Terms of Use

Last updated: 1 May 2026

These Terms of Use (the “Terms”) govern your access to and use of the AfroPublish website, mobile applications, and related services (the “Platform”). The Platform is operated by Starlight Group SA (Pty) Ltd, a private company registered in the Republic of South Africa (the “Company”, “we”, “us”).

By creating an account or otherwise using the Platform, you agree to be bound by these Terms, our Privacy Policy, and our Refund Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Platform.

1. About AfroPublish

AfroPublish is a music publishing, distribution and licensing platform built for African artists, producers, songwriters and labels. Through the Platform, eligible users may upload their original music, distribute it to digital service providers, manage publishing rights, license works to third parties, and receive royalty statements and payouts.

2. Definitions

• “User” means any natural or juristic person who accesses the Platform.
• “Artist Account” means an account used to upload, distribute and licence music on the Platform.
• “Buyer” means a User who acquires a licence to a work through the Platform.
• “Content” means any sound recording, musical composition, artwork, metadata, biography, image, text or other material uploaded to the Platform.
• “DSP” means a digital service provider such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Boomplay or Audiomack.
• “Distribution Partner” means a third-party aggregator or distributor we may engage from time to time to deliver Content to DSPs on your behalf.

3. Eligibility & Accounts

You must be at least 18 years old, or the age of majority in your country, to register an Artist Account. If you register on behalf of a juristic person (a label, publishing company or production house), you warrant that you are authorised to bind that entity to these Terms.

You are responsible for keeping your account credentials secure, for all activity occurring under your account, and for the accuracy of the information you provide during onboarding (including your legal name, date of birth, payout details, and tax residency).

4. Acceptable Use

You agree that you will not:

• Upload Content that infringes the copyright, trademark, publicity, privacy or other rights of any third party;
• Upload Content containing samples, interpolations, replays or other material you do not own or have not properly cleared;
• Misrepresent your identity, the authorship of any work, or your authority to distribute or licence any work;
• Use the Platform to launder royalty income, manipulate streams, purchase fraudulent plays, or engage in any form of streaming fraud;
• Upload malware, attempt to bypass security, scrape the Platform, or interfere with its normal operation; or
• Use the Platform for any unlawful purpose or in breach of any applicable law of the Republic of South Africa or your country of residence.

We may, at our sole discretion, remove Content, suspend distribution, withhold payouts, or terminate accounts that breach this clause. Where DSPs penalise us for streaming fraud caused by your Content, you remain liable for any chargebacks, fines or recovery costs.

5. Your Content

5.1 Ownership

You retain ownership of all intellectual property rights in your Content. Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of your masters, compositions, lyrics, artwork or related rights to us.

5.2 Licence to Operate the Platform

You grant Starlight Group SA (Pty) Ltd a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, encode, transcode, format-shift, display, distribute, transmit and otherwise process your Content solely for the purposes of operating, providing, marketing and improving the Platform — including delivery of your Content to DSPs through our Distribution Partner, generation of pre-save and marketing assets, and royalty accounting.

This licence ends when you delete the Content from the Platform, save that we may continue to retain copies as required by law, by our Distribution Partner, or by DSPs for accounting, anti-fraud, audit and backup purposes.

5.3 Warranties about Your Content

You represent and warrant that, for every piece of Content you upload:

• You own or control all rights necessary to upload, distribute and licence the Content through the Platform;
• All samples, interpolations, replays, features, session musicians, producers and co-writers have been properly cleared and credited;
• You have obtained all consents required for the use of any name, image, likeness or quote contained in the Content;
• The Content does not infringe any third party’s rights and is not defamatory, obscene, hateful or otherwise unlawful.

6. Distribution

Distribution to DSPs is delivered through one or more Distribution Partners. Once a release is submitted for distribution, the Distribution Partner’s timelines, content rules and takedown processes apply alongside these Terms. Some DSPs require additional information (such as publisher details, ISRC, UPC, label name) and may reject releases that do not meet their content guidelines.

We do not guarantee that any release will be accepted by any DSP, that it will go live on a particular date, or that it will remain live. DSPs retain the right to remove Content at any time. Where Content is removed for breach of DSP terms or our Acceptable Use policy, we may not be able to recover associated royalties.

While our distribution-partner integration is being finalised, releases submitted on the Platform are stored, validated and queued for delivery. We will notify you when your release is delivered to DSPs.

7. Licensing Marketplace

The Platform allows you to make your works available for licensing (including Basic, Premium, Exclusive and bespoke licences). When a Buyer purchases a licence:

• The licence is issued in your name as licensor; we act as your agent for the limited purpose of facilitating the transaction and collecting the licence fee;
• The terms of the licence (territory, duration, scope, exclusivity, included files) are those displayed at the point of sale;
• You warrant that you are entitled to grant the licence and indemnify the Buyer accordingly;
• You may not sell exclusive rights to a work that has previously been licensed exclusively, nor sell rights you have already assigned to a third party (such as another publisher).

We deduct a platform fee from each licence sale, disclosed at the time the sale is made. Net licence fees are credited to your AfroPublish balance and paid out in accordance with clause 8 below.

8. Royalties & Payouts

Streaming, download and licensing royalties received from DSPs and Buyers are recorded against your account in your reporting currency. Statements are generated periodically and are subject to:

• Reporting from DSPs, which we receive on standard cycles (typically monthly or quarterly);
• Adjustments for refunds, chargebacks, fraud reversals, currency conversion, withholding tax, and our platform fee;
• A minimum payout threshold and a payout window, both as published in your dashboard.

Payouts are made through the payout provider you have configured in your account. You are responsible for the accuracy of your payout details, your tax residency declarations, and any taxes due on amounts received. Where a payout is reversed, returned by your bank, or held by a payout provider for compliance review, we will work with the provider to resolve the issue but cannot guarantee recovery within any specific timeframe.

We may withhold payouts where we reasonably suspect fraud, breach of these Terms, or non-compliance with applicable laws (including anti-money-laundering laws), pending investigation.

9. Subscriptions & Billing

The Platform currently operates on a Free tier. No paid subscription is available at this time, and no User will be charged a subscription fee until our payment integration is enabled and you actively select and pay for a paid plan.

When paid plans (such as “Pro” or “Label”) become available, those plans will be governed by these Terms together with the plan-specific terms displayed at checkout. You will only be charged if you affirmatively subscribe to a paid plan, and your renewal, cancellation and refund rights will be set out in our Refund Policy.

10. Intellectual Property & Takedowns

We respect the intellectual property rights of others and expect Users to do the same. If you believe Content on the Platform infringes a copyright you own or control, send a written notice to legal@afropublish.com including:

• Your name, address and contact details, and your role in respect of the rights claimed;
• A description of the work allegedly infringed (including links or ISRC where available);
• The URL or identifier of the allegedly infringing Content on the Platform;
• A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorised by the rights owner, its agent, or the law;
• A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are the rights owner or authorised to act on the rights owner’s behalf; and
• Your physical or electronic signature.

We will review valid notices and may remove Content, withhold royalties relating to that Content, and where appropriate, terminate the uploader’s account. Repeat infringers will have their accounts terminated.

Counter-notices may be submitted to the same address. We may, but are not required to, restore Content where a counter-notice satisfies us that the original removal was incorrect.

11. Third-Party Services

The Platform integrates with third-party services including (without limitation) Supabase (hosting and authentication), Resend (email), Paystack (payments, subject to integration), Spotify, Apple Music and other DSPs (presave and distribution), and our Distribution Partner. Your use of those services is governed by their own terms and privacy policies, and we are not responsible for their conduct, availability or output.

12. Suspension & Termination

You may terminate your account at any time from the dashboard or by emailing us. Termination does not relieve you of obligations accrued before termination (including warranties about your Content).

We may suspend or terminate your access immediately, without notice, if:

• You materially breach these Terms;
• A DSP, Distribution Partner, payment provider or regulator requires us to;
• We reasonably believe your account is being used for fraud, money laundering, infringement, or any other unlawful purpose; or
• We discontinue the Platform or any material part of it (in which case we will give you reasonable advance notice).

On termination, we will retain Content and personal information only for as long as required for accounting, legal, tax and audit purposes.

13. Disclaimers

Subject to applicable law (including Section 55 of the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 where it applies), the Platform is provided “as is” and “as available”. We do not warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or that Content will be transmitted to DSPs without error or delay. We do not guarantee any specific stream count, royalty amount, chart position, playlist placement, or commercial outcome.

14. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Company will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, lost profits, lost revenue, lost data, or loss of goodwill arising from or in connection with these Terms or the Platform, whether based on contract, delict, statute or otherwise, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Our total aggregate liability arising from or in connection with these Terms or the Platform in any twelve-month period will not exceed the greater of (a) the total amount of platform fees actually paid by you to us in that period or (b) ZAR 1,000.

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes any liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded under South African law.

15. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Company and its directors, employees, agents and Distribution Partners from and against any third-party claim, loss, liability, damage, cost or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising from or in connection with: (a) Content you upload; (b) your breach of these Terms; (c) your breach of any law or third-party right; or (d) any misrepresentation about the rights you have in your Content.

16. Governing Law & Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. You and the Company submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Republic of South Africa for the resolution of any dispute arising from or in connection with these Terms, save that we may bring proceedings to protect our intellectual property in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Where the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 applies to you, nothing in these Terms is intended to limit any remedy available to you under that Act.

17. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Where the changes are material, we will notify you by email or through the Platform at least 14 days before they take effect. Continued use of the Platform after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

18. Contact

Starlight Group SA (Pty) Ltd
Email: legal@afropublish.com
General support: support@afropublish.com