The Ark of Music

The best music in the world...you never new existed.

Terms of Use & Privacy Policy

A FEW KEY DEFINITIONS TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND OUR TERMS OF USE & PRIVACY POLICY:
“OUR COMPANY, US, WE” – Refers to The Ark of Music LLC and its online platforms:  TheArkofMusic.com and GuaranteedMusicReview.com.
“YOU” – Refers to any customer, user, viewer, listener, or fan of our company’s services.
“MUSIC REVIEW” – Refers to any single component—or combination of those components—included in our music related services. This includes—but is not limited to:  the written album/single review, written and/or audio/visual interviews, Instant Music List features, embedded playlists, photos, artwork and more.
“SITE(S)” – Refers to the particular website(s) in question.
“SUBMISSION(S)” – Refers to any information you submit to us for the creation of a music review or any other reason.

Terms of Use

PLEASE NOTE:
These Terms of Use govern your use of both TheArkofMusic.com, as well as GuaranteedMusicReview.com which are both provided by our company, The Ark of Music LLC. By accessing and using these sites in any capacity whatsoever, you are indicating your acknowledgment and acceptance of these Terms of Use. These Terms of Use are subject to immediate change, at our discretion, without warning. Your use of TheArkofMusic.com and GuaranteedMusicReview.com after any changes have occurred constitutes your acknowledgement and acceptance of these changes. Visiting these Terms of Use regularly will keep you up-to-date with any changes.

SUBMISSIONS:
By submitting information for a music review to The Ark of Music LLC (via TheArkofMusic.com and/or GuraranteedMusicReview.com) you are agreeing—in fact, you are guaranteeing—that you have the rights to any and all information, intellectual property, content and media submitted; and that the act of submitting it does not violate any laws, or infringe on the intellectual property rights of any other party.

The Ark of Music LLC, TheArkofMusic.com, GuaranteedMusicReview.com, and its entire staff are not liable to any third party claims of any kind arising from any information submitted or featured on our sites, including attorney fees and costs. We reserve the right to immediately remove any infringing material, at our discretion, without notice to you.

By submitting information for a music review to The Ark of Music LLC (via TheArkofMusic.com and/or GuraranteedMusicReview.com) you are also agreeing that you have given us permission to use that information to create and publish your music review as described HERE. You are also agreeing that you have given us permission to use that information for other opportunities that might arise where we can promote your music, photos, artwork, videos, and links on our websites and on our social media channels. (FOR EXAMPLE:  If you request a phone/recorded interview with us, we may use your album/single cover artwork, or artist/band photo, as the featured image for the interview when posting it onto our websites and/or social media channels.)

Regardless of whether you submit information for a music review via one of our websites using our forms, OR, you submit that information by Emailing us directly, OR you submit that information in some other way, these same Terms of Use apply. And, by the act of submitting your information you have agreed to these Terms of Use.

We promise to never sell, profit, or use anything you send us for unauthorized commercial purposes. We will only be promoting your brand, your music, and you the artist through our platform and to our network.

USING CONTENT HOSTED BY THIRD PARTY APIs (i.e., using embeddable code from other platforms):
All playlists, videos, and live show/tour schedules on our music reviews and articles are embedded using the official API interfaces (Application Programming Interfaces) as provided by the respective sites (i.e., SoundCloud, ReverbNation, Bandcamp, Bandsintown, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.). To the best of our knowledge, we do this in full compliance with the terms of service agreements of each of those platforms.

Also, we make no guarantees that the content posted/embedded into our music reviews which uses these third parties will remain functional indefinitely, as we have no control over them.

DMCA & INFRINGEMENT:
Contact The Ark of Music LLC HERE (or Email us at:  Contact (at) TheArkofMusic.com) with any concerns with infringement including copyright, trademark, patents, or trade secrets.

For information on the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), click HERE.

Pursuant to the DMCA, The Ark of Music LLC has designated an agent to receive notification of alleged copyright infringement occurring on web pages or computer servers. If you believe that your copyrighted work is being infringed on by The Ark of Music LLC (via TheArkofMusic.com and/or GuraranteedMusicReview.com), please contact our designated agent for these matters using the contact information below:

Designated Agent: Jess
Email Address:  Contact (at) TheArkofMusic.com
Subject:  DMCA Infringement

YOUR MUSIC REVIEW:
We do not—in any way—guarantee that you will be thrilled with our review (i.e., our opinion) of your music. That said, we only review music that we feel exhibits legitimate talent and inspires us in some capacity, which removes any reason for us to produce a “negative” music review. Thus, if we feel that your music is fundamentally sub-par (I.E., vocals are off-key, instrumentation is not in-time, poor quality recording, juvenile lyrics, etc.), is otherwise unappealing due to violent or offensive content, and generally does not represent the creative culture we are trying to create, we will simply deny your music review submission, and promptly refund your payment.

INTERVIEWS:
We reserve the right to edit all interviews (written, recorded, etc.) at our discretion to ensure a professional message is being delivered in an appropriate manner to our audience.

By participating in a recorded interview with our company, you have given us permission to:

  • Record you and post that recording publicly (onto our websites and/or social media channels) per the description of our DELUXE Music Review service;
  • Make that recording available to our users as a free download (on our websites and/or social media channels);
  • Use your album/single cover artwork, or artist/band photo, as the cover image for the interview when posting it online (onto our websites and/or social media channels).

COPYRIGHT:
The Ark of Music LLC, TheArkofMusic.com, GuaranteedMusicReview.com, and their content are protected by U.S. and/or foreign copyright laws. The Ark of Music LLC, TheArkofMusic.com, and GuaranteedMusicReview.com own the exclusive, worldwide copyright to all original content on our websites. This includes—but is not limited to—our written reviews, interviews, and articles. The copyrights of all non-original content on our sites are owned by others who have authorized the use of that content on our sites. This includes—but is not limited to—music and playlists, photos, artwork, live show/tour schedules, videos, etc.

PERMISSION TO USE AND REPRODUCE CONTENT:
With exception of non-commercial use, as well as the fundamental “sharing” of content that occurs via social media channels, no written review, interview, article, or any other piece of original content on our websites may be used, manipulated, altered, and/or reproduced in any form whatsoever without first receiving permission from The Ark of Music LLC (via TheArkofMusic.com and/or GuraranteedMusicReview.com). Getting permission to use, manipulate, alter, and/or reproduce any of our original content can be achieved quite easily by inquiring HERE. Likewise, no use, manipulation, alteration, and/or reproduction of any non-original content on our sites can be done without first gaining permission from the copyright owners of that content. Basically, if you’re not sure, then ask.

YOUR ACCESS OF OUR WEBSITES:
By using our websites (TheArkofMusic.com and/or GuraranteedMusicReview.com) you have agreed that you will use them respectfully, and lawfully and in violation of no known applicable laws as they pertain to our websites or any of the content they contain. You agree that you will not do anything that might:  compromise the security of our websites, render our sites inaccessible, or cause any damage to our sites or any content whatsoever. You agree not to access any content that is not intended for you. You agree not to use our sites in any manner that might interfere with the rights of any other parties. While accessing our sites and some of their features, you may be asked to provide certain registration details or other information. It is a condition of your use of our sites that all the information you provide on our sites will be correct, current, and complete. If we believe the information you provide is not correct, current, or complete, we have the right to refuse you access to our sites or any of our resources, and to terminate or suspend your access at any time, without notice.

POSTING COMMENTS ON OUR WEBSITES:
Your Personal Information – If you post a comment(s) about our music reviews or articles, be aware that comment areas are a PUBLIC SPACE. This means that you are solely and completely responsible for the information that you post in your comments. We strongly urge all of our users to NEVER post any personal information of any kind onto public commenting areas because those areas are open to the public, and what you post there can be seen by anyone and is not protected. Be aware that if you disclose personal information—such as your name, member name, email address, etc.—on a PUBLIC SPACE, such as the comment area of one of our music reviews or articles, that information may be collected and used by others to send unsolicited email, or more. We try to moderate the comments as best we can, but we can’t guarantee total control of the comments that you may receive if you participate in these kinds of PUBLIC SPACE features. Which means it is entirely possible that you may, at times, find other people’s comments to be offensive, harmful, or inaccurate. Our company assumes absolutely no responsibility for any form of damages that might occur during a dialog or information exchange taking place on the public commenting areas on our websites.

Inappropriate Language – Also, we will tolerate absolutely no profanity, violent language, insulting language, or any other forms of inappropriate, overly negative criticism in the commenting areas of our music reviews and articles. We will—without hesitation—block any individual that we feel has posted in this overtly inappropriate manner, and prevent them from ever commenting on our sites again.

RESTRICTIONS ON USE:
You may not (and may not authorize any other party to) “co-brand” our sites without first gaining our permission. What we mean by “co-branding” is this:  To use or display our name, logo, trademark, or other means of attribution or identification in a way that gives other users the impression that you were given the right—by our company—to display, publish or distribute our sites or the content on our sites. You also agree to cease any unauthorized “co-branding” immediately.

TRADEMARKS:
You are prohibited from using any of the marks or logos appearing throughout our websites without first gaining our permission or the permission of the party that provided the content to our company.

HYPERLINKS:
We may use hyperlinks to other websites as a service to our users. Our usage of hyperlinks does not imply endorsement or sponsorship of the websites to which we hyperlink. Our company has not necessarily reviewed any or all of the sites to which we hyperlink, nor are we responsible for the content on those sites. Hyperlinks are to be used at the user’s own risk. When using a hyperlink, please be aware that you become subject to the Terms of Use for the linked site(s).

CHILD SAFETY:
Although we do not post any material that we feel is overtly violent or offensive, it is likely that some of the content on our websites may occasionally contain strong, adult language. The Ark of Music LLC (via TheArkofMusic.com and/or GuraranteedMusicReview.com) encourages parents to implement any and all child control safety measures that they feel are appropriate with regards to our websites.

DOWNLOADS:
Our company cannot and does not guarantee or warrant that any content available for downloading from the internet will be free of viruses, worms, Trojan horses, or any other damaging and destructive code. You are responsible for implementing sufficient safety procedures to prevent any damages or loss of data. You are responsible for recovering any lost data. We assume absolutely no responsibility or risk for your use of the internet.

DISCLAIMER:
Our company does not warrant that the functions performed by our sites or the services will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free, or that defects in the site or the service will be corrected. Likewise, we do not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the content, or that any errors in the content will be corrected.

LIMITATION ON LIABILITY:
Our company, its subsidiaries, affiliates, licensors, service providers, content providers, employees, agents, officers, and directors will not be liable for any incidental, direct, indirect, punitive, actual, consequential, special, exemplary, or other damages, including loss of revenue or income, pain and suffering, emotional distress, or similar damages, even if our company has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event will the collective liability of our company and its subsidiaries, affiliates, licensors, service providers, content providers, employees, agents, officers, and directors, to any party (regardless of the form of action, whether in contract, tort, or otherwise) exceed the amount you have paid to our company for the applicable content, product, or service.

INDEMNITY:
You will indemnify and hold our company, its subsidiaries, affiliates, licensors, content providers, service providers, employees, agents, officers, directors, and contractors (hereinafter known as the “Indemnified Parties”) harmless from any breach of these Terms of Use by you, including any use of content other than as expressly authorized in these Terms of Use. You agree that the Indemnified Parties will have no liability in connection with any such breach or unauthorized use, and you agree to indemnify any and all resulting loss, damages, judgments, awards, costs, expenses, and attorney’s fees of the Indemnified Parties in connection therewith. You will also indemnify and hold the Indemnified Parties harmless from and against any claims brought by third parties arising out of your use of the information accessed from this site.

INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE:
You may not post, send, submit, publish, or transmit in connection with this site any material that:

  • you do not have the right to post, including proprietary material of any third party;
  • advocates illegal activity or discusses an intent to commit an illegal act;
  • is vulgar, obscene, pornographic, or indecent;
  • does not pertain directly to this site;
  • threatens or abuses others, libels, defames, invades privacy, stalks, is obscene, pornographic, racist, abusive, harassing, threatening or offensive;
  • seeks to exploit or harm children by exposing them to inappropriate content, asking for personally identifiable details or otherwise;
  • infringes any intellectual property or other right of any entity or person, including violating anyone’s copyrights or trademarks or their rights of publicity;
  • violates any law or may be considered to violate any law;
  • impersonates or misrepresents your connection to any other entity or person or otherwise manipulates headers or identifiers to disguise the origin of the content;
  • advertises any commercial endeavor (e.g., offering for sale products or services) or otherwise engages in any commercial activity (e.g., conducting raffles or contests, displaying sponsorship banners, and/or soliciting goods or services) except as may be specifically authorized on this site;
  • solicits funds, advertisers or sponsors;
  • includes programs which contain viruses, worms and/or Trojan horses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications;
  • disrupts the normal flow of dialogue, causes a screen to scroll faster than other users are able to type, or otherwise act in a way which affects the ability of other people to engage in real time activities via this site;
  • includes MP3 format files;
  • amounts to a ‘pyramid’ or similar scheme;
  • disobeys any policy or regulations established from time to time regarding use of this site or any networks connected to this site; or
  • contains hyperlinks to other sites that contain content that falls within the descriptions set forth above.

Although under no obligation to do so, our company reserves the right to monitor use of this site to determine compliance with these Terms of Use, as well as the right to remove or refuse any information for any reason. Notwithstanding these rights, you remain solely responsible for the content of your submission(s). You acknowledge and agree that neither our company nor any third party that provides content to our company will assume or have any liability for any action or inaction by our company or such third party with respect to any submission(s).

SECURITY:
Any passwords used for our sites (if any) are for individual use only. You will be responsible for the security of your password(s) (if any). Our company will be entitled to monitor your password(s) and, at our discretion, require you to change your password(s). If you use a password(s) that our company considers insecure, our company will be entitled to require the password(s) to be changed and/or terminate your account.

You are prohibited from using any services or facilities provided in connection with this site to compromise security or tamper with system resources and/or accounts. The use or distribution of tools designed for compromising security (e.g., password guessing programs, cracking tools or network probing tools) is strictly prohibited. If you become involved in any violation of system security, our company reserves the right to release your details to system administrators at other sites in order to assist them in resolving security incidents. Our company reserves the right to investigate suspected violations of these Terms of Use.

Our company reserves the right to fully cooperate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing our company to disclose the identity of anyone posting any Email messages, or publishing, or otherwise making available any materials that are believed to violate these Terms of Use.

By accepting this agreement you waive and hold harmless our company from any claims resulting from any action taken by our company during, or as a result of, its investigations, and/or from any actions taken as a consequence of investigations by either our company or law enforcement authorities.

MISCELLANEOUS:
These Terms of Use will be governed and interpreted pursuant to the laws of New York, United States of America, notwithstanding any principles of conflicts of law. You specifically consent to personal jurisdiction in New York with any dispute between you and our Company arising out of these Terms of Use or pertaining to the subject matter hereof. The parties to these Terms of Use each agree that the exclusive venue for any dispute between the parties arising out of these Terms of Use or pertaining to the subject matter of these Terms of Use will be in the state and/or federal courts in Erie County, New York. If any part of these Terms of Use is unlawful, void or unenforceable, that part will be deemed severable and will not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. These Terms of Use constitute the entire agreement among the parties relating to this subject matter. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any additional terms and conditions on this site will govern the items to which they pertain.

REMOVAL OF MUSIC REVIEWS AND/OR OTHER CONTENT:
At your request, we will remove your music review as quickly as possible. (See our Refund Policy below.) At our discretion, we also reserve the right to remove any content that may be infringing on the intellectual property rights of any other party.

REFUND POLICY:

  • Refunds initiated by you—The Customer/User:
    • If your music review has not yet been published on TheArkofMusic.com, you can request a full refund which will terminate your music review process.
    • If your music review has already been published on TheArkofMusic.com, no refund will be granted to you. However, we will remove your music review at your request.
  • Refunds initiated by us—The Ark of Music LLC via TheArkofMusic.com and/or GuraranteedMusicReview.com:
    • If we feel that the music you’ve submitted for review is sub-par, unappealing, and generally does not represent the culture we are trying to create, we reserve the right to respectfully deny your music review submission, and we will promptly refund your payment.

TESTIMONIALS:
By submitting a testimonial to The Ark of Music LLC (via TheArkofMusic.com and/or GuraranteedMusicReview.com), you are agreeing that you have given us permission to use that information on our websites and any of our social media channels for the purpose of marketing our services to others. You are also agreeing that you have given us permission to edit the testimonial as we see fit for the purposes of correct grammar and spelling, as well as to ensure the absence of potentially offensive content. We also reserve the right to decline the use of your testimonial altogether without warning or explanation.

ASSIGNMENT AND DELEGATION:

We may freely assign Our Company’s rights or interests hereunder, delegate the performance of its duties hereunder, or transfer ownership rights and title in the Sites, Music Reviews, Submissions, or any other data you submit to us to a third party without your consent or prior notice to you. You may not assign or transfer any of your rights, interests, duties or obligations hereunder without the prior written consent of Our Company. Any attempted or actual assignment thereof without Our Company’s prior explicit and written consent will be null and void. In any event, an assignment or transfer pursuant to this Section shall not in itself grant either Us or You the right to cancel any Music Review or requested services.

Our company reserves the right to revise these Terms of Use at any time by updating this posting.

Privacy Policy

PLEASE NOTE:
This Privacy Policy is to govern your use of both TheArkofMusic.com, as well as GuaranteedMusicReview.com which are both provided by our company, The Ark of Music LLC. By accessing and using these sites in any capacity whatsoever, you are indicating your acknowledgment and acceptance of this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy is subject to immediate change, at our discretion, without warning. Your use of TheArkofMusic.com and GuaranteedMusicReview.com after any changes have occurred constitutes your acknowledgement and acceptance of these changes. Visiting this Privacy Policy regularly will keep you up-to-date with any changes.

OUR PLEDGE TO YOU:
We pledge to respect your privacy, always. We will never share your Email address—or any other information—with any other party, unless you have requested or authorized us to do so.

ORDERING ANY PRODUCTS OR SERVICES:
When you order products or services directly from our company we will use the personal information you provide only to process that order. We do not share this information with outside parties except to the extent necessary to complete that order.

Our company has no control over any third party website’s use of any personal information you provide when placing an order. We recommend reviewing the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use policy of any company whose website you may access from our sites.

SUBSCRIPTIONS:
Subscribing – When you opt to subscribe to our free weekly Music-Discovery E-Newsletter you will receive a regular Email from us containing all of our latest music reviews, as well as any other information we feel may be of interest to our subscribers. The Email address that you use to subscribe will never be used for any other purpose other than to fulfill your subscription.

Unsubscribing – If you no longer want to receive your subscription Emails from us, you can easily unsubscribe at any time using the unsubscribe link at the bottom of all of our E-newsletters. If, for some reason, you continue to receive unwanted Emails from us, let us know by sending an Email to:  Contact (at) TheArkofMusic.com, or by using our contact page HERE.

MUSIC REVIEW SUBMISSIONS:
Submission of Payment Information – When you purchase an online Guaranteed Music Review, the entirety of the payment process (including any exchange of payment information) will be accomplished through PayPal.

Submission of Artist Content – When you submit for a music review you will be asked for detailed information such as Name, Billing Address (for our tax purposes only), album/single information, photos, URLs, etc. This information will never—under any circumstances—be shared with any other party or entity unless you have requested or authorized us to do so.

EMAILING US:
If you send us an Email, we will respond to your Email using the Email address you offered in your message. We will not use your Email address for any other purpose unless you have requested or authorized us to do so. Once again, we will never share your Email address—or any other information—with any other party, unless you have requested or authorized us to do so.

POSTING COMMENTS ON OUR WEBSITES:
If you post a comment(s) about our music reviews or articles, be aware that comment areas are a PUBLIC SPACE. This means that you are solely and completely responsible for the information that you post in your comments. We strongly urge all of our users to NEVER post any personal information of any kind onto public commenting areas because those areas are open to the public, and what you post there can be seen by anyone and is not protected. Be aware that if you disclose personal information—such as your name, member name, email address, etc.—on a PUBLIC SPACE, such as the comment area of one of our music reviews or articles, that information may be collected and used by others to send unsolicited email, or more. We try to moderate the comments as best we can, but we can’t guarantee total control of the comments that you may receive if you participate in these kinds of PUBLIC SPACE features. Which means it is entirely possible that you may, at times, find other people’s comments to be offensive, harmful, or inaccurate. Our company assumes absolutely no responsibility for any form of damages that might occur during a dialog or information exchange taking place on the public commenting areas on our websites.

AUTOMATIC COLLECTION OF INFORMATION:
Cookies – Our company may use “Cookies” to collect information. Cookies are small pieces of information stored by your browser on your computer’s hard drive, at a web site’s request. Our Cookies do not contain any personal information, but are used primarily as follows:

  • to keep track of temporary information. For example, Cookies allow us to keep track of the pictures you upload and download;
  • to register you in special programs. Cookies allow us to remember you when you login to the places on our sites that may require membership;
  • to remember your country and language preferences;
  • to help us understand the size of our audience and traffic patterns;
  • to collect and record information about what you viewed on our sites and what you viewed in our Email;
  • to manage and present site information and the pictures displayed on your computer, and
  • to deliver information specific to your interests.

Web Beacons – We may also place small “tracker gifs” or “beacons” on many of the pages on our websites, in online advertising with third parties, and in our Email. We use these beacons, in connection with Cookies, to collect non-personal data on the usage of our sites, including—but not limited to:  the date and time of the visit, the pages visited, the referring web page, the type of browser (e.g., Internet Explorer, NetScape), the type of operating system (e.g., Windows, Linux, or Mac), and the domain name of the visitor’s internet service provider (e.g., AOL). This information is collected about thousands of site visits and analyzed as a whole. This information is useful in, for example, tracking the performance of our online advertising, such as online banner ads, and to determine where to place future advertising on other websites.

Third Party Use of Cookies and Web Beacons – Our company uses third party APIs for platforms such as SoundCloud, ReverbNation, Bandcamp, Bandsintown, YouTube, Vimeo, Disqus, etc. To learn whether or not, how, and when these platforms use cookies and/or web beacons, visit those platforms directly. 

DISABLING COOKIES AND BEACONS:
If you are uncomfortable with the collection of such information through the use of Cookies and Beacons, we recommend disabling these features through your browser preferences; though please understand this will limit the performance and functionality of our websites. Your browser documentation should provide specific procedures for disabling cookie and beacon support.

Here is Google’s page on how you can control advertising cookies:
http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ads/

Also, you may opt out of Google Analytics by visiting the Google Analytics Opt-out page here:
http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

OUR COMMITMENT TO DATA SECURITY:
While we make every effort to ensure the integrity and security of our company and our websites, we cannot guarantee that our security measures will prevent third-party “hackers” from illegally obtaining information. Thus, we urge you to take every precaution to protect your personal information while you are on the Internet.

Our company reserves the right to revise this Privacy Policy at any time by updating this posting.

REVISIONS TO OUR POLICIES:
We reserve the right to revise and/or amend our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and any other of our policies and agreements at any time and in any manner, by updating this posting.

WHERE TO DIRECT QUESTIONS ABOUT OUR TERMS OF USE, PRIVACY POLICY, AND ANY OTHER OF OUR POLICIES AND AGREEMENTS:
If you have any questions about our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and/or any other of our policies and agreements, you may contact us HERE. Or, simply send us an Email to:  Contact (at) TheArkofMusic.com.

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