Updated August 9, 2016
Use of RARB.org, including but not limited to the submission of any materials to us for any reason, requires you to agree to our terms of service (hereinafter "terms of use" "terms of service" "terms").
These terms are a binding legal agreement between You, and all your past, present and future partners, shareholders, affiliated school and university, members, directors, officers, volunteers, producers, engineers, arrangers, composers, artists, singers, designers, graphic artists, agents and assigns (hereinafter "You" "Your" "user" "reader" "viewer" "visitor") and The Recorded A Cappella Review Board and all our past, present and future members, partners, directors and officers, volunteers, editors, writers, critics, leaders, webmasters, agents and assigns ("RARB", "Our" "Us" "We").
If you cannot enter binding legal agreements BOTH in your local jurisdiction AND in the United States, on your own, you must have a parent do this for you.
If you do not fully understand any of these terms or if you are unwilling to agree to these terms, and especially to the limitations of your rights and waivers of your rights, then you must not use our site or services or products, or view the contents of our site for any reason and you must not send us, nor allow anyone on your behalf to send us materials.
By sending us materials, or using our services or products or by clicking that you agree, or by emailing or otherwise indicating your agreement, you are accepting all these terms on behalf of You (as broadly defined herein) and waiving any and all rights to payments due in the past, present or future, from RARB (as broadly defined herein), that you may have now or in the future.
Historically, RARB is an organization of mostly volunteers that accepts recordings of a cappella music ("albums" "music" "recordings") for the purpose of publishing text that describes the unique and personal impression ("reviews") those albums evoked from our reviewers on its publicly available website, (historically, www.rarb.org).
The term "Materials" as used herein shall include any album, music, recording, video, audio, writing, liner notes, photography, graphics, poetry, prose, logo, hyperlinks, data, meta-data, audio-visual work, text or any other expression of any kind which is sent via any means now known or later created, from you, or uploaded by you, to RARB's website or business, or to any individuals or entities associated with RARB.
If you use our site, or send your materials to us, or click "I agree" or "I accept" to these terms, you are accepting all terms we set forth in our email or other correspondence with you, and also all the terms described herein and elsewhere on our website, including any terms of service.
In the event of any conflict between any terms provided by us via any means including but not limited to email and these posted terms of service, you agree that the terms which most strongly limit RARB's liability and which most severely limit and curtail any rights You may have against RARB are the ones that shall control.
If you use our site, services or products or upload materials or send materials to us (to review or otherwise), You hereby warrant and affirm that you are fully empowered to make decisions on behalf of your group and its members, officers, volunteers, partners, shareholders, agents and assigns and all others included in the definition of YOU as described herein, and additionally that you are authorized to agree to all terms on behalf of those entities and that you are authorized to submit materials for critical review and commentary.
By sending us materials you grant us a universe-wide, perpetual, royalty-free, non-revocable right to use any of the materials for the following uses only: comment, review, criticism, mockery, teasing, promotion, praise, discussion, advertisement of you, your materials, your music, 3rd parties, or any entity that was related to the performance, creation, dissemination or recording of your materials, your group, RARB or any of its interests, or the arts or a cappella generally.
If you provide RARB music on phonorecord, (CD, vinyl, or any other physical medium), or by digital download, you must pay all copyright holders for all necessary rights, even when providing "free" copies.
If you are sending us a phonorecord (CD, etc), you hereby swear and affirm under penalty of perjury that all composers/publishers have been fully paid for each physical copy you send or give us access to. You understand that we are relying on this affirmation and that we would not review your album without it.
If you are sending us free download links to your music, you hereby swear and affirm under penalty of perjury that all copyright holders have been fully paid for each digital copy you send or give us access to. You understand that we are relying on this affirmation and that we would not review your album without it.
You warrant and affirm that all materials submitted to RARB comply with all applicable laws of the United States of America, including but not limited to payment to composers for compulsory licenses. You accept full legal responsibility for the compliance of your materials with any and all laws. You warrant and affirm that none of your materials infringe upon the intellectual property rights, trademarks, servicemarks, copyrights, publicity or privacy rights of any entity or person, living or dead. You agree that any materials that you upload to RARB.org are your sole and original work and that you are the legal copyright holder, or that you are the licensee for the content. You indemnify and hold harmless RARB (as broadly defined) from all legal responsibility for costs, legal fees, damages or other fees resulting from any use of your materials.
You warrant and affirm that any album you send us via any means or upload is or was available for sale to the public.
You agree that you (as broadly defined above) and the individuals whose performances have been recorded on the album, and all those who participated or facilitated the recording, and those who arranged or composed or recorded or directed or performed in any way, are, for all purposes, public figures.
In exchange for any benefits, including reviews (whether published or unpublished) of your materials which RARB has provided or may provide, and any publicity associated therewith which you agree is of value regardless of the text of the reviews or whether the review is favorable or not, YOU (as broadly defined herein) agree to hold harmless and indemnify RARB (as broadly defined herein) from any costs, fees, including legal fees, and any damages, real or imagined, whether sounding in negligence, gross negligence, libel, copyright, false light, defamation or otherwise, that may result from the review or any other use we make of your materials, with such damages to include but not be limited to lost album sales, damage to reputation, lost ticket sales, and cancelled performances that may result from a negative album review or other use of your materials.
You agree not to bring suit or arbitration against RARB (as broadly defined herein) for any reason, and you agree that if you do, you will be fully responsible for paying our legal fees, costs and damages.
If, despite these terms, you are entitled to any damages, you hereby agree to limit those damages to a maximum amount of a refund of the amount you actually paid directly to RARB to have your materials reviewed, an amount which you hereby acknowledge is very likely to be zero.
You agree that in the event any portion of this agreement is not enforceable, the remainder shall be in full force and effect and any section not enforceable shall be modified to the smallest degree possible to comply with the minimal standards required by law.
You agree to limit any applicable statute of limitations to one year from the date of publishing our review or alternatively to the minimum time permitted under applicable law, whichever is legally permissible and shorter.
You agree that RARB shall have no liability for failure to review any materials sent to us.
"Recorded A Cappella Review Board" and "RARB" along with any accompanying logos are our trademarks. All rights reserved. The phrases "Recorded A Cappella Review Board" and "RARB" may refer to the organization and/or to any or all of its volunteers past, present, and future.
RARB's reviews are non-factual, personal opinions about materials. You agree that RARB reviews for the sole purpose of entertaining our readers.
Historically, we often use three volunteers to review each album. Typically, each reviewer scores albums on subjective criteria through a numerical score and a written description. RARB historically makes available to its volunteers a set of suggestions termed Writing Guidelines and Editing Guidelines that are periodically updated. A volunteer editor usually reads each review to correct errors of punctuation and spelling. The editors may, but are not obligated to also make reasonable attempts to ensure the clarity and factual accuracy of reviews before they are published. After one editorial pass, the RARB Editor-in-Chief typically reads each edited review before marking the review ready for publication.
It is RARB's desire, but not our obligation, to avoid or correct factual inaccuracies.
Upon request, and, if relevant, with submission of proof, which is satisfactory to RARB in RARB's sole determination, RARB will revise published reviews that contain factually inaccurate statements.
To submit a review revision request, contact the RARB Technical Director using contact information available on RARB.org. You agree that this process is your first and only recourse in the event a factually inaccurate statement is published.
You understand and agree that RARB may use language or imagery, such as but not limited to political or religious commentary, cursing, violent or sexual imagery or innuendo, or other commentary or opinion, which may be offensive to some readers. For this reason, you must be 18 or over to use the site or submit materials, or you must obtain parental permission.
RARB's website may include functionality to allow site visitors to add materials. This functionality may allow visitors to add album metadata like liner notes, song attributions, credits, lyrics, and similar content that is directly related to the album or its review. We also may allow for the posting of other unedited writing, links, images and other material on our forum and elsewhere on our site which RARB does not edit or control. Some of this material may be unsuitable or offensive for visitors, especially those under 18 years old.
RARB does not monitor or control content on third-party websites linked to from RARB.org. You follow these links and use these sites entirely at your own risk, and you agree to hold us harmless and indemnify us for any harms resulting from such use of third-party sites.
We may solicit individuals, entities or the public for donations to RARB. Donations are NOT tax-deductible unless otherwise stated by us in explicit terms. The term "donations" is NOT an indication that monies given to RARB are tax-deductible. We may make reasonable attempts to keep the identity of donors hidden from active album reviewers.
All headings, titles or captions are used for convenience of the parties only, and shall have no bearing on the legal interpretation of these terms. The masculine shall include the feminine and the singular the plural and vice versa. Capitalization and punctuation are for the convenience of the parties, only. Any use of the words "YOU" or "YOUR", "RARB", "us" or "we" or similar shall be given the broadest possible and most inclusive meaning as described herein.
You agree that all materials, including but not limited to copies of the album that you submit for review are gifts given to RARB without obligation of any good or service in return. You agree that RARB will not return materials to you. You agree that RARB has no obligation to publish a review of materials that you submit. You acknowledge that RARB has no obligation to publish a review of the materials within any specific period of time or ever.
You agree to resolve any disputes about RARB's review of your album confidentially with RARB's Editor-in-Chief, Marketing Director, Technical Director, and Editorial Staff. Contact information for these volunteers may be found on RARB.org.
To have your album (2 or more tracks) reviewed by RARB, please fill out our online album registration form.
To have your digital single reviewed by RARB, please fill out our online singles registration form.
Feel free to email us if you have any questions.
×