1. Eligibility and age
If you are old enough to use The Collective but are not legally able to agree to these Terms on your own, a parent or legal guardian must agree on your behalf where required by applicable law.
If you do not meet the applicable minimum age or eligibility requirements, do not use The Collective or its Creator Hub features.
2. The Collective services
The Collective is an independent music-promotion community that operates primarily through Discord. The website provides public community information and member-facing Creator Hub tools. Features may include a live leaderboard, creator profiles, submissions, favorites, announcements, Creator Resources, the Newsletter Sender, AI-assisted newsletter hotspot detection, and related tools.
The Newsletter Sender currently lets eligible Creator Hub members connect their own Gmail, Outlook/Microsoft, or IONOS account and initiate email sends through that provider. The Collective is an interface for the member’s connected account; it is not the member’s underlying mailbox provider.
Features, eligibility, usage limits, supported providers, and technical limits may change as the service develops.
3. Accounts and connected services
Creator Hub uses Discord authentication. You are responsible for maintaining control of your Discord account and any email account you connect. You may connect only an email account that you own or are authorized to use.
By connecting Gmail or Outlook, you authorize The Collective to use the permissions shown during the provider’s OAuth flow for the user-facing features you request. By connecting IONOS, you authorize The Collective to authenticate to IONOS SMTP using the credentials or app password you provide. You can remove a connected provider from the Newsletter Sender when you no longer want The Collective to use that stored connection.
You may not access another member’s account, use credentials without permission, bypass access controls, or attempt to obtain another person’s tokens, passwords, sessions, verification codes, or private data.
Signed-in Creator Hub use may generate limited first-party operational activity records, including sign-in timestamps and general page or feature actions, for service administration, security, troubleshooting, abuse prevention, and feature-use analytics. The Privacy Policy explains the categories recorded, retention practices, and available privacy requests. These records are not intended to capture newsletter bodies, recipient addresses, account passwords, OAuth tokens, or raw request bodies.
3A. Core Collective paid membership
Core Collective is an optional paid subscription that provides eligible members with benefits described on the membership page, including certain profile and Creator Page customization options and a subscriber Discord role. The monthly and annual plans are billed automatically at the price, currency, billing frequency, and applicable taxes shown before checkout. Each plan automatically renews at the end of its billing period unless canceled. There is no requirement to subscribe in order to use the free areas of The Collective.
Manage or cancel: Sign in with the same Discord account you used to subscribe, open Membership from your account menu, and use Stripe's secure billing portal to cancel, update payment details, or view your billing information. Where the portal schedules cancellation for the end of the paid billing period, access generally continues through that date while the subscription remains active. An immediately terminated or otherwise inactive subscription loses paid access and the associated Discord role. A canceled subscription does not automatically reactivate; you may subscribe again through the membership page.
Paid benefits require continued eligibility for the Discord server and relevant website features. Features and entitlements may evolve; material changes to paid benefits or pricing will be communicated as required by applicable law. Paid membership does not guarantee playlist placement, promotion results, or availability of any particular giveaway. Priority Spotify submission review means priority consideration, not paid placement.
Refunds and prorations are subject to the terms presented during purchase and applicable law. For billing errors or refund inquiries, contact The Collective administrators through our Discord community. Stripe is the payment processor; its separate terms also apply when you use Stripe Checkout or the billing portal.
Community giveaways are governed by their published giveaway rules and applicable law. Where a free method of entry is provided, purchasing a membership is not required to enter.
4. Newsletter Sender acceptable use
You agree not to use the Newsletter Sender to:
- send spam, unsolicited bulk email, phishing, scams, malware, deceptive messages, or unlawful content;
- use purchased, scraped, harvested, stolen, or otherwise improperly obtained recipient lists;
- send to people where you lack the consent, permission, relationship, or other lawful basis required for the message in the relevant jurisdiction;
- use false or misleading header information, sender identities, reply addresses, subject lines, domains, or links;
- impersonate another person, artist, organization, or business without authorization;
- circumvent Gmail, Microsoft, IONOS, The Collective, or another provider’s sending limits, anti-spam systems, abuse protections, or account restrictions;
- harass, threaten, exploit, discriminate against, or target recipients in a way that violates law or The Collective’s community rules.
If a newsletter is commercial or promotional, you are responsible for meeting applicable email-marketing requirements. In the United States, this can include accurate header and subject information, a valid physical postal address, a clear opt-out mechanism, and timely honoring of opt-out requests under CAN-SPAM. Other countries or states may impose consent, identification, recordkeeping, or unsubscribe requirements that are different or stricter.
Every newsletter sent through The Collective includes a Collective-hosted unsubscribe link. After the recipient enters the address that received the newsletter, The Collective may show the Creator Hub accounts that have previously sent newsletters to that address through The Collective. The recipient can choose which eligible creator or creators to unsubscribe from. The Collective places a one-way identifier for that address on each selected creator’s suppression list and automatically excludes that recipient from future Newsletter Sender deliveries from those Creator Hub accounts, regardless of which connected Gmail, Outlook, or IONOS account a selected creator uses.
You may not attempt to bypass, remove, defeat, reset, or circumvent The Collective’s unsubscribe or suppression controls, including by reconnecting another provider or re-adding an opted-out address. The built-in suppression feature applies only to newsletters sent through The Collective and does not by itself manage mail that you send outside the service or satisfy every consent, recordkeeping, identification, or opt-out requirement that may apply to you.
The application currently limits a single send to no more than 500 parsed recipient addresses, but your connected provider may impose a lower per-message, hourly, daily, account-age, reputation, or anti-abuse limit. A Collective application limit is not permission to send up to that amount under a provider’s rules or applicable law.
5. Gmail From addresses and verification
Your primary connected Gmail address is available as a From option. The Collective may also allow you to save additional From addresses after you successfully enter a six-digit verification code sent to the address.
The Collective’s email-code verification confirms only that the person completing the verification can receive mail at that address at that time. It does not independently confirm that Google has configured the address as an authorized Gmail “Send mail as” identity, that the address will be accepted by Gmail for every send, or that you have all legal rights needed to use the identity.
Before using an additional Gmail From address, you are responsible for ensuring that it is properly configured and authorized in the connected Gmail account and that you are permitted to send as that address. The Collective may reject, disable, or remove a From address where validation fails, abuse is suspected, or continued use creates operational or provider-policy risk.
6. AI Auto-Detect
AI Auto-Detect is an optional tool that sends the newsletter image you choose to Google Gemini for analysis and returns suggested clickable regions, labels, links when visibly present, and accessibility text. The current limit is three successful AI Auto-Detect runs per Creator Hub member per UTC day.
AI output can be incomplete, inaccurate, or unsuitable. You must review all detected hotspots, URLs, labels, and accessibility text before sending a newsletter. The Collective does not guarantee that AI-detected regions will match the intended design or destination.
Do not submit confidential, unlawful, infringing, or sensitive material to AI Auto-Detect unless you are authorized to process that material through the applicable third-party AI service.
7. Your music, newsletter, and other content
You retain ownership of music, artwork, newsletter designs, text, and other content you own. You are responsible for making sure you have all rights and permissions necessary to upload, submit, link, display, email, or promote that content.
When you submit a track through a Collective workflow configured for public leaderboard display, you authorize The Collective to display the submission’s title, link, artwork or thumbnail where available, leaderboard metrics, and associated public-facing Discord identity elements for the purpose of operating and promoting the community.
When you publish a Smart Link creator page, you authorize The Collective to host and publicly display the creator name and the page content and configuration you choose to make public. The feature may present the page as an Artist Page or Producer Page based on relevant Collective Discord roles. Public content may include an uploaded profile image or applicable Discord avatar, tagline, location, genres, biography, uploaded background image, featured-release details and artwork, streaming and social destinations, custom link labels and uploaded custom-link icons, button ordering, page styling, and uploaded share-preview information. The public URL is generated from the creator name you enter and may use an artist or producer route. You are responsible for using and uploading names, images, icons, artwork, biographies, branding, labels, and destination links that you have the right to use and that do not impersonate another creator, mislead visitors, infringe rights, or direct users to unlawful or malicious content.
Smart Link may provide the page owner with aggregate page-view and link-click counts. These counts are informational, may include repeat visits or automated traffic, and are not guaranteed to represent unique people, verified listeners, streams, sales, or other platform activity.
Smart Link URLs are not guaranteed to remain available indefinitely. Creator names that generate the same URL slug cannot be simultaneously published by different Creator Hub accounts; The Collective may require a distinct creator name or remove or reassign a Smart Link URL where reasonably necessary to resolve impersonation, trademark, rights, security, or abuse concerns.
If you choose to publish an electronic press kit, you authorize The Collective to publicly display the biography, credits, music links, professional contact details, quotations and press photographs you supplied, and to enable visitors to save a printable PDF version of the public page or download the press photographs you publish. You represent that you have the rights, permissions and consent needed for all published text, photos, testimonials, trademarks and other material. The EPK is not verified by The Collective; creators are responsible for the accuracy of their own claims and contact information.
If you opt into the Collaboration Marketplace, you agree that your published name, role, genres, skills and availability will be publicly visible. You may contact other creators respectfully for legitimate collaboration purposes, but must not scrape profile data, send unsolicited bulk messages, impersonate another person, or use the directory for harassment, misleading solicitations or unlawful activities. The Collective does not independently verify creators, negotiate contracts, guarantee project results or mediate payment disputes. You should assess opportunities and agreements independently before sharing sensitive information or transferring money.
Creator Messages allow members to send one introduction to another published marketplace creator and, only after the recipient accepts, exchange follow-up messages. Recipients may reject requests. You must not use the service to send harassment, spam, phishing, threats, unlawful content or unsolicited sales pitches. Messages are not end-to-end encrypted. You are responsible for your agreements and for avoiding sharing confidential or financial credentials. The Collective may apply message limits, investigate abuse, and restrict access to messaging.
When you use the Newsletter Sender, you authorize The Collective to process the content you provide to create and transmit the message through the selected provider. These permissions are limited to operating the feature you requested and do not transfer ownership of your content to The Collective.
8. Leaderboard, voting, and community conduct
The public Top 10 and Creator Hub leaderboard reflect data supplied by Alto for The Collective. Rankings and engagement metrics can change as community activity changes. Temporary outages, synchronization delays, removed submissions, Discord availability, or technical errors may affect what is displayed.
When using The Collective, you agree not to harass or threaten others, post unlawful or intentionally harmful material, manipulate votes or rankings, automate abuse, compromise systems, or interfere with another member’s account or data. Additional server rules posted inside The Collective Discord may apply.
Do not attempt to artificially inflate or suppress votes, favorites, reactions, rankings, submissions, or other engagement signals. The Collective may remove manipulated activity or take moderation action where appropriate.
9. Discord, Alto, email providers, AI, and external services
The Collective relies on and links to third-party services. These may include Discord, Alto, Google/Gmail, Microsoft/Outlook, IONOS, Google Gemini, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, Apple Music, Bandcamp, and other providers. Your use of those services is also subject to their terms, privacy policies, sending rules, quotas, and enforcement decisions.
The Collective does not control whether Gmail, Outlook, IONOS, or a recipient’s mail system accepts, delays, blocks, filters, bounces, rate-limits, or places a message in spam. Connecting an account does not guarantee deliverability, inbox placement, sender reputation, or continued provider access.
Alto provides technology used by The Collective, including membership, leaderboard, profile, submission, favorite, and related Creator Hub functionality. Outages or changes at Alto or another third party may affect The Collective features that depend on that provider.
10. Moderation, abuse prevention, and access
The Collective may remove content, exclude submissions from public display, restrict Creator Hub or Newsletter Sender features, disconnect or disable integrations, impose rate limits, or suspend or remove community access when reasonably necessary to enforce these Terms, protect recipients or members, address suspected spam or abuse, respond to provider complaints or legal obligations, or maintain the service.
Moderation decisions inside Discord may also be governed by server-specific rules and Discord’s own enforcement systems.
11. Availability and disclaimers
The website, Creator Hub, Smart Link Builder and public creator pages, EPK Builder, Collaboration Marketplace, Newsletter Sender, AI tools, leaderboard, and integrations are provided on an “as available” basis. Features may change, pause, be rate-limited, or become unavailable. The Collective does not guarantee a particular ranking, audience size, number of listeners, promotional result, stream count, career outcome, email delivery result, AI result, or uninterrupted availability.
You are responsible for reviewing messages before sending them and maintaining appropriate backups of important newsletter content. The Collective may provide a saved Email List for convenience, but you remain responsible for lawful collection and use of every contact added to that list. Contacts marked Unsubscribed may not be reactivated or sent newsletters through The Collective unless a future compliant re-subscription mechanism expressly permits it.
To the extent permitted by applicable law, The Collective is not responsible for losses caused by third-party services, provider enforcement, external links, outages, member conduct, email-delivery decisions, or content hosted outside The Collective’s control.
12. Copyright and rights concerns
Only submit, display, or send material you are authorized to use. If you believe content displayed through The Collective infringes your rights, contact a Collective administrator through the Discord server with enough information to identify the content and explain the concern. The Collective may remove or disable display of material while a claim is reviewed.
13. Changes to these Terms
These Terms may be updated when community features, Creator Resources, Newsletter Sender functionality, AI tools, integrations, operational practices, provider requirements, or legal requirements change. The “Last updated” date identifies the current version. Material changes may also be announced through The Collective’s normal community channels where appropriate.
14. Contact
Questions about these Terms, website features, newsletter access, content displayed on the website, or community access can be directed to The Collective administrators through the The Collective Discord server.