Organiser Terms & Conditions

Gala Groove is a software tool that (a) collects voluntary charitable donations from event guests, either on the charity's behalf as its collection agent or directly into the charity's own connected Stripe account, and (b) separately maintains an ordered list of song requests for an event. Gala Groove is not a music service, record label, streaming provider, performing rights organisation, or licensing agent, and it does not fundraise on its own account.

Gala Groove does not sell, license, stream, broadcast, synchronise, reproduce, or publicly perform any musical work or sound recording. Playback is performed by the Organiser or venue using their own accounts, equipment, and licences.

No fee of any kind is charged to a guest for selecting a song, adding a song to the queue, or having a song boosted. Song selection is free at all times.

Every payment made through Gala Groove is a voluntary donation to the charity nominated by the Organiser for that event. It is not a purchase, ticket, entry fee, wager, service charge, or payment for goods or services.

Donations are final and non-refundable. A donation is processed and delivered to the charity regardless of whether the associated song is played, played in a particular order, played in full, played at all, or removed from the queue by the Organiser for any reason.

Boosting a song's position in the queue is a complimentary, discretionary thank-you gesture provided at no charge. It confers no contractual right, guarantee, entitlement, or promise of playback, timing, or position.

The Organiser must not represent, advertise, or imply to guests that a donation buys, purchases, or guarantees a song, or that any donation is refundable.

The Organiser and the venue are solely and exclusively responsible for obtaining, holding, maintaining, and paying for all licences, permissions, and clearances required to publicly perform music at the event. This includes, without limitation, licences from performing rights organisations such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR, PRS for Music, PPL, SOCAN, or their equivalents in the relevant jurisdiction, and compliance with the terms of service of any playback platform used (including Spotify, whose consumer terms prohibit commercial or public performance use).

The Organiser warrants, on creating each event and continuously throughout it, that all such rights are in force. Gala Groove does not verify, audit, or assume responsibility for licence status and provides no indemnity in respect of it. See Public Performance Rights for detail.

The Organiser warrants that the nominated charity is a lawfully constituted charitable or non-profit organisation entitled to receive donations in its jurisdiction, that the Organiser is authorised to raise funds on its behalf, and that all funds collected will be delivered to that charity net of the disclosed fees.

The Organiser is solely responsible for the accuracy of charity information displayed to guests, for all payout and banking details supplied, for issuing any donation receipts or tax acknowledgements, and for all charitable solicitation registrations, reporting, and tax obligations in every jurisdiction where the event operates.

Gala Groove does not provide tax, legal, accounting, or charitable-solicitation advice, and makes no representation that any donation is tax-deductible for any donor.

Each event operates in one of two payment modes, selected by the Organiser and disclosed in the Gala Groove dashboard before the event is taken live:

(a) Gala Groove collects (no connected account). The Organiser irrevocably appoints Gala Groove, and where applicable its payment processors, as the limited payment collection agent of the nominated charity for the sole purpose of accepting donations made through the event, and authorises Gala Groove to accept, hold, and settle those funds on the charity's behalf. Gala Groove is the merchant of record for those transactions. The Organiser warrants that it holds all authority necessary from the charity to make this appointment.

(b) Stripe Connect (connected account). Donations are charged directly on the charity's own connected Stripe account. Gala Groove does not receive, hold, or control those funds at any point; it deducts only its platform fee as an application fee at the time of the charge. The charity's relationship with Stripe is governed by the charity's own agreement with Stripe.

Where Gala Groove collects under (a), a donor's payment obligation to the charity is discharged on receipt by Gala Groove, in the same way as if the donor had paid the charity directly. The donor owes the charity nothing further, and neither the charity nor the Organiser has any claim against the donor if a payout is delayed or fails for any reason.

Funds collected under (a) are an ordinary contractual obligation of Gala Groove to remit, net of the fees disclosed in clause 7. Except where mandatory law provides otherwise, Gala Groove does not act as a trustee or fiduciary, does not hold funds on trust, is not required to segregate them, and owes no interest on them. Gala Groove is not a bank, money transmitter, deposit-taker, charitable trust, donor-advised fund, or professional fundraiser, and does not solicit donations on its own account.

The Organiser confirms it is authorised to fundraise for the nominated charity, that the charity has consented to the collection of funds through Gala Groove, and that the Organiser holds every charitable-solicitation registration, licence, permit, and commercial co-venturer or professional-fundraiser filing required in each jurisdiction in which the event solicits donations. The Organiser will provide evidence of that authority on request and will notify Gala Groove immediately if it is withdrawn.

The Organiser grants this authorisation afresh each time an event is taken live, through the confirmation shown in the dashboard. That confirmation, the payment mode in force, the identity of the confirming Organiser, and the timestamp are recorded against the event as evidence of the appointment.

Where Gala Groove collects under clause 5(a), the net proceeds are remitted to the payout details supplied by the Organiser for the nominated charity, ordinarily within thirty (30) days of the event ending, subject to the payment processor releasing the funds. The Organiser is solely responsible for the accuracy of those payout details, and Gala Groove is discharged of its remittance obligation once payment is made in accordance with them.

Gala Groove may withhold, delay, offset, or reverse all or part of a payout where it reasonably believes there is fraud, money laundering, a chargeback or dispute risk, a sanctions or legal restriction, a lapse in the Organiser's authority to fundraise, inaccurate charity or payout information, or a breach of these Terms — and may instead remit the funds directly to the nominated charity, return them to donors, or hold them pending resolution.

Chargebacks, disputes, refunds ordered by a payment processor or by law, and any associated fees are the Organiser's responsibility and may be deducted from current or future payouts or invoiced to the Organiser. Where donations are charged on a connected Stripe account under clause 5(b), all of these are handled on that account under its own Stripe agreement, and Gala Groove has no involvement in or liability for them.

Issuing donation receipts, tax acknowledgements, and any donor-facing substantiation remains the responsibility of the Organiser and the charity in both payment modes.

Gala Groove retains a platform fee of 5% of each donation, capped at $1.00 per donation, plus the payment processor's own fees. These fees are disclosed to the guest before they confirm. A guest may optionally add an amount to cover these fees so the charity receives the full donation; if they decline, the fees are deducted from the donation and the resulting net amount is what is delivered to the charity and what determines queue position.

No fee is charged for adding, searching, or selecting a song.

The Organiser is responsible for the conduct of the event and for moderating the queue, including removing songs that are unlawful, obscene, harassing, discriminatory, or otherwise inappropriate for the audience. The Organiser retains full discretion to skip, reorder, or remove any song at any time, and donations remain final if they do so.

The Organiser must not use Gala Groove for raffles, lotteries, auctions, sweepstakes, games of chance, or any arrangement in which a payment purchases a chance or an entitlement.

Gala Groove is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, uninterrupted availability, or accuracy of third-party music metadata.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Gala Groove and its officers, employees, and suppliers shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost donations, reputational harm, licensing penalties, statutory copyright damages, regulatory fines, or claims brought by rights holders, performing rights organisations, or playback platforms.

Gala Groove's aggregate liability arising out of or relating to the service shall not exceed the total platform fees actually retained by Gala Groove from the Organiser's events in the three months preceding the claim.

The Organiser agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Gala Groove and its affiliates from and against all claims, demands, actions, losses, liabilities, penalties, and costs (including reasonable legal fees) arising from or related to: (a) the absence, lapse, or breach of any public performance right or platform terms of service; (b) any copyright, neighbouring right, or moral right infringement connected to music played at the event; (c) any misrepresentation about donations, refunds, charity status, or tax deductibility; (d) any failure to deliver collected funds to the nominated charity; (e) the absence, lapse, or exceeding of the Organiser's authority to fundraise for the charity or to appoint Gala Groove as its collection agent under clause 5, including any claim brought by the charity itself; (f) any failure to obtain or maintain a charitable-solicitation registration, commercial co-venturer filing, or equivalent authorisation, and any resulting regulatory action, fine, or penalty; (g) any chargeback, dispute, refund, or processor loss arising from the event; and (h) any other breach of these Terms or applicable law.

Gala Groove may suspend or terminate any account or event immediately, with or without notice, where it reasonably believes there is a legal, licensing, fraud, chargeback, or reputational risk, or a breach of these Terms. Donations already collected remain payable to the nominated charity.

Gala Groove may amend these Terms; continued use after an updated version is published constitutes acceptance. If any clause is held unenforceable, the remainder stays in full force. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law rules, and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of its courts.

Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, and nothing here is legal advice. Organisers should obtain their own counsel before running a fundraising event.