Terms and Conditions

Online platform

The Audiobird online portal is aimed at clients as well as Artists and experts in the fields of voice, music, sound design, and audio production. Audiobird connects clients with real Artists and provides curated AI audio services (AI voices, AI music, AI sound effects, and the AI Studio). The service is aimed at businesses, agencies, freelancers, and organisations, as well as private individuals (consumers).

1.Registration

On Audiobird, a distinction is made between registering as an Artist and as a client (Client). Registration is free of charge; sign-in takes place via a login link sent to the specified email address. A client account and acceptance of these Terms and Conditions are required to order AI audio and to use AI Studio. Enquiries to Artists can also be made without an account via an Artist profile or the Audiobird Agent; signing in with the specified email address is subsequently required for chat, payment, and approval within the project. Clients may be businesses or consumers; where these Terms and Conditions contain provisions that apply only to businesses, this is expressly indicated, and mandatory consumer rights remain unaffected. Minors require the consent of a legal guardian. Audiobird reserves the right to delete profiles and entries or to correct erroneous entries.

Consumer notice: Consumers are generally entitled to a statutory right of withdrawal for distance contracts. For AI audio (digital content), this right expires once the consumer has expressly consented to the generation starting before the expiry of the withdrawal period, and has confirmed their knowledge of this expiration. For individually produced services by Artists, the right of withdrawal is governed by statutory provisions. Statutory warranty rights of consumers remain unaffected.

2.Commissioning Artists

2.1.Enquiry and coordination

Clients can enquire with one or more Artists directly via their profile or via the Audiobird Agent. The enquiry includes a brief and may contain an estimated budget as well as files (e.g. scripts or references).

The Artist responds in the project chat on Audiobird. Scope, usage, deadlines and fee are agreed directly between the client and the Artist. Audiobird merely acts as an intermediary, is not a contractual party to the production, and does not dictate any fees or buyouts.

2.2.Quote and payment

Following consultation, the Artist issues a payment request to the client via Audiobird. All prices are net plus statutory VAT.

Payment via Audiobird establishes the order between the client and the Artist. Payment is processed via Audiobird; the client can view the payment status in the project, and the Artist is informed by email.

2.3.Production and delivery

The Artist performs the service independently and on their own responsibility, and makes the finished files available in the project on Audiobird.

For cancellations, modification requests, productions, and defects, the provisions in the section “Clients and Contractors” apply.

2.4.Approval, commission and pay-out

The client inspects the delivery and grants approval in the project. The Artist may remind the client of an outstanding approval via email.

Upon payment, the Artist's share (amount minus the 10% agency commission on the net order value) is reserved. It is only credited to the Artist's balance and paid out manually by Audiobird after approval by the client. If an order is refunded prior to approval, the reservation lapses.

3.Client and Contractor

3.1.Scope of application and contractual partners

These T&Cs apply to all contracts between Audiobird, clients (‘AG’) and Artists or experts as contractors (‘AN’). Clients and contractors accept the T&Cs upon registration or placing an order. Deviating terms and conditions of the client are not binding on Audiobird and contractors, even if they have not been expressly objected to.

The contract for production is concluded between the AG and the AN (see Clause 2.2); Audiobird acts as an intermediary and processes payment, but is not itself the producer. The AG is whoever places the order via Audiobird – even if the invoice is issued to a third party at their request. In this case, the AG is liable alongside the third party for the invoice amount. Whoever places an order on behalf of a third party is likewise deemed to be the AG; Audiobird is not obliged to verify power of attorney.

3.2.Costs and commissions

Artists / Contractors

Profiles on Audiobird are free of charge. For each order brokered via Audiobird, an agency commission of 10% on the net order value applies to the Contractor. It is retained upon payout (Section 2.4). This applies to enquiries via the profile, the project chat, and the Audiobird Agent.

Artists are not bound exclusively to Audiobird and may work elsewhere at any time. If a client connects with a contractor demonstrably via Audiobird, the commission also applies to follow-up orders from this client to this contractor for a period of three years from the initial referral. Follow-up orders must be processed via Audiobird.

Client

The placement of Artists and experts is free of charge for the AG. The AG pays the fee agreed with the AN net plus statutory VAT. Additional services by Audiobird (e.g. media planning or consulting, Clause 10) are charged separately and only upon agreement with the AG. For AI audio, the rules on Audiobird credits apply (Clause 14).

3.3.Cancellation

Until payment of the payment request has been made, the Client may withdraw the enquiry free of charge at any time. Upon payment, the order is confirmed and the Contractor commences production. As this is an individually customised service, subsequent cancellation is only possible with the mutual consent of the Contractor.

3.4.Change requests

If the AN provides a delivery in the project, the AG can communicate change requests in writing in the project chat within 72 hours. As part of the satisfaction guarantee, the AN will carry out up to two revision rounds, provided that the changes remain within the scope of the original briefing. Further revisions as well as subsequent text or concept changes must be remunerated additionally; the AG and the AN shall agree on the costs directly.

3.5.Production content

The production content must comply with statutory requirements and the codes of conduct of the German Advertising Council (Deutscher Werberat) and the ZAW. During production, text or concept changes are only possible if the AN expressly agrees.

Audiobird and the Contractors are not obliged to examine the content legally or in terms of competition law. The Client shall be liable for breaches and shall indemnify Audiobird and the Contractor against third-party claims, including reasonable legal defence costs. If the Client uses protected works, music, or speech, they shall obtain all necessary rights and permissions themselves. For audio material provided, liability is limited to the material value of the data carrier.

3.6.Acceptance and Defects

The Client inspects each delivery promptly and prior to use, even if passing it on to third parties (e.g. radio, TV, online or print media). Defects must be reported within 72 hours of provision in the project chat. With approval in the project (clause 2.4), the delivery is deemed accepted. If the Client uses the production uninspected, the Contractor shall not be liable for deviations from the order.

4.Artist profiles / Third-party rights

Service providers registering on Audiobird must ensure that the audio samples, texts or images submitted by them are free of third-party rights. The registered service provider shall be solely liable for any claims by rights holders. Media provided by artists in their profiles may be published on Audiobird.com at any time without further consent. Audiobird is entitled to edit artist profiles at its discretion, and to add and modify texts, audio samples, links or images.

5.Grant of licence for user content

Production content is private. It is not published and is not used to train AI systems.

5.1.Public audio samples (demos)

For reasons of legal certainty, demos uploaded to Audiobird as audio samples must have the following degrees of freedom. The following grant of licence applies solely to these demos and the resulting materials, not to private production content.

Artists and experts grant Audiobird a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide right, valid for the duration of publication on Audiobird, to store, make publicly available, play, technically adapt for display (e.g. format, loudness, excerpt), and search the demos, profile copy, and profile photos uploaded by them as public audio samples, on the platform and in promotion of their own profile (e.g. search engines, social media, newsletters). This explicitly includes AI-assisted search and recommendations: Audiobird may automatically analyse profile descriptions and demo descriptions to suggest suitable artists to clients. This right terminates as soon as the artist deletes the demo or removes their profile; advertising materials that have already been distributed do not need to be recalled.

5.2.No AI training

Any training or further development of AI models using this content, as well as the generation of synthetic voices or sounds based upon it, is excluded (see section “No AI training without express consent of the talent”). AI-assisted search and recommendation pursuant to Section 5.1 does not constitute training. The exception provided therein for an individually contracted training licence subject to separate agreement remains unaffected.

The Artist's right to attribution remains unaffected; Audiobird credits the Artist when displaying their demos on their profile.

6.No AI training without the talent's express consent

Principle

Profile data, casting demos, and all other content provided by artists or experts (“Talent”) on the Audiobird platform (“Artist/Expert Content”) may

under no circumstances

be used for training, further development of AI models, or generating synthetic voices, music or sounds. This applies in particular to speech, music, sound or datasets uploaded or published as part of regular platform use. Permitted solely is the automated analysis of profile texts and demo descriptions in order to suggest suitable talent to clients (AI-assisted search, Section 5.1); no models are trained with the content in the process.

Exception – Custom AI training licence

Notwithstanding Section 1, Audiobird may, within the scope of separately commissioned agency services, provide a

individual contractual training and usage licence

arranged for AI systems, provided that all of the following requirements are met cumulatively:

a) Individual reference material

The talent shall provide project-specific voice or audio reference material of at least thirty (30) minutes in duration, which is newly recorded or produced specifically according to the specifications of the respective client ("Licensee").

b) Exclusivity & purpose limitation

The licence is granted exclusively to a precisely designated licensee and is limited to the specifically named project and its contractually agreed purpose (e.g. conversational AI system, voice conversion). Any transfer, sublicensing or change of purpose requires the renewed written consent of the talent and Audiobird.

c) Legal and ethical compliance

Audiobird monitors the entire licensing and training process with regard to copyright, related rights, personality rights, data protection, as well as any labour or collective agreement regulations. The AI system may only be operated using technically and organisationally appropriate security measures; re-training with third-party material that replicates the characteristic voice or musical signature of the talent is not permitted.

d) Duty of documentation and verification

All consents, licence deeds, training logs, and records regarding the scope, parameters, and duration of AI usage are archived in an audit-proof manner and presented to Audiobird at any time upon request.

Sanctions in the event of non-compliance

Any use of Artist/expert content for AI purposes that does not meet the requirements of Section 2 shall be deemed a breach of contract and unlawful. Audiobird reserves the right to block profiles, cancel projects, and immediately assert any claims of the talent for injunctive relief, damages, and reasonable remuneration.

7.AI-generated content (AI voices, AI music and AI sound effects)

AI-generated content – i.e. AI voice recordings, AI music and AI sound effects – is technically generated by ElevenLabs. Audiobird acts as an intermediary here and resells the content generated via ElevenLabs to the client; the actual generation is not carried out by Audiobird.

Curating the offer is the responsibility of Audiobird: Audiobird carefully selects the AI voices offered from the ElevenLabs portfolio and is responsible for fine-tuning the voices as well as prompting when generating AI sound effects and AI music.

For the technical quality, availability, and characteristics of the content generated by ElevenLabs, the terms of use of ElevenLabs apply supplementarily. Audiobird is not liable for content that the Client provides as input text (prompt); the Client warrants that their input texts do not infringe any rights of third parties.

8.Usage rights for AI-generated content

Notwithstanding the 'Usage Rights' section, the following applies to AI content: Upon full payment, the client receives a simple (non-exclusive), perpetual and worldwide right to use the delivered AI recording, AI music or AI sound effect for private and commercial purposes – such as in advertising, videos, social media, podcasts, presentations, e-learning, apps, games and telephone prompts. The content may be cut, edited and combined with other material. Generation and download only take place after payment with Audiobird credits; the files are then available for download in the customer account under 'My Audios'.

These rights derive from, and are subject to, ElevenLabs' Terms of Use for paid plans. Accordingly, the following are strictly prohibited: (a) reselling, licensing or distributing AI sounds or AI music in isolation, i.e. as an individual audio file, sample or as part of a sound, effect or music library – they may only be exploited embedded within your own work; (b) using the content for purposes that violate ElevenLabs' Prohibited Use Policy or applicable law, in particular for deception, impersonation of real people without their consent, disinformation or unlawful content; (c) using the content to train other AI models.

For the use of AI music in feature films, TV productions, series, streaming or video-on-demand programmes (excluding paid advertising), as well as in major commercial music or game releases, separate licences may be required under ElevenLabs terms; the Client shall coordinate such uses with Audiobird in advance. Since AI-generated content is generally not granted copyright protection under German law, Audiobird cannot guarantee exclusivity; comparable results may also be generated for third parties. The Client bears full responsibility for content that is based on the Client's input texts (prompts).

9.Usage rights

The Client receives the rights of use to the work created by the Contractor, provided that the Client fulfils their obligations under the contractual relationship. Should the agreed price not yet have been settled by the Client, the Contractor has the right to prohibit the Client from using the production result. Unless agreed otherwise, the Client receives the rights of use to the production for 1 year. The right of use acquired by the Client applies exclusively to the territory or broadcasting area of the medium for which the production was intended upon conclusion of the contract and to which the production was delivered on the Client's instructions. Any extension or renewal of the right of use must be notified to the Contractor in writing and is subject to a fee within standard industry rates.

10.Media planning / consultancy

Ad booking orders or consulting orders for media planning only become binding following written confirmation by the contractor. Consultations commissioned via the online form require an additional written declaration of intent.

Audiobird may act as a consultant in connection with advertising placements. All contracts for advertising bookings shall then be concluded exclusively between third-party companies and the Client. Audiobird shall be entitled to a commission at customary industry rates for such advisory services, which may be negotiated on a case-by-case basis between commissioned media companies and Audiobird.

If Audiobird is entrusted with budget authority, this requires a separate contract. In such cases, Audiobird manages the agreed advertising budget and is entitled to conclude contracts with media companies and commission them with ad placements. In such cases, Audiobird consults with the Client regarding planned budget allocation plans and arranges the bookings of advertising placements with the media companies.

If an advertisement is cancelled for editorial reasons, due to technical issues, or due to force majeure, it will, where possible, be either brought forward or broadcast at a later time. Bringing forward or rescheduling the advertisement requires the Client's consent, unless the postponement is insignificant. A postponement is considered insignificant if it takes place within the same broadcast environment and does not result in the advertisement being broadcast more than one hour before or after the originally scheduled time. In the event of a significant postponement, the Client shall be entitled to reclaim the fee paid for the cancelled advertising time. Any further claims are excluded. The agreed broadcast times are requested and/or booked with the respective broadcasters and adhered to by them where possible. Since broadcasters generally assume no warranty for broadcasting within specific commercial breaks within an hour or in a specific order, Audiobird shall not be held liable for any deviations. Requests for exclusivity/competitor exclusion will be accommodated where possible – without acknowledging any legally binding claim.

11.Liability

Audiobird shall be liable, on whatever legal grounds, only in cases of intent or gross negligence, but for any fault in the case of damages arising from a breach of essential contractual obligations. In terms of amount, Audiobird shall be liable for simple damages, but not for damages atypical to the contract and therefore practically unforeseeable. Any liability for damages due to the absence of warranted characteristics guaranteed by Audiobird shall remain unaffected. In the event of force majeure, either contracting party may withdraw from the contract with immediate effect, unless the service has been performed.

12.Service provider liability

The service provider undertakes to provide truthful information and is liable both to Audiobird and to affected third parties for all damages for which they are responsible arising from the provision of false, falsified or content not belonging to the person of the service provider. The service provider is liable for all damages for which they are responsible arising from the unauthorised disclosure of data transmitted to them.

13.Data protection / Non-disclosure agreement

Through access to the internal area at Audiobird, users may potentially obtain information about projects,  clients and productions that are subject to confidentiality.  Therefore, all users who agree to the Audiobird General Terms and Conditions undertake to handle in strict confidence all information, trade and business secrets,  campaigns, negotiations, other documents, business plans and developments made accessible to them via the internal area of Audiobird.  Audiobird users may use the provided information in the manner that is expedient and customary for assessing the potential collaboration.  Culpable breaches of this confidentiality agreement will result in a contractual penalty. The amount of the contractual penalty is always determined by the severity of the breach.

14.Audiobird Credits

AI audio (AI voices, AI music, AI sound effects as well as tasks for the AI Agent in AI Studio) is paid for exclusively with Audiobird credits. Credits are purchased in packages; the smallest package costs 5 €. A free customer account with an email address and agreement to these Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy are required for purchase. Purchased credits are credited to the account. There is no subscription.

Credits can only be used for AI audio. Services provided by real voice artists, musicians, producers, and other Artists cannot be paid for with credits; these are agreed directly between the client and the Artist.

Currently applies: 1 credit corresponds to 10 seconds of AI audio (equivalent value 0.20 €); 5 seconds cost 0.10 €, one word for AI voices 0.05 €, one message to the Studio Agent 0.10 € (edits included; newly generated voices, music or sound effects at the prices above), assembling an AI spot 0.50 €. Audiobird reserves the right to adjust what is provided for one credit (e.g. seconds, words or jobs per credit) at any time. The number of credits displayed prior to the respective order is decisive. Payout or refund of credits in cash is excluded to the extent permitted by law. If a paid AI job cannot be generated for technical reasons, the credits will be credited back.

15.Final provisions

In the event of order confirmation by the contractor, the place of performance is Berlin. The place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from the contractual relationship is Berlin. If any provision of this contract is invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions shall remain unaffected. The invalid provision shall be replaced by a provision that comes economically closest to the invalid provision. The General Terms and Conditions apply to all orders. All sound files on this website (audiobird.com) are available for listening only. Any recording, downloading, or further exploitation is expressly prohibited.