Terms of Service

1. Who we are and acceptance

Chord Detector (chorddetect.com) is an automated web service that analyzes music recordings to detect chords, beats, tempo, and synchronised lyrics. References to "Chord Detector", "we", "us", or "our" mean the operators of the Chord Detector service.

By accessing our website, creating an account, or submitting audio files or links to Chord Detector, you enter into a binding legal agreement based on these Terms of Service. If you do not agree to these terms in full, you must not use or access the service.

If you use Chord Detector on behalf of a company, school, or other legal organization, you represent that you have the authority to bind that entity to these terms.

2. The service

Chord Detector lets musicians extract chords, timing, and lyrics from audio tracks. You can submit audio by pasting a public YouTube link or by uploading an audio file in MP3, WAV, OGG, M4A, or FLAC format (up to 50 MB in size and up to 15 minutes in length).

Once submitted, our backend analyzes the audio stream to extract harmonic changes, identify chord names, detect beats, and transcribe vocal lines.

3. Accounts

You can test the service with a 60-second preview without creating an account. Unlocking full songs, saving tracks to your library, or purchasing plans requires an account.

Registration: You can sign in using your email address (verified with a one-time login code or password) or through Google OAuth. You agree to provide accurate and current contact details.

Age requirement: You must be at least 16 years old to create an account or submit audio to Chord Detector. If you are under 16, you may not register or use the service.

Account security: You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all actions taken under your account. Notify us immediately at contact@chorddetect.com if you suspect unauthorized access.

One person per account: Accounts are granted for individual use only. You may not share your account credentials, license keys, or active sessions with other individuals, band members, or teams.

4. Your content and rights

Your rights and permissions: You must have all necessary rights, licenses, or permissions to submit audio files or links to Chord Detector. You must not upload or process audio that infringes the copyright, trademark, privacy, or other rights of any third party.

YouTube links: When you provide a YouTube URL, you confirm that you have permission to access and analyze the audio, or that your use constitutes lawful fair use or fair dealing under applicable law. Chord Detector does not host YouTube videos and does not bypass copyright protection or technical access controls.

Processing only; no ownership claim: We process your submitted audio solely to generate chord progressions, beat timing, and lyrics for you. We do not claim any ownership rights in the audio recordings or musical compositions you upload. You retain all existing rights in your original recordings.

Audio deletion within 24 hours: To protect privacy and minimize data storage, all uploaded audio files and intermediate audio streams are automatically deleted from our servers within 24 hours after processing is complete. Only the resulting chord sheets, timing data, and lyrics are saved to your account library.

Personal practice only: Generated chord sheets and transcribed lyrics may reflect underlying copyrighted musical works. Chord sheets and lyrics produced by Chord Detector are intended solely for your personal practice, private study, and educational use. You may not sell, redistribute, publish, or publicly distribute chord sheets or lyrics derived from third-party copyrighted works.

5. Acceptable use

When using Chord Detector, you agree not to engage in any of the following prohibited activities:

• Circumventing limits: Bypassing, tampering with, or attempting to circumvent paywalls, preview restrictions, the 60-second limit, or account quotas.
• Scraping and automation: Using bots, crawlers, scrapers, or automated scripts to harvest song data, API endpoints, chord charts, or user information.
• Infrastructure abuse: Overburdening, attacking, flooding, reverse engineering, or disrupting our servers, networks, or connected Cloudflare infrastructure.
• Unlawful content: Uploading audio containing malware, unlawful material, hate speech, or content that infringes third-party intellectual property.
• Reselling or white-labeling: Reselling, sublicensing, leasing, or providing commercial access to Chord Detector's processing pipelines or results without our written agreement.
• Multi-account abuse: Creating multiple accounts to repeatedly take advantage of free signup credits or promotional trial periods.

6. Plans, trial and payments

Chord Detector offers free access and paid tiers to fit different practice needs:

Merchant of Record: All orders, payments, and invoices are handled by our Merchant of Record, Paddle (Paddle.com Market Limited). Paddle sells the digital services to you, handles billing, calculates and remits local sales taxes and VAT, and issues receipts.

Pro 7-day trial and auto-conversion: If you select the Pro trial, a valid payment method is required at checkout. The trial gives you full Pro access for 7 days (up to 15 songs). Unless you cancel before the trial period ends, your trial automatically converts into a paid Pro subscription at $9.99 per month, charged to your card on file. We send an email reminder approximately 48 hours before your trial expires.

Recurring billing and renewal: Pro subscriptions renew automatically each month on your billing date. Charges are billed in advance for each billing cycle.

Cancellation: You can cancel your subscription at any time directly through the billing portal (linked under My songs) or via the cancellation link in your Paddle billing confirmation email. When you cancel, your subscription remains active until the end of the current billing or trial period; you will not be billed again.

Refunds: Refund requests and eligibility are governed by our Refund Policy. Because Paddle is the merchant of record, refund requests may also be submitted directly through Paddle support.

7. Copyright complaints

We respect intellectual property rights and respond promptly to notices of alleged copyright infringement. If you are a copyright owner or an agent thereof and believe that any content processed or accessible on Chord Detector infringes your copyright, you may submit a takedown notice to our legal mailbox at terms@chorddetect.com.

To be effective, your notice must include the following information:

1. A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed (such as the title of the song, composer, and artist).
2. The specific URL or job identifier on Chord Detector where the allegedly infringing material appears.
3. Your contact information: full name, physical mailing address, telephone number, and email address.
4. A statement that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
5. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
6. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

Upon receipt of a complete notice, we will investigate and take appropriate action, including disabling access to or removing the identified song analysis.

8. Availability and changes

Chord Detector is actively maintained and evolved (beta quality). While we strive for high service availability and rapid processing times, we cannot guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation. Audio processing speed depends on track length, format complexity, and server workload.

We reserve the right to modify, enhance, restrict, or discontinue any feature, rate limit, or model configuration at any time. We will provide reasonable notice on our site for substantial changes affecting active subscribers.

9. Disclaimers and liability limit

"As-is" disclaimer: To the fullest extent permitted by law, Chord Detector and all generated musical analyses, chords, beats, and lyrics are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. We disclaim all warranties, whether express, statutory, or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular musical purpose, and non-infringement.

Limitation of liability: Under no circumstances will Chord Detector, its developers, operators, or affiliates be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including loss of profits, goodwill, data, or rehearsal time, arising from your use of or inability to use the service.

Liability cap: Our aggregate liability to you for all claims arising out of or related to these terms or your use of the service is strictly limited to the greater of fifty US dollars ($50 USD) or the total amount you paid to Chord Detector during the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to liability.

Consumer rights: Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain consumer warranties or statutory damages. Nothing in these terms excludes or restricts any liability that cannot be excluded under applicable consumer protection law.

10. Termination

You may stop using Chord Detector and close your account at any time. If you have an active Pro subscription, you can cancel it via the billing portal before closing your account.

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account and block your access to the service immediately, without prior notice, if you violate these terms, abuse the service, engage in fraudulent activity, or fail to pay due fees.

Upon termination, your right to access your library and use the service terminates. Uploaded audio files are automatically purged within 24 hours of analysis; any remaining account records are handled according to our Privacy Policy.

11. Changes to the terms

We may update these Terms of Service from time to time to reflect operational, legal, or regulatory updates, or changes to our pricing and features.

When changes are made, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Your continued use of Chord Detector following the posting of updated terms indicates your acceptance of the revised terms. If you do not agree to the updated terms, you should cancel your account and discontinue using the service.

12. Contact

If you have questions regarding these Terms of Service, billing, or copyright inquiries, please reach out to us:

Related documents: Privacy Policy • Refund Policy • Contact