Copyright & Takedown Policy

Music is property. This policy is how Sounds of Timor protects the people who make it. It applies to every track, video, image, podcast and text on the platform, and it forms part of our Terms of Service.

1. What you may upload

• Music and videos you created, alone or with others — with every co-creator’s permission.
• Recordings you hold a written licence for (including producer and featured-artist agreements).
• Cover versions only where you have the right to record and publish the underlying song. Traditional works with no living author are generally safe; someone else’s released song usually is not, without permission.

Uploading someone else’s recording — a ripped YouTube track, another artist’s song, an international hit — is infringement and will be removed.

2. What uploading means (and doesn’t)

You keep your copyright. Uploading grants the platform only the non-exclusive hosting/streaming licence described in the Terms of Service. We never take ownership of your music, and you can remove your works at any time.

3. Reporting infringement (takedown notice)

If content on Sounds of Timor infringes your rights, send a takedown notice to the platform contact address (see the Contact page) with:

1. Your name and contact details, and whether you are the rights holder or their representative;
2. The exact URL(s) of the infringing content;
3. Identification of the original work (title, links or copies proving your claim);
4. A statement, in good faith, that the use is not authorised by you;
5. Your signature (typed name is acceptable).

We review notices promptly. Content that is plainly infringing is removed or disabled, and the uploader is notified with a copy of the claim.

4. Counter-notice

An uploader who believes a removal was mistaken may reply with a counter-notice explaining their rights (their authorship, their licence, or why the claim is wrong), with evidence. We may restore content where the counter-notice is convincing and the claimant does not pursue the matter. Disputes between two claimed rights holders are ultimately for the parties — or a court — to resolve; while a dispute is open, the content stays down.

5. Repeat infringers

Accounts that repeatedly upload infringing content are terminated. “I didn’t know” is accepted exactly once.

6. False claims

Takedown notices are serious instruments. Knowingly false claims — for example, trying to remove a rival’s legitimate music — lead to suspension of the claimant’s account and may expose the claimant to liability.

7. Traditional and community works

Tebe, dahur, likurai and other traditional forms are living heritage. Recording your own performance of a traditional work is welcome and encouraged. Claiming exclusive ownership of a shared traditional work in order to block other Timorese artists from performing it is not accepted on this platform.