Terms of Service

1. Eligibility — 18+ only

You must be at least 18 years old to use Riff Circle. By using the Service you represent and warrant that you are 18 or older and that you are not barred from using the Service under the laws of the United States or your state. We do not knowingly permit anyone under 18 to create an account. If we learn that a user is under 18, we will terminate the account. To report an underage user, use the in-app report feature or email support@riffcircle.com.

Riff Circle is intended for use in the United States. We make no claim that the Service is appropriate or available in other locations.

2. Your account

• Accuracy. You are responsible for the accuracy of the information on your profile — including your instruments, rates, availability, and location. Other people rely on it when deciding whether to meet you.
• Security. You are responsible for keeping your credentials secure and for all activity that happens under your account. Tell us promptly at support@riffcircle.com if you believe your account has been compromised. We offer two-factor authentication and recommend enabling it.
• Sign-in. You can create an account with an email address and password, or by signing in with Google. If you use Google, your use of Google’s service is governed by Google’s own terms, and losing access to your Google account may cost you access to your Riff Circle account. We require email verification, and we check chosen passwords against public breach data — a password known to be compromised will be rejected.
• One person, one account. Accounts are personal to you. Do not share, sell, or transfer your account, and do not create an account on someone else’s behalf without their authority.
• Onboarding. Before you can use the Service you must confirm you are 18 or older and accept these Terms. We record the date and time of both.

We may suspend, restrict, or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, as described in Section 25.

3. The Service is an introduction platform — assumption of risk for in-person meetings

Riff Circle helps musicians find each other and arrange in-person jam sessions, gigs, shows, band practices, and lessons. Riff Circle is a neutral venue and introduction service only. We are NOT a party to, and do not organize, host, supervise, vet, endorse, insure, or control, any event, meeting, gig, show, practice, lesson, band, or interaction between users. Every event on Riff Circle is organized by the user who posted it, at a location and on terms they choose — except community listings, described next.

Community listings. Some events are added by Riff Circle, not by a user: recurring jams, open mics and similar nights we compile from public sources such as venue websites, calendars and directories. They are marked as community listings, and labelled Unconfirmed until someone has confirmed with the venue or host that the event is still running. A community listing is a pointer to a public announcement, not an event we organize, host or endorse, and it does not mean the venue, host or performers are affiliated with Riff Circle or have approved the listing — unless the venue has taken it over, in which case it is theirs. Community listings can be out of date or wrong. Check the original listing, or contact the venue, before you travel to one. Everything this section says about the risks of meeting in person applies to them in full, and Section 21 applies to their accuracy.

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT MEETING OTHER USERS IN PERSON — INCLUDING TRAVELLING TO PRIVATE HOMES, REHEARSAL SPACES, BARS, AND OTHER VENUES — CARRIES INHERENT RISKS, INCLUDING THE RISK OF PERSONAL INJURY, DEATH, PROPERTY DAMAGE, THEFT, AND CRIMINAL CONDUCT BY OTHERS, AND YOU VOLUNTARILY ASSUME ALL SUCH RISKS.

We do not perform background checks, criminal-records checks, identity verification, or reference checks on any user. A profile, a badge, a star rating, or a completed event on Riff Circle is not a vouch, a credential, or a safety guarantee. You are solely responsible for your own safety, for deciding whom to meet, for vetting anyone you arrange to meet, and for your own conduct. We strongly recommend meeting in a public place first, telling someone where you are going, and trusting your judgment.

If you organize an event, you are the organizer of that event. You are responsible for the safety and legality of your event and its location, for any permits, insurance, venue permissions, and licences it requires, and for accurately stating any door policy or age restriction. If you list an event as all-ages, you are responsible for any resulting presence of minors and for complying with the law that applies to it — Riff Circle accounts are 18+, but attendees at a physical event are not necessarily Riff Circle users.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Riff Circle disclaims all liability for any injury, loss, or damage arising from interactions, communications, transactions, or meetings between users.

4. Release of claims arising between users

Because Riff Circle is only an introduction platform, you release Riff Circle and its owners, employees, agents, and successors from any claims, demands, disputes, causes of action, and damages of every kind and nature — known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed — arising out of or in any way connected with any interaction, communication, transaction, dispute, or meeting between you and any other user or third party.

If you are a California resident, you waive California Civil Code §1542, which says: “A general release does not extend to claims that the creditor or releasing party does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release, and that, if known by him or her, would have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor or released party.” You waive all similar protections under any other jurisdiction’s law.

5. Your content and the licence you give us

“User Content” means everything you add to the Service: your profile and bio, profile and cover images, social links, instruments, genres, rates and availability, the events you create and their images, band pages and band media, questions and answers, reviews and ratings, messages, songs and setlists you build, and media you embed from third-party providers such as YouTube and SoundCloud.

You retain ownership of your User Content. You grant Riff Circle a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable licence to host, store, reproduce, adapt for display (for example resizing or cropping images), publish, and distribute your User Content solely to operate, secure, and promote the Service. This licence lasts as long as the content is on the Service and ends within a reasonable period after you delete it, except for copies retained in backups or where we must keep it for the reasons described in the Privacy Policy or Section 9.

You represent and warrant that you own or have all rights necessary to post your User Content and to grant this licence, and that your User Content does not infringe or violate any third party’s intellectual-property, publicity, or privacy rights. If your content includes other people — bandmates in a photo, a recording of a performance — you are responsible for having their permission. You are solely responsible for your User Content.

6. Feedback

If you send us product feedback, bug reports, or suggestions, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free licence to use them for any purpose without obligation or compensation to you. Do not send us anything you consider confidential. When you submit feedback through the in-app dialog we also capture technical context (the page you were on, your browser user-agent, your window size, and the app version) so the report is reproducible — see the Privacy Policy.

7. Reviews and ratings

You may review another user only after you have both taken part in the same event and that event has happened. Reviews must be your honest, first-hand experience. Do not post reviews that are false, that you were paid or otherwise induced to write, that retaliate for something unrelated, or that contain the personal information of others.

Reviews are User Content, and we are not the author of them. We may remove a review that violates these Terms, but we have no obligation to adjudicate disputes about whether a review is fair. Nothing in these Terms prohibits or penalises you for publishing an honest review of Riff Circle itself — any provision that purported to do so would be void under the Consumer Review Fairness Act, and we do not attempt one.

8. Messages

Direct messages, group chats, band chats, and event chats are visible to the participants in the conversation. They are private from other users, but they are not confidential, encrypted end-to-end, or protected by any privilege. We do not routinely read them. We may access message content where a participant reports a message or conversation, or where access is necessary to investigate abuse, enforce these Terms, resolve a dispute, or comply with law. Anyone in a conversation can screenshot, copy, or forward what you send.

Messages are not an archive. Once a conversation has had no new message for 2 years, its message bodies are automatically deleted. Keep your own copy of anything you need — including anything you agreed in chat. Do not rely on Riff Circle to preserve evidence of a negotiation.

Do not use messaging to spam, solicit, distribute malware, or harass. New conversations with people who are not your connections are rate-limited, and repeated abuse will cost you your account.

9. Bands

You can create a band page, invite members, assign roles (leader, manager, member), and book the band onto gigs. A band page is not a legal entity and creating one does not create a partnership, company, or joint venture between its members. Riff Circle takes no position on who owns a band’s name, recordings, or income, and we will not arbitrate disputes between bandmates.

• Authority. If you accept a booking, negotiate a fee, or make any commitment on a band’s behalf, you represent that you are authorised to do so. The band’s members are responsible among themselves for honouring it.
• Band content. Content posted to a band page is User Content under Section 5, licensed to us by whoever posted it. It remains on the band page if that person leaves the band.
• Leadership and disbanding. If a band’s leader deletes their account, leadership passes to a remaining member; if there is no remaining member, the band is disbanded and its page, chat, and content are deleted.

10. Music licensing and performance rights

Riff Circle lets you record song titles in your repertoire and build setlists. This is an organisational tool. It grants you no rights in any musical work, and it is not a performance, mechanical, sync, or any other licence. You and the venue are solely responsible for obtaining any performance or other licences your event requires (for example from ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, or GMR), for any royalties owed, and for compliance with copyright law. Riff Circle does not host, stream, or distribute recordings; media you embed is served by YouTube or SoundCloud under their own terms.

11. No duty to monitor

We have no obligation to monitor, screen, pre-approve, or background-check users, User Content, events, or interactions, although we may do so at our sole discretion. We are not responsible for, and do not endorse, any User Content, and we are not the author of User Content — with respect to it we act only as a provider of an interactive computer service. We may, but are not required to, remove, restrict, or reorder any content, event, band, or account at any time, with or without notice.

12. Acceptable use

You agree not to, and not to help anyone else:

• harass, threaten, defame, stalk, intimidate, or discriminate against anyone;
• post content that is illegal, infringing, hateful, sexually explicit, or sexually exploitative, or that involves minors in any sexual context;
• impersonate any person, band, or organisation, or misrepresent your identity, affiliation, skills, or credentials;
• post another person’s private information (including a home address or precise location) without their consent;
• use the Service to arrange anything illegal, or to solicit or advertise goods, services, or investments unrelated to music;
• spam, bulk-message, scrape, crawl, harvest data about users, or use bots or automated means to access the Service, except a well-behaved search-engine crawler obeying our robots.txt;
• copy, resell, or redistribute any part of the Service or its data, or use it to build a competing product or a database of musicians;
• probe, scan, or test the security of the Service, defeat rate limits, bot checks, or access controls, or interfere with its operation;
• create a new account to evade a ban, or circumvent blocking, reporting, privacy, or moderation features;
• post fake events, fake reviews, or fake profiles, or manipulate discovery ranking.

We may remove content, restrict features, and suspend or ban accounts for violations, at our discretion. Serious violations may be reported to law enforcement.

13. Reporting and moderation

You can report users, events, messages, and other content in the app, and block other users. We review reports and may remove content, restrict, suspend, or ban accounts, and retain reported content for as long as needed to handle the report, enforce these Terms, or comply with law. Moderation decisions are ours to make and we may make them without prior notice. Do not use reporting to harass someone — knowingly false reports are themselves a violation of these Terms. If you believe you have been actioned in error, email support@riffcircle.com.

Community listings can be reported as ended, moved or wrong from the listing’s own page. If you run a venue or host an event we have listed — or you are named in one — and want it corrected or taken down, email support@riffcircle.com and we will do so promptly. A venue can also ask to take its listing over and manage it itself.

14. Payments between users

Riff Circle does not process payments between users. Gig pay, lesson fees, door splits, and any barter or counter-offer terms shown on the Service are informational and are arranged and settled directly between the users involved. Riff Circle is not a party to, does not hold funds for, does not guarantee, and has no responsibility for any payment, non-payment, transaction, barter, or financial arrangement between users — including where the terms were negotiated using our messaging or offer features. We do not provide escrow, dispute resolution, chargeback, or refund services for user-to-user payments.

Riff Circle itself does not currently charge for anything — see Section 16.

15. Taxes and your own compliance

You are solely responsible for determining and paying any taxes on money you earn through arrangements made on Riff Circle, and for any licences, permits, insurance, and legal requirements that apply to your activity — including teaching, performing, and operating in a venue. We do not report your earnings to any tax authority and we do not issue tax forms for user-to-user payments, because we never receive that money.

16. Paid features — none offered during the preview

Riff Circle is free. We do not currently sell memberships, subscriptions, or any other paid features, and we will not charge you anything.

We may introduce optional paid features in the future. If we do, we will update these Terms with their price, renewal, cancellation, and refund terms and notify you before anything is offered for sale. Those terms will apply only if you choose to buy; the core Service will not require payment.

We may enable extra features for some accounts or bands at our discretion — for example, for early testers. These are provided free, as a courtesy, and we may change or withdraw them at any time.

17. No agency or employment relationship

You and Riff Circle are independent. Nothing in these Terms or in your use of the Service creates any employment, agency, partnership, joint-venture, or franchise relationship between you and Riff Circle, or between any users. Users who arrange paid gigs, shows, or lessons do so as independent parties and are solely responsible for their own taxes, licences, and legal compliance. Riff Circle is not an employer, staffing agency, talent agency, booking agent, promoter, or marketplace for labour.

18. Copyright and DMCA

We respect intellectual property and respond to valid notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. To report content you believe infringes your copyright, send a notice containing the elements required by 17 U.S.C. §512(c)(3) — your signature, identification of the work, identification of the material and where it is on the Service, your contact details, a statement of good-faith belief, and a statement under penalty of perjury that you are authorised to act — to copyright@riffcircle.com.

We may remove or disable access to material that is the subject of a valid notice. If you believe your material was removed in error, you may send a counter-notice with the elements required by §512(g)(3) to the same address. We terminate the accounts of repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances. Knowingly misrepresenting that material is infringing may make you liable for damages under §512(f).

19. Third-party services and links

The Service links to and embeds third-party content — YouTube and SoundCloud players, map data, social links you add, and venue addresses. We do not control, endorse, or take responsibility for third-party services, and your use of them is governed by their own terms and privacy policies. The Privacy Policy lists the providers we rely on to run the Service.

20. Changes to the Service

The Service is under active development. We may add, change, suspend, or discontinue any part of it — including features, discovery ranking, and retention windows — at any time. We are not liable to you for any modification, suspension, or discontinuation of the Service, except as stated in these Terms.

21. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE; THAT DATA OR CONTENT WILL NOT BE LOST; THAT ANY USER IS WHO THEY CLAIM TO BE, IS TRUSTWORTHY, OR HAS THE SKILLS, RIGHTS, OR INTENTIONS THEY CLAIM; OR THAT ANY EVENT WILL TAKE PLACE, BE SAFE, OR BE AS DESCRIBED.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so some of the above may not apply to you.

22. Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, RIFF CIRCLE AND ITS OWNERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, AND SUCCESSORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, GOODWILL, OR CONTENT, OR FOR ANY PERSONAL INJURY OR DEATH, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE SERVICE OR ANY USER INTERACTION, EVENT, OR MEETING, WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, OR ANY OTHER THEORY, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF $100 OR THE TOTAL AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so some of the above may not apply to you. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited under applicable law — including liability for fraud, or for gross negligence or wilful misconduct where such a limit is unenforceable. Where any limitation or exclusion is held unenforceable, the remaining limitations apply to the maximum extent permitted. These limits are a fundamental basis of the bargain between us and apply even if a limited remedy fails of its essential purpose.

23. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Riff Circle and its owners, employees, agents, and successors from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising from your User Content, your use of the Service, any event you organize or attend, your interactions or transactions with other users, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any law or of any third party’s rights. We may assume the exclusive defence and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, in which case you agree to cooperate; you will not settle any such matter without our prior written consent.

24. Governing law and dispute resolution

These Terms and any dispute arising out of them or the Service are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules, and by applicable federal law.

Informal resolution first. Before filing anything, please email legal@riffcircle.com describing the dispute and the relief you want. We will try in good faith to resolve it. Most disputes can be settled this way, and doing so is a condition of bringing a formal claim, for both of us.

Courts. You and Riff Circle agree that any dispute will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in St. Johns County, Florida; you and Riff Circle consent to personal jurisdiction there, and each waives any right to a jury trial and to participate in a class, collective, or representative action to the fullest extent permitted by law. Any claim must be brought within one year after it arises, or it is permanently barred, except where a longer period is required by law.

25. Termination and account deletion

You may delete your account at any time from your profile settings. This is permanent and immediate. Deleting your account also permanently deletes the events you organize — including events other people have joined — along with your profile, images, invitations, connections, and your side of your conversations. We delete or anonymize your personal information as described in the Privacy Policy. We cannot recover any of it.

We may suspend or terminate your access, remove your content, or restrict features at any time if you violate these Terms, if we are required to by law, or if we reasonably believe it is necessary to protect other users or the Service, with no liability to you for doing so.

26. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. We will revise the “last updated” date above, and for material changes we will notify you in-app or by email before they take effect. Continued use of the Service after a change means you accept the updated Terms; if you do not accept them, stop using the Service and delete your account.

27. General

• Severability. If any provision is held invalid or unenforceable, it will be modified to the minimum extent necessary or, if it cannot be, severed; the remaining provisions stay in full effect.
• Entire agreement. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and Riff Circle about the Service and supersede any prior agreements on the subject.
• No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of our right to do so later.
• Assignment. You may not assign or transfer these Terms. We may assign them to an affiliate, to a company we form to operate the Service, or to a successor in a merger, acquisition, or sale of the business.
• Force majeure. Neither party is liable for a failure to perform caused by events beyond its reasonable control.
• No third-party beneficiaries. These Terms create no rights for anyone other than you and Riff Circle.
• Notices. We may give you notice by email, in-app, or by posting on the Service. Notices to us go to legal@riffcircle.com.
• Survival. Sections 3–10, 14–18, and 20–27 survive termination of your account or of these Terms.

Contact

• General and legal: legal@riffcircle.com
• Support and safety: support@riffcircle.com
• Copyright: copyright@riffcircle.com
• Operated by Mitchell Enfield, Florida