Chord — Terms of Use

Last updated: July 6, 2026

Agreement to These Terms

These Terms of Use (“Terms”) are a binding agreement between you and Chord LLC (“Chord,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) governing your access to and use of join-chord.com and related services (the “Services”). Chord is a local music opportunity network that connects musicians with real-world opportunities to play, collaborate, rehearse, perform, and form bands.

By creating an account or using the Services, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference. If you do not agree, do not use the Services. You must be at least 18 years old to use the Services.

You can contact us at contact@join-chord.com, by phone at (312) 473-3670, or by mail at 2501 Chatham Rd, Suite N, Springfield, IL 62704, United States.

1. Who May Use the Services

The Services are intended for individuals who are at least 18 years old and located in the United States. By using the Services, you represent that you meet these requirements, that the information you provide is accurate and current, that you will keep it accurate, and that your use will comply with these Terms and all applicable laws. You may not use the Services if we have previously terminated your account.

2. Your Account

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activity under your account. You agree to notify us promptly of any unauthorized use. We may reclaim or require you to change a display name that we reasonably consider inappropriate, misleading, or infringing. You may delete your account at any time; deletion is handled as described in our Privacy Policy.

3. What Chord Is — and Is Not

Chord is a neutral venue that helps users discover, post, and coordinate musical opportunities and shows. We are not a party to any interaction, agreement, arrangement, or transaction between users. We do not employ, represent, or supervise any user, and we do not organize, host, or run the opportunities, sessions, rehearsals, gigs, or shows that users post. Any obligations arising from an opportunity are solely between the users involved.

4. Permitted Use, Including Commercial Activity

The Services exist to connect musicians with real musical opportunities, including paid ones. For clarity, the following are permitted uses and are not prohibited commercial activity:

Posting or responding to opportunities that offer compensation.
Recruiting musicians for paid engagements, including gigs, substitute roles, weddings, and similar work.
Promoting shows, including ticketed shows, and including ticket, streaming, or booking links in listings you post through the Services’ intended features.
Operating as a venue, rehearsal space, event organizer, or band that uses the Services to fill opportunities or recruit participants.

Prohibited commercial activity means using the Services outside their intended features — for example, scraping or harvesting user data for outside marketing, mass-messaging users with unrelated solicitations, reselling or sublicensing access to the Services, or using the Services to compete with Chord by building a competing dataset or product.

5. Prohibited Activities

When using the Services, you agree not to:

Use the Services for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable law or regulation.
Harass, threaten, defame, abuse, harm, or discriminate against any person, or use information obtained through the Services to do so.
Impersonate any person or entity or misrepresent your affiliation with anyone.
Systematically retrieve, scrape, or harvest data or content from the Services, or use bots, spiders, or other automated means to access the Services, except standard search-engine indexing.
Collect users’ names, email addresses, or other information for the purpose of sending unsolicited messages, or create accounts by automated means or under false pretenses.
Upload or transmit viruses, malware, or any code designed to disrupt or damage the Services, or otherwise interfere with, disrupt, or place an undue burden on the Services or their infrastructure.
Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Services, other accounts, or connected systems, or circumvent security or access controls.
Reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble any part of the Services, except to the extent applicable law prohibits that restriction.
Submit false, misleading, or fraudulent listings, reports, or information, or make false reports of abuse.
Sell, transfer, or share your account or profile, or infringe the intellectual-property or privacy rights of others.

We may investigate and take appropriate action against anyone who violates these Terms, including removing content, suspending or terminating accounts, and reporting to law enforcement where warranted.

6. In-Person Interactions and Assumption of Risk

The Services help you find and coordinate real-world musical activities with other people, including at venues, rehearsal spaces, and private locations. Please read this section carefully.

We do not conduct background checks on, verify the identity of, or otherwise vet any user, venue, or organizer. You are solely responsible for your interactions with other users, both on and off the Services, and for evaluating the safety and suitability of any location, event, or person. You agree to exercise reasonable caution and good judgment before communicating with or meeting anyone, and before attending any opportunity, session, rehearsal, or show.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you assume all risks arising from your interactions with other users and from attendance at any opportunity or show, including risks of personal injury, property damage, financial loss, or other harm. Chord is not responsible for the conduct of any user, whether online or offline, and is not a party to any dispute between users. We encourage you to meet in public places when possible, tell someone where you are going, and report concerning behavior using the in-app reporting tools.

7. Compensation and Payments

The Services are currently free to use, and Chord does not process payments between users. Any compensation described in an opportunity is offered by the posting user, not by Chord, and all payment terms, amounts, and methods are agreed and handled solely between the users involved. Chord does not guarantee that any compensation will be paid, that any participant will attend, or that any listing is accurate or lawful, and Chord is not a party to and will not mediate, arbitrate, or be responsible for any payment or performance dispute between users. Ticket links on show listings lead to third-party services governed by their own terms.

8. Platform Role; No Agency

Chord is a neutral technology platform. Chord is not an employment agency, talent agency, booking agent, promoter, manager, or representative of any user; does not negotiate, set, or collect compensation on any user’s behalf; does not select, endorse, guarantee, or supervise any user or opportunity; and does not create any employment, agency, partnership, or contractor relationship between Chord and any user or between users.

9. Participation and Reliability

When you join an opportunity, other users plan around your attendance. You agree to honor commitments you make through the Services and to cancel promptly if your plans change. We calculate reliability metrics from participation history (including attendance, late cancellations, and no-shows). Repeated no-shows or late cancellations may reduce how your requests and profile are ranked or displayed and may result in suspension or termination of your account. How these metrics are used is described in our Privacy Policy.

10. Your Content and the License You Grant

You retain ownership of the content you create, upload, or post through the Services — including profile information, media, listings, messages, and other materials (“Your Content”). We do not claim ownership of Your Content.

By posting Your Content, you grant Chord a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable (to our service providers) license to host, store, reproduce, adapt for technical display, publicly display, and distribute Your Content solely to operate, provide, and promote the Services — for example, to display your profile and media to other users and to feature public listings and shows in Chord’s own marketing. This license ends when you delete the relevant content or your account, except that it continues (a) for content already shared with other users who have not deleted it, (b) for a limited period in routine backups, and (c) as needed to comply with law or enforce these Terms.

You represent and warrant that you own or have the necessary rights to Your Content, that it does not infringe or violate anyone’s intellectual-property, privacy, or publicity rights, and that you have any necessary permissions from people identifiable in your photos or video. You are responsible for Your Content.

Feedback

If you send us suggestions, ideas, or other feedback about the Services, you agree we may use it without restriction or obligation to you.

11. Content Standards

You agree not to post content that is illegal, fraudulent, or misleading; harassing, hateful, threatening, defamatory, obscene, or abusive; that infringes or violates anyone’s intellectual-property, privacy, or publicity rights; that constitutes unsolicited advertising or spam; that endangers or exploits minors; or that promotes violence or discrimination against any person or group. We may remove content that violates these standards, though we have no obligation to monitor content.

12. Reporting, Moderation, and Enforcement

You can report messages or users and block other users using the in-app tools. We may review reported content and related account activity to investigate and act on reports, and we may retain report records and reported content as described in our Privacy Policy, including after an account is deleted. We may, in our discretion, remove content, and limit, suspend, or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or that we reasonably believe create risk to other users or to Chord. We are not obligated to monitor content but may do so.

13. Copyright and DMCA Notices

We respect intellectual-property rights and respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). If you believe content on the Services infringes your copyright, send a written notice to our designated agent that includes: (1) your physical or electronic signature; (2) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed; (3) identification of the allegedly infringing material and information reasonably sufficient to locate it; (4) your contact information; (5) a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and (6) a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorized to act on the owner’s behalf.

Counter-notification. If your content was removed and you believe it was removed in error, you may send our designated agent a counter-notice containing the information required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(g). Repeat infringers. We will, in appropriate circumstances, terminate the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe.

Designated DMCA agent:

2501 Chatham Rd, Suite N, Springfield, IL 62704, United States

Phone: (312) 473-3670 · Email: dmca@join-chord.com

14. Third-Party Links and Content

The Services may contain links to third-party websites or content (for example, ticketing pages or embedded SoundCloud or YouTube media). We do not control and are not responsible for third-party sites or content, and including a link does not imply endorsement. If you access third-party sites or content, you do so at your own risk and subject to their terms and privacy policies.

15. Privacy

Our Privacy Policy, available at join-chord.com/privacy, describes how we handle your information and is incorporated into these Terms. The Services are operated in the United States; by using them, you consent to processing of your information in the United States.

16. Service Availability and Changes

We may modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Services at any time, and we may impose limits on certain features. We do not guarantee that the Services will always be available or error-free, and we are not liable for any unavailability, interruption, or discontinuation. We have no obligation to retain or maintain any content or data, though we perform routine backups; you are responsible for keeping your own copies of content important to you.

17. Term and Termination

These Terms apply while you use the Services. We may suspend or terminate your access at any time, with or without notice, if you violate these Terms, if we reasonably believe your conduct creates risk or harm to other users or to Chord, or as otherwise permitted by law. If we terminate your account for cause, you may not create a new account without our permission. You may stop using the Services and delete your account at any time. Sections that by their nature should survive termination — including intellectual-property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, and dispute-resolution provisions — will survive.

18. Disclaimers

THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE,” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE, THAT LISTINGS OR USERS ARE ACCURATE, RELIABLE, OR TRUSTWORTHY, OR THAT ANY OPPORTUNITY, SESSION, OR SHOW WILL OCCUR AS DESCRIBED. YOU USE THE SERVICES, AND INTERACT WITH OTHER USERS, AT YOUR OWN RISK.

19. Limitation of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, CHORD AND ITS OWNERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, DATA, GOODWILL, OR PERSONAL INJURY, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES OR YOUR INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER USERS, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM RELATED TO THE SERVICES WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM OR ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100). SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW CERTAIN LIMITATIONS, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

20. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Chord and its owners, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising from your use of the Services, Your Content, your violation of these Terms or of any law, your violation of another’s rights, or any interaction between you and any other user, including in person. We may assume exclusive defense of any matter subject to indemnification, in which case you agree to cooperate.

21. Dispute Resolution

Informal resolution first. Before filing any claim, you agree to contact us at contact@join-chord.com and attempt to resolve the dispute informally for at least 30 days. Most concerns can be resolved this way.

Governing law and venue. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. If a dispute is not resolved informally, you and Chord agree that it will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Cook County, Illinois, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts. Each party is responsible for its own costs except as a court may otherwise award.

22. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. For material changes, we will provide notice through the Services or by email to the address associated with your account (from policyupdates@join-chord.com). Changes take effect when posted or as stated in the notice, and your continued use of the Services after that means you accept the updated Terms.

23. Electronic Communications

By using the Services, you consent to receive communications from us electronically — including emails and notices posted in the Services — and you agree that electronic communications, agreements, and records satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing.

24. Miscellaneous

These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and Chord regarding the Services. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions stay in effect. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, or agency relationship between you and Chord.

25. Contact Us

Chord LLC

2501 Chatham Rd, Suite N

Springfield, IL 62704, United States

Email: contact@join-chord.com · Phone: (312) 473-3670