Legal · v1.0

Terms of Service

The rules for using acervus. Plain-English where possible, careful where it has to be.

Last updated: 20 April 2026 · Effective date: 20 April 2026

Summary acervus is a tool for managing your music collection. You keep ownership of your data, tags, notes, and playlists. You're responsible for how you use the app and the content you import. We're in closed beta and things will change — fast. This document explains the rules; the Privacy Policy explains how we handle your data.

1. Who we are

acervus ("we", "us", "the Service") is an independent software service operated from Portugal. Contact: hello@acervus.app.

2. Acceptance of these Terms

By creating an account or using acervus you agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years old to create an account.
You confirm that any information you give us (email, name, collection data) is accurate and belongs to you or that you have the right to provide it.
You are responsible for keeping your login credentials safe. Two-factor authentication is available and recommended.

4. Closed beta — important notice

Beta software disclaimer acervus is currently in closed beta. That means: (i) the Service is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE"; (ii) features may be added, changed, limited, or removed at any time; (iii) data loss and service interruptions can occur despite our best efforts; (iv) there is no guaranteed level of service, uptime, or support; (v) some features are behind admin feature flags and not generally accessible.

If the beta conditions above are unacceptable to you, please do not use the Service. Keep independent backups of your collection data.

5. Your account

You may create one account per person.
Signups are currently invite-only. If you were invited, use the invite link we emailed you.
You are responsible for all activity under your account.
Notify us immediately at security@acervus.app if you suspect your account is compromised.

6. Your content

You keep ownership

Your music collection metadata, tags, playlists, notes, custom categories and anything else you put into acervus remain yours. We do not claim ownership of your content.

Licence you grant us

To run the Service we need a limited, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to host, store, back up, display to you, and process your content for the sole purpose of providing the Service to you. This licence ends when your content is deleted from our systems (see Retention in the Privacy Policy).

You are responsible for what you upload

You must have the legal right to upload or reference any content you bring into acervus (including audio files, artwork, metadata, and imported catalogues from Discogs, iTunes, Rekordbox, Serato, etc.).
You will not upload or reference content that infringes third-party rights, is illegal, defamatory, or violates any applicable law.

7. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

Reverse engineer, disassemble, or attempt to extract the source code except as allowed by applicable law.
Use acervus to scrape, re-distribute, or rebroadcast content from Discogs, Bandcamp, YouTube, or any other third-party service in violation of that service's terms.
Use acervus to operate a public streaming radio, podcast, or broadcast without obtaining the necessary music licences (performance, mechanical, webcasting). The in-app Radio feature is designed for personal playback of your own library; public rebroadcast is your responsibility and typically requires licensing from the relevant collecting societies.
Interfere with the integrity or performance of the Service (flooding, rate-limit evasion, automated abuse).
Use the Service for any illegal activity or to violate third-party rights.
Create fake or shared accounts, bypass invite-only restrictions, or resell access to the Service.

8. Third-party services

acervus integrates with third-party services (Discogs, Bandcamp, YouTube, cloud storage providers, Airtable, Google Sheets, Notion, etc.). When you connect your account to one of these services:

Your use of that service is governed by its own terms (not ours).
We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or responsible for those services.
We store only the credentials and tokens you provide and use them solely to perform the actions you initiate.
You are responsible for ensuring your usage of those services via acervus respects their terms.

8.1. YouTube API Services

acervus uses the YouTube API Services to let you discover and link YouTube videos to tracks in your personal collection. By using the YouTube features within acervus (the YouTube tab in the Link Library, the in-app YouTube player, and any auto-link or preview functionality), you agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service.

Information about how Google handles data collected through the YouTube API is described in the Google Privacy Policy. acervus does not download, store, or rebroadcast YouTube video content; videos are played via the official YouTube IFrame Player.

The acervus operator manages a single server-side YouTube API key on behalf of all users; you do not connect a personal Google account to use these features. To stop using the YouTube integration, delete the YouTube links you have saved (in the Link Library, per track) or close your acervus account from Settings → Privacy & data rights → Delete account — both options remove your YouTube link data on our side. Note that this does not affect any YouTube playback history Google may store independently in your own browser or YouTube account, which is governed by Google's policies.

9. Intellectual property

All rights in the acervus software, design, branding, name, and logo belong to us. Nothing in these Terms transfers any of those rights to you. You receive a limited, non-transferable, revocable right to access and use the Service.

10. Fees

Access to acervus is free during the closed beta. Paid plans may be introduced later; if so, you will be notified in advance and will be able to review the new pricing before being charged.

11. Privacy & data protection

How we collect, use, and store personal data is described in our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms. acervus is operated in a manner compliant with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

12. Suspension & termination

You may close your account at any time from Settings. Data deletion is described in the Privacy Policy.
We may suspend or terminate your account if you breach these Terms, attempt to harm the Service or other users, or if we are required to do so by law.
On termination, your right to use the Service ends immediately. We will retain data only as required by law or as described in the Privacy Policy.

13. Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law:

The Service is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind.
We are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages, or for loss of profits, data, goodwill, or music collection data.
Our total aggregate liability for any claim arising from or related to the Service is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim (which, during the free beta, is zero).
Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law (for example, liability for fraud or for death or personal injury caused by our negligence).

14. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If changes are material, we will notify you by email and/or by an in-app notice at least 14 days before they take effect. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date means you accept the updated Terms.

15. Governing law & disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of Portugal, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. You may have additional rights under the laws of the country where you reside; nothing in this clause removes those rights.

Disputes will be resolved, where possible, through good-faith discussion. If they cannot be resolved that way, the competent courts of Lisbon, Portugal, will have jurisdiction, subject to any mandatory consumer-protection rules in your country of residence.

16. Contact

General: hello@acervus.app
Security issues: security@acervus.app
Privacy & data rights: privacy@acervus.app

← Back to acervus