Scout Network terms.

Who these terms are between.

"BTD," "we," "our," and "us" mean Before The Data, operated by Chad Hillard, based in Tennessee, United States.

"You," "scout," and "your" mean the individual person who applies to and is approved into the BTD Scout Network. Scout accounts are personal and may not be transferred, shared, or operated by anyone other than you.

By submitting a scout application or, if approved, by using the Scout Network in any way, you agree to be bound by these terms.

Who can be a scout.

To be eligible to apply or participate as a scout, you must:

• Be at least 18 years old.
• Be a resident of the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, or Australia. Scouts outside these four countries are not currently supported because of payout infrastructure limitations.
• Have a valid bank account or supported financial account in your country of residence, capable of receiving payouts through Stripe Connect.
• Be approved by BTD. Application does not guarantee approval. We may approve, decline, or waitlist any application at our discretion.
• Not be on any U.S. sanctions list, OFAC list, or otherwise prohibited from receiving payments under applicable law.

If you stop meeting any of these requirements (for example, you move to a country we do not support), your scout access may be paused or terminated.

What scouting is, and what it isn't.

As a scout, you may submit links to musical artists you believe are worth our attention. We refer to these as submissions. We review submissions and, at our sole discretion, may accept some of them onto the BTD dashboard.

You are an independent tipster, not an agent.

You are not employed by BTD. You are not a contractor representing artists. You are not a talent agent, manager, booking agent, or representative of any kind. You are an independent person sharing tips with BTD in exchange for a finder's fee when those tips lead to a dashboard addition.

You have no authority to bind BTD or any artist.

You may not represent yourself as acting on behalf of BTD or any artist when communicating with anyone. You may not solicit, sign, manage, or negotiate on behalf of any artist as part of your scout role.

The submission link is the qualifying event.

Submissions are made through the scout submission form. Tips communicated to BTD by any other means (DM, email, text, etc.) do not qualify for payout, even if BTD ends up adding that artist.

How and when you get paid.

Amount per accepted submission.

You earn a flat $50 USD per submission that BTD accepts and adds to the dashboard. This amount may be changed by BTD in the future for new submissions only. Submissions already accepted are paid at the rate in effect at the time of acceptance.

Acceptance is at BTD's sole discretion.

We may accept or decline any submission for any reason. Reasons we commonly decline include but are not limited to: the artist is already in our system, the artist is already signed, the artist has been flagged by another scout first, the submission is incomplete, or the artist does not fit our editorial criteria.

First-flag wins.

If multiple scouts submit the same artist, only the first submission we receive is eligible for payout, regardless of who BTD thinks "really" found the artist. If you and another scout submit the same artist within minutes of each other, the earlier timestamp wins. No exceptions, no appeals.

No payout window expiry.

A submission remains eligible for the $50 payout regardless of how much time passes between submission and acceptance. We do not impose a freshness window. However, BTD reserves the right to mark a submission as "duplicate" or "ineligible" at the time of review.

Batch payout schedule.

Payouts are processed in weekly batches, typically on Fridays. We do not guarantee a specific weekday or time. To receive a payout, your accumulated payout balance must be at least $50 USD and you must have completed Stripe Connect onboarding. Balances below $50 roll forward to the next batch.

You must complete Stripe Connect onboarding to receive any payout.

BTD pays scouts through Stripe Connect Express. You must complete Stripe's onboarding flow, including providing identity verification and tax information, before any payout can be processed. Submissions you make before completing onboarding still count and accumulate, but no money will be transferred until onboarding is complete.

Taxes are your responsibility.

You are an independent contractor for tax purposes. BTD does not withhold any taxes from payouts. You are solely responsible for reporting and paying all applicable income, self-employment, and other taxes in your jurisdiction.

U.S. scouts: If your total payouts from BTD in a U.S. calendar year reach $600 USD or more, BTD will (through Stripe) issue you a 1099-NEC tax form for that year.

Non-U.S. scouts (Canada, UK, Australia): BTD will not issue you any tax form. You are solely responsible for self-reporting income earned through the Scout Network to your country's tax authority (CRA in Canada, HMRC in the UK, ATO in Australia) under your applicable self-employment or independent contractor rules. BTD does not withhold any tax from your payouts.

Failed transfers.

If a payout transfer fails (for example, because your Stripe account is restricted or your bank rejects the transfer), the amount will be returned to your payout balance and may be retried in a future batch. You are responsible for keeping your Stripe Connect account in good standing.

Public credit on the dashboard.

When a submission is accepted, your scout handle (e.g. @yourhandle) is shown publicly on the dashboard as the discovering scout for that artist. This credit is permanent and travels with the artist for as long as the artist remains in our system.

BTD reserves the right to correct attribution if a submission is found to be fraudulent, plagiarized, or otherwise misrepresented. In rare cases (data error, dispute resolution, account termination), attribution may be removed or reassigned. We will notify you if this happens to any of your accepted submissions.

What you may not do.

You agree not to:

• Submit the same artist multiple times to try to game first-flag wins.
• Submit artists you did not actually believe in or have not actually evaluated.
• Submit artists on behalf of those artists (e.g. the artist or their team asks you to submit them).
• Coordinate with other scouts to game attribution, payouts, or rankings.
• Use automated tools, scripts, or bots to scrape, submit, or otherwise interact with the Scout Network.
• Misrepresent your identity, location, age, or eligibility.
• Use the Scout Network to harass, dox, or harm any artist, scout, or other person.
• Reproduce, distribute, or sell access to any BTD internal data, dashboards, or research that you may have visibility into as a result of being a scout.

Violations may result in suspension, termination, forfeiture of pending payouts, and in serious cases legal action.

You can scout for others.

Scouting for BTD does not require exclusivity. You are free to also scout for, or be employed by, other labels, A&R companies, music publishers, distributors, or competing platforms. We do not claim any right to your future submissions to anyone else.

Conversely, BTD has no obligation to accept any of your submissions and may also work with any number of other scouts.

What we own, what you own.

You retain rights to your own materials.

You retain all rights in any original content you create (e.g. your bio, profile photo, notes about artists). By posting them through the Scout Network, you grant BTD a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use, display, and store that content as needed to operate the platform and to publicly display your scout profile and attribution.

BTD owns the platform and its data.

BTD owns the Scout Network platform, the BTD dashboard, all editorial content, all derived datasets, and all aggregated stats. You have no ownership claim in any artist's data, performance metrics, or success that results from BTD's involvement.

No claim over signed artists.

Submitting an artist to BTD does not create any ownership, royalty, commission, finder's fee, or other interest in that artist's future career, deals, or earnings beyond the $50 payout for the submission itself. If an artist you submitted later signs to a label, gets a publishing deal, gets booked, or otherwise earns money, you are not entitled to any portion of that. The $50 finder's fee is the complete and final compensation for a submission.

How either side can end this.

You may leave at any time.

You may stop being a scout at any time by emailing chad@beforethedata.com. Any payouts already earned and accumulated will be processed in the next normal batch, subject to the $50 minimum payout threshold and your Stripe Connect onboarding being complete.

BTD may terminate your scout access at any time.

BTD may terminate, suspend, or pause your scout access at any time, for any reason or no reason, with or without notice. We do not have to give you a reason. If we do terminate you, any payouts you have already earned (i.e. submissions already accepted at the time of termination) will still be paid out under the normal batch schedule.

Pending submissions on termination.

Submissions you have made that are still pending review at the time of termination will be reviewed normally and, if accepted, will be paid out as usual.

Survival.

Termination does not affect: payouts already earned, attribution already given to accepted submissions, sections of these terms that by their nature should survive (intellectual property, indemnification, governing law, disclaimers, limitations of liability).

How disagreements get resolved.

Talk to us first.

If you have a problem with a payout, attribution, account decision, or anything else, your first step is to email chad@beforethedata.com. We will respond within a reasonable time and try to resolve it. Most issues are resolved this way.

Binding arbitration.

If we cannot resolve a dispute informally within 30 days, you and BTD agree that all disputes, claims, and disagreements arising out of or related to these terms or the Scout Network will be resolved through final and binding individual arbitration, not in court. Arbitration will be administered by JAMS (or another mutually agreed administrator) in accordance with its commercial rules then in effect. The seat of arbitration will be Nashville, Tennessee. The arbitrator's decision is final.

Class action waiver.

You and BTD agree that any disputes will be resolved on an individual basis only, and that neither party may bring any claim as a plaintiff or class member in a class, collective, or representative action. The arbitrator may not consolidate claims from multiple scouts or hear any form of class or representative proceeding.

Exceptions.

Either party may seek injunctive or equitable relief in court for intellectual property infringement, unauthorized access to systems, or breach of confidentiality. Small claims court is also available for individual claims within its jurisdiction.

The legal limits of BTD's responsibility.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations of liability or disclaimers of warranty. To the extent those laws apply, the above limitations are reduced to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law in your jurisdiction, and nothing in these terms is intended to limit any non-waivable rights you have under such law.

If your actions cause BTD harm.

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless BTD, its operators, affiliates, and contractors from and against any claims, damages, losses, costs, and reasonable attorneys' fees arising out of or related to: (a) your breach of these terms, (b) any content or submissions you provide that infringe a third party's rights or violate any law, (c) any misrepresentation by you in connection with your scout application or activity, or (d) your communications with any artist, label, or third party that exceeded your role as a tipster.

The legal nature of the relationship.

You and BTD are independent parties. Nothing in these terms creates an employer-employee, partnership, joint venture, franchise, fiduciary, or agency relationship between you and BTD. You have no authority to bind BTD in any way. BTD has no obligation to provide you with any benefits, training, equipment, insurance, or guaranteed compensation. You control your own time, methods, and tools as a scout.

Nothing in these terms is intended to be construed as designating you a "talent agent" or other regulated representative under any state's laws, including without limitation the California Talent Agencies Act, and you agree that your role under these terms is limited to that of an independent tipster providing information to BTD.

How these terms may be updated.

BTD may update these terms from time to time. When we make a material change, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and, where reasonably practical, give you notice by email or through the Scout Network. Your continued use of the Scout Network after any update constitutes your acceptance of the updated terms. If you do not agree with an update, your remedy is to stop using the Scout Network.

Final boilerplate.

• Governing law. These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Tennessee, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Where arbitration does not apply, the exclusive forum for any dispute is the state and federal courts located in Davidson County, Tennessee.
• Entire agreement. These terms, together with any additional terms or policies BTD publishes for the Scout Network (e.g. a privacy notice), constitute the entire agreement between you and BTD with respect to the Scout Network.
• Severability. If any provision of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest remain in full effect, and the unenforceable provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable.
• No waiver. BTD's failure to enforce any right or provision is not a waiver of that right or provision.
• Assignment. You may not assign these terms or any rights under them. BTD may assign these terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, sale of assets, or by operation of law.
• Notices to you may be sent to the email address on file with your scout account. Notices to BTD should be sent to chad@beforethedata.com.