Terms of Service
Effective Date: July 13, 2026 Last Updated: July 13, 2026
Welcome to The Volume One. These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the website located at https://thevolumeone.com (the “Site”), operated by The Volume One (“we,” “us,” or “our”).
By accessing, browsing, commenting on, subscribing to, or submitting material to the Site, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Site.
1. About The Volume One
The Volume One is an independent online music publication. We cover emerging and independent hip-hop, R&B, and adjacent artists through news posts, artist spotlights, features, interviews, editorial breakdowns, and related content.
We are an editorial publication. We are not a record label, a distributor, a streaming service, or a management company, and nothing on this Site should be interpreted as a business, legal, or financial recommendation.
2. Eligibility
You must be at least 13 years old to use this Site. If you are under 18, you may use the Site only with the involvement of a parent or legal guardian. By using the Site, you represent that you meet these requirements.
3. Acceptable Use
You agree to use the Site lawfully and respectfully. You may not:
- Post or transmit content that is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, abusive, threatening, hateful, or discriminatory
- Post sexually explicit, violent, or otherwise obscene material
- Impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with an artist, label, or organization
- Upload viruses, malware, or any code intended to disrupt or damage the Site
- Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Site, its servers, or any connected systems
- Scrape, crawl, harvest, or use automated tools to extract content from the Site without our written permission
- Use the Site to send spam, chain messages, or unsolicited promotional material
- Infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party
- Use the Site for any purpose that violates applicable local, state, national, or international law
We reserve the right to remove any content and to restrict or terminate access for any user who violates these Terms, at our sole discretion and without notice.
4. User Comments
Comments are welcome, but they are moderated. By posting a comment, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to display, reproduce, and (where relevant) quote that comment on the Site.
You are solely responsible for the content of your comments. We do not endorse and are not responsible for opinions expressed by commenters. We reserve the right to edit, refuse to publish, or delete any comment for any reason, including spam, off-topic content, hostility, or promotional abuse.
5. Artist and Third-Party Submissions
If you submit material to us — including music, audio files, photographs, artwork, press releases, biographies, streaming links, or written articles — through our submission form, email, or any other channel, you represent and warrant that:
- You are the owner of the material, or you have obtained all necessary rights and permissions to share it with us
- The material does not infringe any copyright, trademark, right of publicity, privacy right, or other right of any third party
- You have the authority to grant the license described below
License granted. By submitting material, you grant The Volume One a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to publish, reproduce, display, adapt for formatting purposes, and promote that material on the Site and across our associated social media and newsletter channels, in connection with editorial coverage.
No guarantee of publication. Submitting material does not guarantee that we will cover you, publish your material, or respond. Editorial decisions are entirely at our discretion.
Indemnity. You agree to indemnify and hold The Volume One harmless from any claim, demand, loss, or legal expense arising from material you submitted to us, including any claim that it infringed a third party’s rights.
Removal requests. If you believe content on the Site infringes your rights, or you are an artist requesting removal of coverage about you, contact us using the details in Section 15. We review all such requests promptly.
6. Editorial Independence and Sponsored Content
Our coverage decisions are made editorially. Where an article is sponsored, paid for, submitted as a press release, or published as part of a promotional arrangement, we will disclose that relationship clearly within or alongside the article.
We do not accept payment in exchange for a guaranteed positive review or a guaranteed editorial opinion. Any paid placement is disclosed as such.
7. Intellectual Property
Our content. The Site’s original editorial content — including articles, written analysis, headlines, layouts, graphics, logos, and the “The Volume One” name and branding — is owned by us or licensed to us, and is protected by copyright and trademark law.
You may share links to our articles freely. You may quote short excerpts for the purposes of commentary, criticism, news reporting, or review, provided you give clear attribution and link back to the original article. You may not republish our articles in full, reproduce them substantially, or use our content to train machine learning models without our express written permission.
Third-party content. Artist names, song titles, cover artwork, promotional photographs, and embedded music and video remain the property of their respective owners. Such material appears on this Site for the purposes of news reporting, commentary, criticism, and review.
Music and lyrics. We do not host, distribute, or provide downloads of copyrighted music. Where we discuss lyrics, we do so in the context of editorial analysis, criticism, and commentary. All rights to the underlying compositions and recordings remain with their rightful owners.
Copyright complaints (DMCA). If you believe your copyrighted work has been used on the Site in a way that constitutes infringement, please send a notice to the contact address in Section 15 including: identification of the work, the URL of the allegedly infringing material, your contact information, a statement of good-faith belief that the use is unauthorized, and a statement made under penalty of perjury that your notice is accurate and that you are the rights holder or authorized to act on their behalf. We respond to valid notices promptly.
8. Embedded and Linked Content
Our articles frequently embed players from Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, and similar services, and link to external websites and social media profiles.
We do not control this third-party content and are not responsible for its accuracy, availability, legality, or the practices of those platforms. Embeds and links do not imply endorsement. Your use of any third-party service is governed by that service’s own terms and privacy policy.
9. Advertising
The Site may display advertising served by us or by third-party advertising networks. Advertisements are clearly distinguishable from editorial content.
We do not control the specific advertisements shown by third-party networks and are not responsible for the products, services, or claims made in those advertisements. Any dealings you have with an advertiser are solely between you and that advertiser.
10. Newsletter
If you subscribe to our newsletter, you consent to receive periodic emails containing new articles, artist features, and site announcements. You may unsubscribe at any time using the link included in every email. See our Privacy Policy for how we handle your email address.
11. Disclaimers
The Site and all content on it are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis, without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied.
We make reasonable efforts to ensure our reporting is accurate, but we do not warrant that content on the Site is complete, current, or error-free. Artist information, release dates, streaming figures, and biographical details are often supplied by artists or their representatives and may change.
We do not warrant that the Site will be uninterrupted, secure, or free of errors, viruses, or other harmful components.
Nothing on the Site constitutes professional, legal, financial, or career advice.
12. Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, The Volume One and its owners, editors, contributors, and affiliates shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, revenue, data, or goodwill, arising out of or relating to your use of, or inability to use, the Site — whether based in contract, tort, negligence, strict liability, or any other legal theory.
Where liability cannot be excluded by law, our total aggregate liability to you shall not exceed one hundred United States dollars (USD $100).
13. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless The Volume One and its owners, editors, and contributors from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in any way connected with your use of the Site, your violation of these Terms, or your infringement of any third-party right.
14. Changes to These Terms
We may revise these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page. Material changes will be communicated more prominently where appropriate.
Your continued use of the Site after revised Terms take effect constitutes your acceptance of those Terms. If you do not agree to the revised Terms, you must stop using the Site.
15. Governing Law
These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the United States and the state in which The Volume One is established, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any dispute arising under these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in that jurisdiction.
16. Contact Us
Questions about these Terms, copyright complaints, content removal requests, or partnership inquiries:
The Volume One Email: [YOUR-EMAIL@thevolumeone.com] Contact page: https://thevolumeone.com/contact-us/ Mailing address: [YOUR BUSINESS ADDRESS]
These Terms should be read alongside our Privacy Policy.