The Beyond Music Project (“Project”) is held by Beyond Music (“Beyond”, “we”, “our”, “us”), a service provided by the Beyond Foundation.
These Conditions of Participation, together with our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, Cookies Policy and any other terms specifically referred to in any of those documents, constitute a legally binding agreement (the “Agreement”) between you and Beyond in relation to your participation in the Project.
1. Beyond Music Project
The Project is aimed at musicians from around the world who enjoy cross-cultural exchange with other musicians and collaborative music making.
The Project invites musicians to find musical partners with different cultural backgrounds from all over the world to create compositions, performances, and recordings together.
The Project seeks innovative, new music beyond borders that has the power to have an impact on social change in the world.
The Project unites cultures in the world through music to create cross-cultural understanding, awareness, dialogue, and respect.
Through joining the platform and becoming engaged in the Project, musicians make an active contribution to global understanding and their cross-cultural collaborations generate a sense of creative togetherness beyond borders. It’s about Music as a catalyst for social change, inspiring and encouraging people to take action; giving voice to those who are often unheard and in need.
The musical focus for the respective Project will be announced on Beyond’s website and/or social media profiles.
The winning songs of the project will be released individually and/or as part of the Beyond Music Album. The top three artist teams will also have the chance to collaborate with world famous and award-winning guest artists on their song. Apart from that, all artist teams will have the opportunity to professionally market their songs through Beyond Music’s distribution partners, including social media coverage and playlist pitching.
2. Participation Requirements
The Project is open to all musicians registered on Beyond (“Participants”) and will only be carried out online on Beyond.
For minors, the 13th birthday (completion of 13th year) is taken as the minimum age for participation. Minors under the age of 18 require a declaration of consent from their legal guardian or sole custodial parent which can be found at the end of the Terms of Use.
The existence of a recording or publishing contract does not necessarily represent an obstacle to participation. However, by taking part in the Project, Participants clearly state that there are no conflicting rights of third parties such as recording companies and publishers in relation to the submitted music as defined in the following provisions and that these third parties have been informed of this participation.
3. Submissions
At least three musicians from at least two different cultural backgrounds must connect, collaborate, develop, and submit an original piece of music to the Project, in accordance with the idea of Beyond “uniting cultures through music”. The teams formed within that process are referred to as “collaborations” or “artist teams” in the following while individuals will be referred to as “Participant(s)” in the following.
We are looking for creative collaborations and “new”, innovative pieces of music that reflect the musical focus of the Project. The musical focus for the respective Project will be announced on Beyond’s website and/or social media profiles.
Any genre and any combination of genres is welcome. The Participants are free to choose the style of music. We are searching for strong lyrics and vocals that add a powerful message to your musical works. The piece of music should be characterized by cross-cultural musical interaction and the performance must adhere to the requirements of the musical focus of the Project.
After creating the cross-cultural composition and recorded performance, the artist teams must nominate one team member as the “Administrator” of the submission, who uploads the song as the entry for the Project. The Administrator must specify all members of the artist team, the composition and recorded performance which will appear in the profile of each Participant under “Music”.
Any participating collaboration must provide a short text explaining what the piece of music is about and give information about the title, instruments and vocals, genre and regional background of the composition and the recording. All lyrics in the musical piece must be attached in the original language as well as an English translation.
Each Participant can be involved in a maximum of eight song submissions for the Project. The same combination of artists in a collaboration can submit a maximum of three songs. We look forward to seeing you participate in various collaborations and hearing your musical versatility and creativity.
Music submitted to the Project should be semi-professionally recorded.
The upload of the recordings is only possible during the submission phase.
The composition and recorded performance must be submitted in the form of an audio file. Eligible file formats are audio/mpeg, audio/x-m4a, audio/m4a, audio/ogg, audio/x-flac, audio/flac, audio/x-wav, audio/vnd.wav, audio/wav. This also includes WAVE (WAV), FLAC, OGG, MP2, and MP3.
The server upload limit is 50 MB.
The compositions and recordings must not have been published or released for commercial exploitation through other platforms (e.g., Apple Music, Spotify) or made available on recording media prior to upload. After being submitted to the Project, music pieces may not be exploited commercially on other platforms (e.g., Apple Music, Spotify) or sold on other recording media.
If the lyrics and/or music are not original compositions, the existing rights of third parties such as recording companies, music publishers and copyright collectives must be disclosed. By agreeing to the Conditions of Participation, the Participant expressly agrees that said participation has been cleared with rights holders and that these rights do not run counter to the Conditions of Participation in the Project.
Each Participant must approve the submission in its final version and agree to these Conditions of Participation. After the approval and agreement of each Participant, submissions to the Project are considered successfully submitted and cannot be deleted or withdrawn.
The authorship for the piece of music remains with the artist, Beyond receives the complete usage rights, and edit rights (for scope, see Assignment of rights under Article 8, Usage rights).
4. Procedures
The Project is composed of three stages:
1) COLLABORATION AND SUBMISSION PHASE:
In the first phase, Participants will collaborate and upload their collaborative works as ensembles/artist teams to the platform. The submission start date for the Project and deadline are announced on the website. Music submitted after the deadline will not be eligible for consideration.
2) WINNER SELECTION PHASE:
In this phase, twenty (20) pieces of music (hereinafter referred to as “winner track(s)”) will be selected from all the submissions by Beyond and/or producers affiliated with Beyond. The artist teams behind the winner tracks (hereinafter referred to as “winning artist teams”) will be informed by Beyond via email and presented on Beyond's website.
The celebrity guest artists and Beyond will select the winner tracks according to objective and subjective musical and content-related criteria. The musical performance will be judged based on musicality, vocals, instrumental performance and originality. Apart from that the main criteria will be the significance of the lyrics with respect to the musical focus of the Project.
3) SONG PRODUCTION PHASE:
In this phase, three tracks out of the winner tracks will be re-produced and mixed in a studio of guest artist’s choice (details see “Prize”). All other winner tracks will be professionally mastered on behalf of Beyond. For this, the artist teams must send the complete session of the track from Pro Tools, Logic Pro X or Ableton Live Session to Beyond. If artist teams work with alternative digital audio workstations (DAW) such as Cubase, the audio files must be sent separately. In all cases, MP3 files of the submissions must also be sent for reference.
5. PRIZE
Beyond works with world renowned and award-winning guest artists on the Project. Guest artists get to pick three submissions in total as their favorite songs. The artist teams that created one of the chosen songs are invited by Beyond to a professional recording session with the guest artist in a studio of guest artist’s choice to professionally re-produce the song in collaboration with this artist.
Beyond will take care of all travel, accommodation, food, transport and the opportunity to perform in a music video along with the guest artist.
The three singles will be accompanied by a significant marketing budget.
The further 17 winner tracks will be mastered and will be released along with the top three winning songs on the Beyond Music Album Vol. 4 (herein referred to as “Beyond Music Album”).
The Beyond Music Album will be marketed worldwide with a substantial marketing budget.
Furthermore, the artist teams will benefit from the exploitation of the tracks (for details see Article 8.1, ii).
Songs that have not been picked as winner tracks can be professionally distributed via Beyond’s distribution partner. Details are subject to a separate agreement. Participants that are interested in such collaborations are invited to directly reach out to Beyond for further instructions.
6. Inadmissible content
Submissions that involve prejudice or stereotypes, both positive and negative, or that contain false historical facts will not be considered. Participation in the form of lyrics, photos and sound recordings that offend public decency or applicable law (in particular copyright, trademark, image or naming rights of third parties) will also be disallowed. In particular, lyrics, photos or sound recordings whose content may be potentially illegal, pornographic, hazardous to youth or racist, or that glorify violence or contain content that may infringe the personal rights of third parties, may not be published. Moreover, no photos may be uploaded that promote third parties, their products, services and/or trademarks.
Participants may report inadmissible content to Beyond by using the contact form or write to info@beyondmusic.org.
The exclusion, blocking or deletion of photos, lyrics or sound recordings is at the discretion of Beyond and may be carried out without consulting the affected Participants should such photos, lyrics or sound recordings infringe these Conditions of Participation or statutory provisions or if such an infringement cannot be discounted. Any claims of the Participant relating to the exclusion, blocking or deletion of photo or audio material are explicitly excluded.
7. Copyright, usage, exploitation, and reproduction rights (ancillary copyrights)
7.1.
i) By submitting a song,
ii) The compensation (“License share”) for the artist teams regarding the winner tracks is:
iii) The Participants of the winning artist teams are willing to give interviews and send Beyond texts, sound, photo and video recordings with their statements and quotes for promoting the album and the Project. They declare their irrevocable agreement to the usage and editing, unrestricted regarding content, time, and territory, of such texts, film and photo recordings (image and/or audio) on radio, television, or the Internet. This agreement includes the publication, reproduction, distribution, transmission, and public availability of recordings in television-on-demand on Internet platforms.
7.2.
iv) The Participant warrants that he or she possesses all rights to the photos, videos, lyrics, compositions, arrangements and sound recordings submitted and is also in possession of unrestricted exploitation rights. Further, the Participant warrants that the photos, videos, lyrics, compositions, arrangements and sound recordings submitted are free from third-party claims and that the depiction of persons in the photos and videos submitted does not represent an infringement of personal rights. Should one or more persons be clearly identifiable in a photo or video the persons so depicted must agree with the publication of their image. The Participant must secure these declarations of agreement in writing.
v) The Participant warrants that the musical works and recordings (musical pieces) made publicly accessible is free from third-party claims (e.g., collecting societies, co-authors, musicians, labels, producers, Broadcasters, etc.), particularly those of copyright and exploitation rights. The Participant further warrants he or she has right of free disposal over the material. If the Participant is already under contract to third parties (recording companies, music publishers, copyright collectives), said Participant will disclose these relationships and is responsible for declaring his or her participation to rights holders and that these rights do not run counter to the rights granted to Beyond under this agreement.
vi) By submitting the musical work and recorded performance, each member of the collaboration explicitly must agree to the submission and the rights granted under these Conditions of Participation and the transmission of the musical piece and the assignment of rights. Each member of the collaboration warrants expressively that the performing music ensemble respectively members of the performing music ensemble are in possession of all rights to the musical work (composition/ lyrics/ music/ arrangement/ sound recordings) submitted (if subject to copyright regulations) and that he/she is also in possession of the respective exploitation rights. Moreover, on first request, the Participant will make available to Beyond the documents that confirm the unrestricted right to undertake the assignment of rights. By participating, the Participant in particular warrants that Beyond will not be infringing any personal rights by making public usage of the work under these Conditions (e.g., the right to one’s own likeness for persons depicted in pictures or videos) or other rights (such as trademark rights).
vii) The Participant grants Beyond the right, free of charge and unrestricted with regard to time and territory, for material arising from the Project and the production and/or for the material submitted (including but not limited to sound, video and photographs) and any coverage of same (regardless of medium, including but not limited to print media, radio and television media, online and social media portals such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter or other portals deemed appropriate by Beyond).
viii) The Participant is aware and accepts that the usage of recordings of their person in social networks is subject to the conditions of usage of the relevant network and possibly also the data protection provisions of other countries.
ix) Moreover, the Participant grants Beyond the relevant rights to use and make available text, photo, video, and audio material for its online portal and for all other digital products, e.g., as teasers or for third parties. The granting of rights also includes the right to prepare the work for broadcast, to abridge and in some cases to also pair the work with other works. Such processing will be carried out in consideration of the moral rights of the Participant.
x) In particular, the musical works and sound recordings will form part of a publicly available music archive that will be maintained by Beyond following the conclusion of the Project. If a User deletes his/her account, the entire profile including all personal information, photos etc. will be deleted. However, submissions to the Project where the user was a contributing artist, will not be deleted; they will remain part of an ongoing Project and/or in the archives of Beyond. Beyond has unlimited usage on the Project submissions. The submissions will remain linked to the user’s name as contributing artist.
xi) Participants declare their express agreement that their photographs, addresses and other contact details may be given to third parties for the purposes of publicity work and concert management, and those photographs and names may appear in the publications and websites of Beyond in the present and/or in the future, nationally and internationally.
xii) Beyond is under no general obligation to determine the accuracy of content provided by the Participants in their contributions.
xiii) For all other submitted musical pieces, all participating non-winners may once again dispose of their rights (with the limitation of Beyond's rights of use e.g., for archives, promotion and explanation of Project) to their music pieces once the Project is concluded. However, if desired by the participating non-winners, Beyond offers the possibility to exploit the submitted musical works (lyrics, compositions, arrangements), performances and recordings e.g., as production music (music for film and TV soundtracks) or to have them exploited by third parties.
8. Exemption from liability
The Participant warrants that Beyond is exempt from any claims by third parties or will be compensated for any claims that relate to the usage of contributions where such third parties assert that the contributions infringe their personal rights, copyright, or other immaterial rights. In particular, the Participant exempts Beyond from all claims for compensation resulting from such claims, including reasonable costs for legal defence both in- or out-of-court. Beyond is under no general obligation to determine the accuracy of content provided by the Participants in their contributions.
9. Cancellation of the Project
Beyond explicitly reserves the right to prematurely terminate the Project at any time and without prior notice for substantial reasons or due to reasons beyond its control.
Such a reason may arise if the orderly execution of the Project can no longer be guaranteed due to legal, technical, or other reasons. Insofar as termination becomes necessary due to disruption caused by a Participant, Beyond is entitled to assert claims for damages from said Participant.
10. Data protection
For participation in the Project, it is essential that Participants register with an email address and a postal address. Beyond gathers, processes, uses, and saves the data supplied during registration for the purposes of carrying out, processing and evaluating the Project and transfers this information to co-operation partners for these same purposes.
By entering the Project, the Participant declares his or her agreement that the personal data supplied may be saved, managed, and used by the promoter during the Project.
The registration data will not be used for third-party purposes without the express consent of Participants.
All personal data of Participants will be processed and used by Beyond in agreement with statutory provisions and not for advertising purposes.
The promoter warrants that any personal data of the Participants will be saved and used solely the purposes of carrying out and processing the Project.
11. Exclusion
Employees of Beyond or companies associated with Beyond as well as employees of participating co-operation partners are excluded from participating.
Also excluded are any persons who make use of unauthorized means or gain advantage through some other means of manipulation. In some of these cases, Project winnings can be retrospectively revoked and claimed back.
Participants who provide false personal details can also be excluded.
For any infringement of these Conditions of Participation, Beyond reserves the right to exclude persons from the Project.
The exclusion, blocking or deletion of photos, videos, lyrics, compositions, arrangements, and sound recordings is at the discretion of Beyond and may occur without consulting the affected Participants should such photos, videos, lyrics, compositions, arrangements and sound recordings infringe these Conditions of Participation or statutory provisions or if such an infringement cannot be discounted. Any claims on Beyond relating to the exclusion, blocking or deletion of text, photo, video, or audio material are explicitly excluded.
12. Liability
In the event of damage to the Participant resulting from the actions of the promoter, Beyond only accepts liability to the extent that this damage is caused by Beyond wilfully or through gross negligence and only in the case of infringement of essential contractual obligation, i.e., an obligation whose fulfilment shapes the contract and on which the contract partner can and does regularly rely and is restricted to typical contractual and foreseeable damage. Any other liability is excluded. This restriction does not apply to damage or injury to life, body or health or in cases of mandatory legal liability. Finally, any liability for collateral, indirect or consequential damage, for lost profits or for the claims of third parties on the Participant arising from the non-fulfilment or inadequate fulfilment of the Participant’s obligations is explicitly excluded.
Beyond accepts no liability for disruptions not caused by Beyond, particularly technical errors relating to Internet access which may prevent the timely submission of Project entries.
However, the limitation of liability above also applies correspondingly to the benefit of the vicarious agents of the promoter.
13. Other
Participants will not receive an expense allowance or compensation for their participation in the Project.
Beyond reserves the right to suspend or to prematurely terminate or change the running order of the Project at any time, insofar as technical reasons (e.g., computer virus, manipulation or errors in software/hardware) or legal reasons or reasons outside of its control make it impossible to ensure the Project can be carried out in an orderly fashion. Beyond reserves the right the change the contents and the procedure of the Project if Beyond considers these changes necessary to adjust to unforeseen situations. In such an event, Participants have no claims against Beyond.
Should any of these conditions be or become invalid, the validity of the remaining conditions remains unaffected.
There is no legal recourse regarding the execution of the Project, particularly the decisions of Beyond and the commissioned producers or mentors.
14. Applicable law and jurisdiction
The legal relationship between Beyond and the Participant is exclusively subject to Swiss law. The sole place of jurisdiction is Zurich.
Last Amended: September 2023