Acceptable Use Policy

1. Lawful and respectful use

Use GigStage only for lawful live-music, audience-engagement, Artist-profile, payment, promotional, and related purposes supported by the platform.

Do not harm another person, disrupt a live event, interfere with the platform, violate law or rights, deceive users, create unreasonable payment risk, or avoid safeguards.

2. Harassment, threats, and abuse

• Do not threaten violence or harm.
• Do not harass, stalk, intimidate, repeatedly target, humiliate, or exploit another person.
• Do not expose private information, coordinate unlawful conduct, or submit abusive requests or shoutouts.

3. Hate and discriminatory content

Do not promote, praise, threaten, or encourage hatred, violence, or unlawful discrimination based on race, colour, ethnic or national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, age, or another protected characteristic.

4. Sexual and exploitative content

• Child sexual abuse or exploitation material.
• Sexual content involving minors, grooming, or solicitation.
• Non-consensual intimate content, sexual threats, coercion, trafficking, exploitation, or unlawful obscene material.

5. Violence and dangerous activity

• Do not threaten or celebrate real-world violence.
• Do not coordinate attacks, encourage self-harm or harm to others, promote terrorism or violent extremism, distribute unlawful weapons content, interfere with crowd safety, or create a false emergency.

6. Fraud and payment abuse

• Do not use stolen or unauthorized payment methods, test cards, provide false billing information, manipulate transactions, misuse refunds or chargebacks, disguise funds, impersonate another party, or interfere with Checkout.

7. Spam and unauthorized marketing

• Do not send unsolicited commercial messages, harvest contact details, submit repetitive advertising, use deceptive sender information, bypass unsubscribe requests, or add someone to a marketing list without appropriate permission.

8. Impersonation and misleading information

• Do not impersonate an Artist, band, venue, business, audience member, or GigStage representative.
• Do not falsely claim authorization, create a deceptive profile, misuse another party's name or branding, misrepresent a payment, or imply endorsement by GigStage.

9. Intellectual-property infringement

You must have the required rights for content uploaded, displayed, linked, reproduced, or distributed through GigStage.

Do not use unauthorized recordings, photographs, artwork, logos, biographies, promotional material, commercial releases, trademarks, publicity rights, or other protected material.

10. Privacy and personal information

Do not submit, publish, collect, sell, expose, or misuse another person's private or sensitive information without a lawful reason and appropriate permission.

Do not place private email, phone, home address, password, card, banking, government, health, private-message, precise-location, or child information in public fields unless clearly necessary and authorized.

11. Minors

• Do not exploit or endanger a minor, request inappropriate personal information, encourage secrecy from a guardian, direct unlawful marketing, arrange unsafe contact, or operate an account contrary to the Artist Terms.

12. Platform security

• Do not gain unauthorized access, discover another person's password, bypass authentication, permissions, row-level security, rate limits, suspension controls, or payment restrictions.
• Do not probe vulnerabilities without written authorization, intercept data, upload malware, distribute malicious links, abuse APIs or developer tools, interfere with backups or logs, or conceal abusive activity.

13. Automated and excessive activity

Do not use bots, scripts, or automated browsers to create accounts, submit interactions, inflate counts, manipulate metrics, generate fraudulent traffic, scrape data, test rate limits, open excessive Checkout Sessions, overload the service, or evade restrictions.

14. Service disruption

Do not overload infrastructure, conduct denial-of-service activity, intentionally trigger errors, disrupt realtime updates or providers, abuse support, send malicious files, interfere with a Live Gig, prevent access, or fabricate technical incidents.

15. Artist responsibilities

• Do not publish misleading profiles, promise guaranteed performance contrary to GigStage notices, misuse audience data, manipulate totals, create fake transactions, upload content without rights, evade obligations, expose private information, or direct audiences to unsafe payments.

16. Audience responsibilities

• Do not submit abusive or disruptive content, expose private information, overwhelm the Artist, manipulate popularity, impersonate others, demand dangerous conduct, interfere with the performance, use unauthorized payments, misuse refunds, or seek private Artist information.

17. Support-channel abuse

Do not threaten support personnel, submit knowingly false complaints, impersonate users, send malware, demand private information, pressure GigStage to alter legitimate evidence, or interfere with support operations.

18. Enforcement actions

GigStage may act without advance notice where necessary for safety, payments, security, legal compliance, or platform integrity.

• GigStage may warn, remove content, reject a submission, pause requests, block a device or network, restrict payments, unpublish an Artist Page, suspend or close an account, end a Live Gig, expire open unpaid Checkout Sessions, require verification, preserve evidence, or report activity.

19. Live Gig suspension handling

When an Artist is suspended during a Live Gig, GigStage may suspend immediately or allow the gig to finish first depending on the risk.

A suspended Artist's audience and QR links may display a neutral Artist unavailable notice with a link to GigStage.

20. Payment-related enforcement

GigStage may pause or disable payment functionality because of suspected fraud, excessive disputes, unauthorized activity, Stripe restriction, verification failure, prohibited activity, misleading claims, legal risk, or material breach.

Suspension does not erase valid completed payments, refunds, disputes, taxes, or financial obligations.

21. Investigations and cooperation

GigStage may investigate using account, transaction, request, shoutout, support, security, device, network, acceptance, and audit records.

GigStage may cooperate with providers, financial institutions, regulators, courts, or law enforcement where permitted or required.

22. Reporting a violation

Reports may be sent to support@gigstagelive.com and should identify the account, content, transaction, or incident without including passwords or complete payment details.

GigStage does not guarantee a specific outcome and may be unable to disclose private investigative details.

23. Appeals and restoration

An Artist may request review of a restriction. GigStage may consider severity, evidence, history, corrective action, provider restrictions, safety, payment risk, and the risk of restoration.

Restoration is not guaranteed and may be subject to conditions.

24. No retaliation

Do not retaliate against someone for reporting safety, privacy, fraud, intellectual-property, consumer, or legal concerns in good faith. False or malicious reports remain prohibited.

25. Changes

Each version will display a version number, effective date, and last-updated date. Material changes affecting Artist obligations may require renewed acceptance.

26. Contact

Questions about this Policy may be sent to support@gigstagelive.com.