Content & Use

Do the Application policies include Content and Use rules?

According to the Application:

Use Policy:

This policy is in place for .MUSIC registrants regardless of the applicable launch phase. It is developed with extensive participation of Music Community members; tailored to meet the specific needs of the Music Community; and solve issues currently existing in the Music Community related to intellectual property infringement and malicious conduct.

The policy is incorporated in the registration agreement for all .MUSIC registrants. DotMusic may modify or revise these use policies at any time. Registrants agree to be bound by such modifications or revisions. Registrants that do not accept and abide by the registration agreement are disqualified from domain registrations.

The following use requirements apply:

• Use only for music-related activities
• Comply with applicable laws and regulations and not participate in, facilitate, or further illegal activities
• Do not post or submit content that is illegal, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, deceptive, fraudulent, invasive of anotherʹs privacy, or tortious
• Respect the intellectual property rights of others by posting or submitting only content that is owned, licensed, or otherwise have the right to post or submit
• Immediately notify us if there is a security breach, other member incompliance or illegal activity on .MUSIC sites
• Do not register a domain containing an established music brand’s name in bad faith that might be deemed confusing to Internet users and the Music Community
• Do not use any automated process to access or use the .MUSIC sites or any process, whether automated or manual, to capture data or content from any service for any reason
• Do not use any service or any process to damage, disable, impair, or otherwise attack .MUSIC sites or the networks connected to .MUSIC sites

(Application, Question 20e)

Parking Pages:

DotMusic will prohibit the use of parked pages. .MUSIC sites will be subject to the content and use restrictions described in response to question 18b and question 20e. Parked sites can only be used as temporary pages assigned to a domain at the time of registration and stay in place until the registrant has a website developed and ready to go live in a reasonable time period.

(Application, Question 18c)

Are Use and Content rules consistent with the articulated community-based purpose of the applied-for gTLD and consistent with the Application’s Mission statement?

According to the Application:

“The .MUSIC Mission⁄Purpose is:

• Creating a trusted, safe online haven for music consumption & licensing
• Establishing a safe home on the Internet for Music Community (ʺCommunityʺ) members regardless of locale or size
• Protecting intellectual property & fighting piracy
• Supporting Musiciansʹ welfare, rights & fair compensation
• Promoting music and the arts, cultural diversity & music education
• Following a multi-stakeholder approach of fair representation of all types of global music constituents, including a rotating regional Advisory Committee Board working in the Community’s best interest

.MUSIC will effectively differentiate itself by addressing the key online usage issues of safety, trust, consistency, brand recognition as well as communicate site subject-matter: music-related content. The TLD will be exclusive to the Community and will incorporate enhanced safeguards and Use policies to protect creators, intellectual property and rights holders..MUSIC will effectively differentiate itself by addressing the key online usage issues of safety, trust, consistency, brand recognition as well as communicate site subject-matter: music-related content.”

(Application, Question 18a)

To fulfill the requirements for Content and Use, the registration policies must include rules for content and use for registrants that are consistent with the articulated community-based purpose of the applied-for gTLD. The application demonstrates adherence to this requirement by specifying that the second-level domain names are restricted to music-related content. The second-level domains do not provide content that is inconsistent with the Mission/Purpose of the gTLD since they can only provide content that is consistent with the mandate of the gTLD, with prohibitions on the inclusion of illegal content and abusive or malicious activities. All music-related content contained in the second-level domain must be owned by the registrant. Second-level domains containing copyright and trademark infringing content related to music or other regulated, creator industries is strictly prohibited since the Mission/Purpose is to create a “trusted, safe online haven for music consumption and licensing, ” “establishing a safe home… for the Community,” “protecting intellectual property and fighting piracy” and support rights holder “fair compensation.”

The purpose of the Content and Use policy is to ensure alignment with the Mission Statement and that .music domains are only used for legal “music-related” activities and licensed “music-related” content (i.e the Registrant owns the rights of the content published, or has the legal authority to publish the content, or has licensed the content published.) The Content and Use policy focuses on facilitating a trusted, safe haven for legal consumption relating to music which ensures rights holders have control of their works and are fairly compensated. This means unlicensed content, copyright infringement, trademark infringement, malicious behavior, and abusive activity are strictly prohibited.