Distribution Agreement

Last updated: 27 September 2026. Deutsche Fassung: Vertriebsvereinbarung

1. Scope

1.1 This Distribution Agreement sets out how Lay Distribution UG (haftungsbeschränkt) ("Lay", "we", "us") delivers your releases to music stores and streaming services and accounts for the revenue. It supplements our Terms and Conditions ("Terms") and is part of them. Terms defined there have the same meaning here.

1.2 These documents are available in German and English. If the versions differ, the German version prevails.

2. Definitions

• Recordings: sound recordings and music videos that you upload for distribution, together with artwork, lyrics, metadata and other material supplied with them.
• Release: a single, EP or album made up of one or more Recordings.
• Stores: the music stores, streaming services and other digital services to which we deliver through our Platform.
• Net Receipts: the amounts that we actually receive from the Stores for the use of your Releases, after deduction of taxes and levies withheld by the Stores or at source, and of amounts that the Stores deduct, correct or reclaim.
• Lay Credit Account: your account on the Platform, in U.S. dollars, to which we credit your share of the Net Receipts.

3. Rights you grant

3.1 For each Release you upload, you grant us, for the territories and Stores you choose and for as long as the Release is distributed through us, the right to:

• reproduce the Recordings, convert them into the formats the Stores need and make them available to the public through the Stores as downloads, streams and other digital uses;
• use clips of the Recordings, and the names, likenesses, artwork and biographical material you supply, to identify and present the Release in the Stores;
• display lyrics you supply;
• grant these rights to the Stores and to our Platform provider to the extent needed for distribution;
• collect the revenue the Stores pay for the Release.

3.2 These rights are exclusive only with regard to the Stores you choose for a Release: while we distribute a Release to a Store, you must not deliver the same Recordings to that Store through another distributor. You remain free to exploit your Recordings in any other way.

3.3 Ownership of your Recordings remains with you.

4. Delivery

4.1 You upload your Releases on the Platform in accordance with its specifications and choose the Stores and territories from those available.

4.2 We deliver a Release after the checks described in section 2.4 of the Terms. We may ask for corrections or decline a delivery. How long delivery takes depends on these checks and on the Stores.

4.3 On request we assign ISRC and UPC codes. Codes we assign may be used only for Releases distributed through us. If your Recordings already have codes, you must provide them when you upload.

4.4 Stores may offer Recordings for promotional purposes without payment, for example as previews. No revenue arises from such uses.

5. Revenue share

5.1 We credit you the following share of the Net Receipts from your Releases:

• Free: 60 percent. We keep 40 percent.
• Pro: the share stated in your order.
• Partner: the share agreed individually in text form.

5.2 Fees passed on under section 5.4 of the Terms and fees you owe us under your plan may be set off against your share.

6. Accounting and payouts

6.1 We credit your share to your Lay Credit Account in U.S. dollars once we have received the money and the related statements from the Stores. You can see your statements on the Platform.

6.2 You can request a payout once your available balance reaches at least USD 20.00. Payouts are processed monthly by PayPal, or by any other method we offer. You bear the fees charged by PayPal or your bank.

6.3 Section 8 of the Terms applies to currency conversion, taxes and corrections.

6.4 If a Store reclaims or does not pay revenue because of fraud, artificial streaming or a rights infringement, you are not entitled to the corresponding share.

6.5 If there are concrete indications of fraud, artificial streaming or a rights infringement affecting particular Releases, we may withhold the revenue attributable to them until the matter is resolved, at most for as long as the Stores or our providers withhold it or claims may still be brought against us. Revenue that proves to be legitimate is paid out to you. Legitimate revenue is never forfeited.

7. Takedowns and changes

7.1 You can ask for a Release to be taken down from all or some Stores at any time, on the Platform or by email to support@laydistribution.com. We then instruct the Stores to remove it. How quickly they do so depends on the Stores.

7.2 Changes to a Release that has already been delivered, such as new metadata, may require a new delivery and can be limited by the Stores' rules.

7.3 We may take down a Release if we are obliged to or if the Terms allow it, in particular under section 5.5 of the Terms.

8. End of distribution

8.1 The rights you grant for a Release end when the Release has been removed from the Stores. Licences that Stores have already granted to end users, for example for purchased downloads, remain valid.

8.2 We account for and pay out revenue that the Stores pay after removal for the period before it.

9. No guarantee of success

We deliver your Releases carefully and collect the revenue the Stores pay. We cannot guarantee that a Store will accept or keep offering a Release, how it presents or promotes it, or how many streams or sales it will achieve. The limitations of liability in section 10 of the Terms apply.