to this Policy

Serenada may amend this Disputes Policy from time to time.

Continued use of the Platform following any amendment constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy.

Contact

General disputes:

disputes@serenada.music

Copyright complaints and takedown requests:

copyright@serenada.music