Foundry End User License Agreement
This End User License Agreement (the “Agreement“) is a legal agreement between you and Art Le Bel (the “Licensor“, “we” or “us“) for Foundry. Please read it carefully. It explains what you may do with Foundry, what belongs to you, what belongs to us, and what happens if Foundry is used without a valid licence.
By downloading, installing, copying, opening or using Foundry, including its demo and its browser version, you agree to this Agreement. If you do not agree, do not download, install, open or use Foundry.
1. Definitions
In this Agreement:
- “Software” or “Foundry” means the Foundry digital audio workstation, in every form we make available: the desktop application for Windows and Linux in all its packages (installer, portable archive, .deb, .rpm, AppImage, Snap and Flatpak), the browser version, and their executables, libraries, native audio engine and plugin host, user interface, built-in effects, built-in instruments, presets, sounds, drum voices, demonstration material, documentation, user manual, installers and any updates, upgrades and fixes we provide.
- “Desktop Version” means the Software installed or run on a computer as an application.
- “Browser Version” means the Software as a web page opened in a web browser, including the copy hosted at download.artuststudios.com and any copy of that page.
- “Demo” means the Software used without a valid Licence. In the Demo every feature can be tried, but saving projects and templates and exporting are switched off.
- “Licence” means the right to use the full Software that you obtain by paying the applicable fee (or that we grant you in writing without a fee), evidenced by a Licence Key and a Licence File issued by us or our licence server.
- “Licence Key” means the code in the form FDRY-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX issued for your Licence.
- “Licence File” means the digitally signed file issued by our licence server for your Licence (for example, Foundry.foundrylicence).
- “Authorized Use” means use of the Software (a) in the Demo, within the Demo’s limits, or (b) with a valid Licence that was obtained lawfully from us or a reseller we authorized, that has not been withdrawn, refunded, charged back or terminated, and that is used by the person to whom it was issued in accordance with this Agreement.
- “Unauthorized Use” means any use of the Software that is not Authorized Use, including use (a) with a Licence Key or Licence File that was not issued to you, or that was shared, sold, leaked, published, generated, forged, altered or copied without our permission; (b) after your Licence has been withdrawn because of a refund, chargeback, payment reversal or fraud; (c) after this Agreement has ended for you; (d) of a copy of the Software from which a Licence check, activation, signature check, Demo limit or other technical measure has been removed, bypassed, patched or disabled; or (e) of the Software’s saving, exporting or other licensed features by any means that avoids a Licence check.
- “Your Work” means the songs, compositions, arrangements, projects, recordings, performances, mixes, stems, exports, MIDI files, drum patterns, templates, presets you create, and any other material that you create or produce with the Software through Authorized Use.
- “Product” means any material created, produced, recorded, edited, processed, rendered, mixed, mastered or exported, in whole or in part, with the Software, whether through Authorized Use or Unauthorized Use.
- “Built-in Content” means the presets, sounds, drum voices, instrument and effect designs, demonstration songs and other content supplied with the Software, and the sound the Software’s built-in instruments and effects produce.
- “Sound Library” means the drum kits, instrument recordings and SoundFont supplied with the Software (in the desktop application, and served to the browser version), including the third-party sounds listed in the THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES file.
- “Third-Party Material” means anything you bring into or use with the Software that does not come from us, including audio files, samples, SoundFont files, MIDI files, project files from others, and audio plugins.
2. Accepting this Agreement
- You accept this Agreement by downloading, installing, copying, opening or using the Software, by clicking “I Agree” or a similar button, or by entering a Licence Key or importing a Licence File.
- If you accept this Agreement for a company or other organization, you confirm that you have authority to bind it, and “you” means that organization.
- You must be at least the age of majority where you live, or have the consent of a parent or guardian who accepts this Agreement for you.
- If you do not accept this Agreement, you may not use the Software, and if you bought a Licence you may ask for a refund under Section 7.
3. Licence grant
- Licence. Subject to this Agreement and to payment of the applicable fee, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, worldwide licence to install and use the Software, in object code form only, for your personal or commercial music and audio production.
- One person, several computers. A single-user Licence is for one named person. You may install and activate the Software on each computer you own or control and use for your own music, without a limit on the number of computers, provided the Software is used by only that one person, and by one person at a time.
- Organizations. A Licence bought by or for an organization is for the one person named in the order, unless the order or a written agreement with us says otherwise. Classrooms, studios used by several people, and other shared use need one Licence per person who uses the Software, or a written agreement with us.
- Other terms of purchase. If the order confirmation, Licence Key or a written agreement grants you more or different rights, those terms apply in addition to this Agreement.
- Backups. You may make a reasonable number of copies of the Software’s installers for backup and for installation on your own computers.
- Reservation. All rights not expressly granted to you in this Agreement are reserved by us.
4. The demo
- Without a Licence the Software runs as the Demo. You may use the Demo free of charge to evaluate the Software, for as long as you like.
- In the Demo, saving projects and templates, autosave and every form of export are switched off. You may not remove, bypass or work around those limits by any means, including by editing the Software, its files or its web page, by intercepting its communication, or by recording, capturing or re-recording the Software’s output to avoid its export limits for the purpose of producing material for distribution.
- The Demo includes the Built-in Content for evaluation only. Material made in the Demo is for your evaluation; Sections 10 and 11 apply to it only to the extent it is saved or exported through Authorized Use.
5. The browser version
- The Browser Version is the same Software as a single web page. You may open it from our website, or keep a copy of the page for your own use.
- Your Licence also covers the Browser Version, in each browser you use for your own music. A Licence File you enter in the Browser Version is stored in that browser; clearing the browser’s site data removes it, and you may enter it again.
- You may not host, publish, mirror, embed, frame or otherwise make the Browser Version available to others, including on a website, intranet or app, without our written permission.
- Because the Browser Version runs in your browser, it depends on your browser’s support for web audio and other features. Some features (for example, MIDI devices) are not available in every browser.
- Modifying the Browser Version’s page or code, including to change, remove or bypass its Licence check or its Demo limits, is Unauthorized Use and is not permitted.
6. Licence keys, activation and licence files
- Your Licence Key is personal and confidential. Keep it safe, and do not share, publish, sell or give it to anyone else. You are responsible for any use of your Licence Key.
- When you enter your Licence Key, the Software sends the Licence Key to our licence server, which sends back a signed Licence File. The Software then works offline. You may instead download your Licence File from your account and import it without an internet connection.
- The Software checks the digital signature of a Licence File. A Licence File that has been altered, forged or generated by anyone other than us is not valid, and its use is Unauthorized Use.
- From time to time, when an internet connection is available, the Software may check with our licence server whether your Licence is still valid, so that a refunded Licence can be withdrawn. If you are offline, the Software keeps working.
- If you suspect that your Licence Key has been disclosed, contact us. We may issue a replacement and withdraw the old one.
- We may refuse, limit or withdraw activation for a Licence Key that appears to be shared, published, sold without permission, used by more people than this Agreement allows, or obtained by fraud.
7. Purchases, refunds and withdrawn licences
- Licences are sold through our store at foundry.artuststudios.com and any resellers we authorize. The price, taxes and payment terms are those shown at the time of purchase.
- Refunds are given according to the refund terms of the store at the time of your purchase and the consumer law that applies to you.
- If you receive a refund, or if a payment is reversed, charged back or found to be fraudulent, your Licence is withdrawn. The Software removes a withdrawn Licence the next time it can reach our licence server, and continuing to use a withdrawn Licence in any way is Unauthorized Use.
- A Licence is not transferable. You may not sell, give, lend or otherwise transfer your Licence or Licence Key to anyone else, unless we agree in writing.
8. Restrictions
Except as this Agreement expressly allows, or as applicable law permits despite this limitation, you may not, and may not allow or help anyone else to:
- copy the Software, except as allowed in Section 3;
- sell, rent, lease, lend, sublicense, distribute, publish, host or otherwise make the Software available to anyone else, including as a hosted, cloud or network service;
- modify, translate, adapt, merge or create derivative works of the Software, including of the Browser Version’s page;
- reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the Software, or attempt to derive its source code, except to the extent that applicable law expressly permits this despite this restriction;
- remove, alter or obscure any copyright, trademark, licence or other notice in the Software;
- create, use, distribute or publish any key generator, crack, patch, licence file, emulator or other means of using the Software without a valid Licence, or of removing, bypassing or disabling its Licence checks, activation, signature checks or Demo limits;
- share, publish or sell Licence Keys or Licence Files, or use a Licence Key or Licence File that was not issued to you;
- use the Software to develop or train a competing product, or extract the Built-in Content for use outside the Software except as Section 11 allows;
- use the Software in breach of any law, or to infringe anyone’s intellectual property or other rights; or
- interfere with, overload, probe or attack our licence server, website, download site or any other service connected with the Software.
9. Ownership of the Software
- The Software is licensed, not sold. We and our licensors own all right, title and interest in and to the Software and the Built-in Content, including all copyrights, trade secrets, patents, trademarks and other intellectual property rights.
- No source code is licensed to you, unless we give you a separate written agreement. Any source code we make available to you is our confidential information and may be used only as that agreement allows.
- Nothing in this Agreement transfers ownership of the Software, or of any copy of it, to you.
10. Your Work
- You own Your Work. Everything you create or produce with the Software through Authorized Use (your songs, compositions, arrangements, recordings, performances, mixes, stems, exports, MIDI files, drum patterns, projects, templates and presets) belongs to you, and is explicitly and exclusively yours as between you and us. We claim no ownership of Your Work, take no share of any income from it, and require no credit, attribution or royalty for it.
- Commercial use. You may use, copy, sell, publish, perform, broadcast, stream, license and otherwise exploit Your Work, commercially or not, anywhere, without further permission from us, subject only to the rights of others in any Third-Party Material it contains.
- No access by us. Your projects and exports are stored on your own computer or in your own browser. We do not receive, store or access Your Work through the Software.
- Survival. Your ownership of Your Work made through Authorized Use is not affected by the end of this Agreement, by a later refund, or by uninstalling the Software.
- Your responsibility. You are responsible for Your Work and for keeping backups of it. The Software can fail or lose data (see Section 20).
11. Built-in Content
- Use in Your Work. Through Authorized Use, you may use the Built-in Content (including the sound of the built-in instruments and effects, their presets, and the built-in drum voices) in Your Work, including in commercially released Your Work, without further permission, credit or royalty.
- No separate redistribution. You may not sell, distribute or share the Built-in Content on its own, or as part of a sample library, preset collection, sound library, soundset, instrument, plugin, template pack or any other product whose main purpose is to provide sounds, presets or tools to others, or in any product that competes with the Software.
- Demonstration material. The demonstration songs and projects supplied with the Software are for learning and evaluation. You may study and change them, but you may not release them, or recordings of them, as your own work.
- The Sound Library. The Sound Library contains: (a) the Foundry kits, made by the Software’s own code, which are Built-in Content; (b) recordings from the Versilian Community Sample Library by Versilian Studios, which their authors have dedicated to the public domain under Creative Commons CC0 1.0; and (c) the GeneralUser GS SoundFont by S. Christian Collins, whose licence allows its use in music, private or commercial. You may use all of it in Your Work as paragraph 1 of this Section describes, without permission, credit or royalty.
- Third-party sounds keep their own terms. The recordings and the SoundFont described in (b) and (c) above are licensed to you by their authors under their own licences, which are supplied with the Software (in the THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES file and the Sound Library’s Licences folder). Where those licences give you more rights than this Agreement does, including the public-domain dedication of the recordings in (b), nothing in this Agreement limits those rights. Paragraph 2 of this Section applies to the Foundry kits and to the Sound Library as a collection.
- No assurance about third-party sounds. The author of GeneralUser GS states that he cannot be certain where every sample in it came from. We supply third-party sounds as their authors provide them, and Section 20 applies to them.
12. Material you bring into Foundry
- You are solely responsible for the Third-Party Material you use with the Software, including samples, recordings, SoundFont files, MIDI files and plugins, and for having the rights needed to use it and to release Your Work that contains it.
- When you load a SoundFont file, a sample or a recording into a project, the Software saves a copy of it inside the project file. Sharing a project file may therefore share that material; make sure you are allowed to. A SoundFont from the Sound Library is saved by name instead, and is found again in the Sound Library when the project is opened.
- We make no claim to Third-Party Material, and give no warranty about it.
13. Works created without a valid licence
- Rights in Products depend on Authorized Use. The ownership confirmation in Section 10, the permissions in Section 11, and every other licence, permission, consent, waiver or release we give in this Agreement in respect of Products, are granted only for Products made through Authorized Use.
- Forfeiture. If any Product is created, produced, recorded, edited, processed, rendered, mixed, mastered, saved or exported, in whole or in part, through Unauthorized Use, then, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: (a) you forfeit, and we do not grant, any licence, permission, consent, waiver or release under this Agreement in respect of that Product, including any right to use, copy, distribute, sell, perform, broadcast, stream or otherwise exploit any Built-in Content, any sound produced by the Software’s built-in instruments or effects, and any other material of ours that the Product contains; (b) you forfeit any right, title and interest you would otherwise have in that Product as against us, and, to the extent such rights can be assigned, you assign them to us, so that we may exploit, license, withdraw or remove that Product as we choose; and (c) you agree not to exploit that Product, and to remove it from any service, platform or distribution where it is available, within fourteen (14) days of our written request.
- Other remedies. This Section is in addition to, and does not limit, any other right or remedy we have, including damages for copyright infringement and for breach of this Agreement, and injunctive relief.
- Content of others. Nothing in this Section gives us any right in material that belongs to someone else (such as a recording or composition by another person who did not use the Software through Unauthorized Use), or takes away a right that the licence of third-party content gives you directly (such as the public-domain dedication of recordings in the Sound Library), and this Section does not apply to any person who used the Software only through Authorized Use.
- Severability of this Section. If any part of paragraph 2 of this Section is held unenforceable where you live, the remaining parts of it apply, and in any case no licence or permission in respect of a Product made through Unauthorized Use arises under this Agreement.
14. Plugins and third-party software
- Third-party components. The Software includes components licensed by third parties under their own terms, listed in the THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES file supplied with the Software. Those terms control those components where they conflict with this Agreement. Where a component’s licence gives you rights (for example, the right to replace an LGPL-licensed library with a modified version), nothing in this Agreement limits those rights.
- Plugins. The Desktop Version can load third-party audio plugins (such as VST3 plugins) that you choose. Plugins are not part of the Software; they are licensed to you by their own vendors, and we are not responsible for them, for what they do, or for any loss they cause. The Software runs each plugin in a separate process to contain crashes, but cannot guarantee that a plugin will not cause problems.
- Trademarks of others. VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. ASIO is a trademark and software of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. Other names may be trademarks of their owners.
15. Online services and your data
- Licence server. When you enter a Licence Key, or when the Software checks a Licence, it sends the Licence Key to our licence server at lic.artuststudios.com. The server records each check (the Licence Key and the day) and, as a one-way hash that cannot be turned back into the address, the network address it came from; it keeps these records for 90 days, to count how many people use Foundry, to see how many networks use each Licence Key, and to protect against abuse and shared keys. The Licence File contains the name and email address of the Licence holder.
- Update check. When the Desktop Version starts, unless you switch this off in its help, it asks download.artuststudios.com for the latest version number. This request does not include your Licence, your projects or any personal data beyond what any web request includes (such as your network address).
- No telemetry. The Software does not send us your projects, audio, usage statistics or analytics. Crash reports for plugins are written to a file on your own computer and are not sent to us.
- Store and account. Purchases, your account and your order data are handled by our store and its payment providers, under their own terms and privacy notices.
- Availability. We may change, suspend or end any online service. A Licence File you already have keeps working without the licence server.
16. Updates, versions and support
- We may provide updates, upgrades, fixes and new versions. They are part of the Software under this Agreement unless they come with their own terms.
- Your Licence covers the versions we make available to you under it. We decide whether future major versions are included in an existing Licence or offered separately.
- We have no obligation to provide updates, maintenance or support unless we agree to it in writing. Support, if offered, is provided by email at our discretion.
- We may make changes to the Software that remove or change features, and we are not obliged to keep old versions available for download.
17. Feedback
If you send us suggestions, ideas, bug reports or other feedback about the Software, you allow us to use them freely, for any purpose, without obligation or payment to you. Feedback does not include Your Work.
18. Trademarks
“Foundry”, its logo and related names and logos are trademarks of the Licensor. This Agreement does not grant you any right to use them, except to state truthfully that Your Work was made with Foundry.
19. Term and termination
- This Agreement starts when you accept it and continues until it ends under this Section.
- You may end this Agreement at any time by uninstalling the Software, deleting all copies of it, and removing your Licence from every computer and browser.
- This Agreement ends automatically, without notice, if you breach it, including by Unauthorized Use. We may also end it by notice if your Licence is withdrawn under Section 7.
- When this Agreement ends, you must stop using the Software and delete all copies. Sections 1, 9, 10.4, 11.2, 13, 15, 17, 19.4 and 20 to 29 survive its end.
20. Disclaimer of warranties
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the Software and the Built-in Content are provided “as is” and “as available”, with all faults and without warranty of any kind, express, implied or statutory, including any warranties of merchantability, satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, title, accuracy, quiet enjoyment and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Software will meet your requirements, operate without interruption, be free of errors or harmful components, work with any particular hardware, sound card, operating system, browser or plugin, or that it will not lose, damage or corrupt projects, recordings or other data. Keep backups of Your Work. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so some of these exclusions may not apply to you.
21. Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, recordings, projects, profits, revenue, business, goodwill or opportunity, arising out of or related to the Software, the Built-in Content, any online service or this Agreement, however caused and on any theory of liability, even if we have been advised of their possibility. Our total liability under or in connection with this Agreement will not exceed the amount you paid for your Licence in the twelve (12) months before the claim, or fifty US dollars (US $50) if you paid nothing.
Nothing in this Agreement limits or excludes liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law, such as liability for fraud, or for death or personal injury caused by negligence where that cannot be excluded.
22. Indemnity
To the extent permitted by law, you will defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Licensor from any claim, loss, liability, cost or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your Unauthorized Use, your breach of this Agreement, Your Work, or Third-Party Material you used with the Software.
23. Consumer rights
If you are a consumer, you may have rights under the laws where you live that this Agreement cannot change, such as statutory rights about the quality of digital content, cancellation rights, and protection against unfair terms. Nothing in this Agreement limits those rights. If a provision of this Agreement is not permitted by the consumer law that applies to you, it applies only to the extent that law allows.
24. Export and sanctions
You must comply with all export control, import and sanctions laws that apply to the Software and to you. You confirm that you are not located in, and are not a national or resident of, a country or region subject to comprehensive sanctions, and that you are not on any government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
25. Government end users
The Software is “commercial computer software” and its documentation is “commercial computer software documentation”. If you are a government end user, you receive only the rights granted to all other users under this Agreement.
26. Governing law and disputes
- This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Texas, United States, excluding its conflict-of-laws rules and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.
- Except where the law that applies to you gives you the right to bring proceedings in your own courts, the state and federal courts located in Harris County, Texas have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of or related to this Agreement, and you consent to their jurisdiction.
- Before starting proceedings, each party will first try to resolve the dispute informally by contacting the other in writing and allowing thirty (30) days for a response. Either party may seek urgent injunctive relief at any time, including to stop Unauthorized Use or infringement.
27. Changes to this Agreement
We may update this Agreement for future versions of the Software or to reflect changes in the law or in our services. The version that applies to a version of the Software is the one supplied with it or in force when you obtained it. If you continue to use a new version after it is supplied with an updated Agreement, the updated Agreement applies to that version. Changes do not take away your ownership of Your Work made through Authorized Use.
28. General terms
- Entire agreement. This Agreement, with any purchase terms referred to in Section 3, is the entire agreement between you and us about the Software, and replaces any earlier agreement about it.
- Severability. If any provision of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, it will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible, and the remaining provisions remain in full force.
- No waiver. A failure or delay in enforcing a provision is not a waiver of it.
- Assignment. You may not assign or transfer this Agreement or your Licence without our written consent. We may assign this Agreement, for example with a sale of the Software or our business.
- Independent parties. Nothing in this Agreement creates a partnership, employment, agency or joint venture between you and us.
- Notices. We may give you notice by email to the address in your order or account, or within the Software or on our website. You may give us notice by email to art@artlebel.com.
- Force majeure. We are not liable for any delay or failure caused by events beyond our reasonable control.
- Language. This Agreement is written in English. A translation is for convenience only; the English version controls.
- Headings. Headings are for convenience and do not affect the meaning of this Agreement.
29. Contact
Questions about this Agreement, your Licence or Your Work: Art Le Bel, art@artlebel.com.
