Version: 1.0.1
Effective Date: 19.04.2026
These Terms of Service (“ToS”) govern the commercial relationship between Tipino and each natural or legal person who registers a Tipino account (“Fan”, “User”) or who claims an artist profile on Tipino (“Artist”). They form a binding contract and must be accepted before using the service.
Operator (the “Company”, “Tipino”, “we”, “us”):
Tipino – Association for Fair Artist Support
c/o Stephan Lipp
8626 Ottikon, Switzerland
Email: getintouch@tipino.app
UID CHE-275.625.159
1. Parties and scope
1.1 The Fan enters into a service contract with Tipino, acting as the sole commercial counterparty.
1.2 These Terms of Service cover the complete commercial relationship: registration, subscription purchase, trophy purchases, distribution of funds to Artists, Artist payouts, fees, refunds, taxes and termination.
1.3 By creating an account, purchasing a subscription or trophy package, the person concerned declares to have read, understood and accepted these Terms of Service in their currently effective version.
2. Definitions
- Fan — a natural person of at least 16 years who has registered a Tipino Fan account. Also can be referred to as “User”.
- Artist — a music artist represented on Tipino, either (a) as a claimed profile whose rightful owner as part of the Tipino Artist program has completed the claim process, or (b) as an unclaimed profile ingested from a streaming service or playlist.
- Main Artist — the single fallback Artist a Fan designates in their account configuration to receive the Fan’s distributable amount when no other Artist qualifies in a given month.
- Eligible Artist — an Artist for whom the Fan has, in the relevant monthly Eligibility Period, reached or exceeded the configured threshold on a supported listening source.
- Additional Artist — an Artist the Fan has manually added (directly or by importing a playlist) with a percentage share, outside the listening-based distribution.
- Subscription — a recurring paid plan (monthly billing cycle) providing a Fan with a monthly distributable amount and a subscription Trophy.
- Trophy — a symbolic item that represents the allocation of a portion of the Fan’s already-paid money to a specific Artist. Trophies are also offered as paid packages (Bronze, Silver, Gold) and as the per-cycle subscription Trophy.
- Eligibility Period — the month between the start date and the end date of a running subscription.
- Tipino Music Fund — the non-profit-oriented pool managed by Tipino into which undistributable Fan amounts (see §6.6) and unclaimed Artist balances (see §7.4) are transferred and from which Tipino donates to non-profit organisations active in music (see §8).
3. Eligibility and account
3.1 Registration requires a valid email address, a password and acceptance of these Terms of Service and of the Terms of Use. Fans must be at least 16 years old.
3.2 One account per person. Operating multiple accounts to influence distribution, trophy allocation or any referral mechanism is prohibited and is grounds for immediate termination (see §11) and for transferring accrued funds to the Tipino Music Fund.
3.3 Fans must keep their account information accurate and up to date.
3.4 Tipino may at any time and without obligation verify the information provided, including by requesting identification.
4. Subscriptions, trophy purchases and payment
4.1 Billing cycles. Subscriptions are offered with a monthly billing cycle. Prices and available plans are shown in the Subscription page at time of purchase; the currency is Euro (€).
4.2 Auto-renewal. Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing cycle for the same plan and cycle length, unless the Fan cancels at least one (1) day before the renewal date. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current paid cycle; no pro-rata refund is granted for the unused portion. Tipino informs the Fan a few days before the automatic renewal that his subscription will be renewed soon.
4.3 Payment providers. Payments are processed by Stripe and PayPal. By purchasing, the Fan accepts the payment provider’s own terms for the underlying payment operation. Tipino never stores raw card numbers; only tokens and receipts returned by the provider are retained.
4.4 Trophy packages. One-off trophy packages are available at the following indicative prices:
| Package | Price | Trophies | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | € 6.00 | 3 | One-off |
| Silver | € 15.00 | 3 | One-off |
| Gold | € 30.00 | 3 | One-off |
| Subscription trophy | included | 1 per cycle | Granted with any active Subscription |
Actual prices, number of trophies per package and inclusions in the active catalogue may change; the values shown in checkout at time of purchase prevail. Only one trophy package can be bought per month.
4.5 Fees retained by Tipino. Tipino retains the following fees from amounts paid by Fans:
- Payment Provider Fee — a percentage retained by the payment provider (Stripe, PayPal) from subscription payments. Tipino has no control over the amount of these fees.
The following fees are calculated on the basis of the actual available amount of the subscription (i.e. after deduction of payment provider fees):
- Tipino Fee — a percentage retained from subscription payments
to cover platform operations (currently 8%). - Trophy Fee — a percentage deducted from subscription payments. Trophys can be awarded by the Fan to Artists as a special treat (currently 2%).
- Referral Fee — a percentage retained from subscription payments granted to a Fan or Artist that invited other Fans. This fee is NOT taken from the users subscription payment, but is a deduction from the Tipino Fee as a reward for Fans and Artists that help to grow Tipino (currently 2%, covered by Tipino).
Current effective percentages are published on the subscription / pricing pages of the service. Tipino may modify these percentages with thirty (30) days’ prior notice; changes apply only to billing cycles starting after the effective date of the change.
4.6 Right of withdrawal / digital-service consent. The Fan expressly acknowledges that the service is a digital service that begins to be rendered immediately upon registration (listening data is captured) respectively upon payment (trophies are minted, distribution for the current monthly Eligibility Period begins). To the extent that any mandatory right of withdrawal applies, the Fan by purchasing expressly consents to the service starting immediately and acknowledges that any such withdrawal right is lost once distribution for the current Eligibility Period has commenced.
5. Trophies
5.1 A Trophy represents the allocation of a portion of the Fan’s already-paid money to a specific Artist, subject to the fees in §4.5.
5.2 A Trophy may only be allocated to an Artist profile that exists on Tipino. Unused Trophies remain available for allocation for as long as the Fan’s account is active.
5.3 Purchasing Trophies is final. No refund is granted once Trophies have been minted.
6. Distribution of tip / subscription money to Artists
6.1 Monthly distribution. Distribution is calculated once at the end of a subscription month (the Eligibility Period) for each Fan whose Subscription was active during that month.
6.2 Distribution modes. Each Fan configures one of three modes in their account:
- Listening-based only — 100 % of the distributable amount is split among Eligible Artists in proportion to listened time.
- Additional Artists only — 100 % of the distributable amount is split among the Fan’s configured Additional Artists by their configured percentages.
- Split — the distributable amount is split between the listening-based pool and the Additional Artists pool according to the percentages configured by the Fan. Percentages are normalised to 100 % and rounding residuals are allocated to the last Additional Artist.
6.3 Listening sources. The listening-based distribution draws from supported streaming integrations selected by the Fan. At public Beta the following services are publicly supported as listening sources for distribution: Apple Music, Last.fm. Tidal and SoundCloud can be used for importing artists to be manually allocated by the Fan to the Additional Artists list.
Spotify is used internally only — Tipino does not advertise Spotify as a publicly supported listening partner for distribution at public Beta. Tipino may add or remove supported listening sources at any time.
6.4 Minimum-plays threshold. An Artist is only Eligible when the Fan has played at least the minimal configured amount (by default two) of qualifying songs by that Artist in the Eligibility Period.
6.5 Main-Artist fallback. If in a given monthly Eligibility Period the relevant distribution mode would not produce any Eligible Artist, and a Main Artist is configured on the Fan’s account, the entire amount assigned to that distribution method for that month is attributed to the Main Artist.
6.6 No-Main-Artist fallback — Tipino Music Fund. If in a given monthly Eligibility Period neither Eligible Artists nor a Main Artist can be determined, the distributable amount for that month is irrevocably transferred to the Tipino Music Fund (see §8). The Fan has no right to reclaim, re-route, carry over to a later period, or obtain a refund of this amount. This clause is a key element of the contract and the Fan expressly consents to it by subscribing. Tipino informs the Fan a few days before the subscription period ends, so the Fan can still adjust his settings in order to set a Main Artist or apply changes to the payout configuration.
6.7 No guarantee of exact attribution. Tipino relies on data provided by streaming services and by Fans. Tipino uses reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy of attribution but cannot guarantee completeness or absolute accuracy of streaming data and assumes no liability for errors caused by third-party streaming services (see §12).
7. Artist payouts and claims
7.1 Accrual. Amounts resulting from the distribution described in §6 are accrued per Artist in the Artist-level payout ledger at the end of each Eligibility Period.
7.2 Claim requirement. Tipino only pays out money to an Artist once that Artist’s profile has been successfully claimed by the rightful owner or an authorised representative and the claim has been verified (identity and payout details). Until then, amounts remain accrued but not payable.
7.3 Minimum payout and schedule. Payouts are executed on demand” basis subject to a minimum payout threshold of 50.00 EUR. Balances below the threshold are carried over to the next payout run, except as set out in §7.4.
7.4 12-month unclaimed-funds clause — Tipino Music Fund. Amounts accrued for an Artist profile that have not been claimed by the rightful Artist (or their authorised representative) within twelve (12) calendar months from the end of the Eligibility Period in which they were accrued are irrevocably transferred to the Tipino Music Fund (see §8). Tipino bears no obligation to locate, notify or pay out to an Artist who has not claimed their profile within that period.
7.5 Forfeiture on false claim. If a claim is found to be fraudulent, the affected account is closed and is open to be re-claimed by the rightful Artist (or their authorised representative).
7.6 Payout costs and currency. Payouts are denominated in Euro. Costs imposed by payment providers or correspondent banks may be deducted from the gross payout. Foreign-exchange risk is borne by the Artist.
8. Tipino Music Fund
8.1 Purpose. The Tipino Music Fund is a pool of money used to support non-profit organisations active in music, including (non-exhaustive) music education, emerging-artist grants, accessibility programmes and musicians-in-need initiatives.
8.2 Inflows. Sources of inflow are limited to: (a) amounts transferred pursuant to §6.6 (no-Main-Artist fallback), (b) amounts transferred pursuant to §7.4 (12-month unclaimed Artist balances) and §7.5 (forfeiture).
8.3 Governance. Tipino selects beneficiaries at its discretion. Tipino is not a charity itself; the Fund is an internal reallocation mechanism that results in donations to third-party non-profit organisations.
8.4 Transparency. Tipino will publish annually a public transparency report stating, for the previous calendar year:
(a) total inflow from §6.6 (undistributed Fan amounts),
(b) total inflow from §7.4 and §7.5 (unclaimed / forfeited Artist balances),
(c) total outflow and the list of beneficiary non-profit organisations with amounts donated.
8.5 Consent. By accepting these Terms of Service, Fans and Artists expressly consent to the reallocation described in §6.6, §7.4 and §7.5 and grant Tipino the right to make donations from the Fund as provided in this §8.
9. Refunds and chargebacks
9.1 Subscriptions. Once distribution for a monthly Eligibility Period has started, that period’s amount is non-refundable. Pending not-yet-distributed billing cycles can be cancelled as described in §4.2; no pro-rata refund is granted for the current cycle.
9.2 Trophy packages. Trophy package purchases are final and non-refundable.
9.3 Chargebacks. In the case of a chargeback initiated by a Fan after distribution of the contested amount has been executed, Tipino may (a) suspend the Fan’s account, (b) withhold or claw back the corresponding distributed amount from future Artist payouts, and (c) claim compensation for chargeback fees. Repeated chargeback abuse is a ground for permanent termination.
9.4 Mandatory consumer rights. Mandatory Swiss consumer-protection rules remain reserved and take precedence where they grant rights that cannot be waived.
10. Taxes
10.1 Payouts to Artists are gross of any income tax, social-security contribution or other levy applicable in the Artist’s jurisdiction. Artists are solely responsible for declaring and paying their taxes. Tipino may be required by law to issue reporting statements to tax authorities (e.g. DAC7 or equivalent) and to withhold amounts where legally mandated.
11. Term and termination
11.1 By the Fan. A Fan may terminate the relationship at any time by cancelling the Subscription (§4.2) and / or deleting account. Existing obligations (in particular distribution of the current Eligibility Period and the Music-Fund fallbacks in §6.6 and §7.4) remain unaffected.
11.2 By Tipino for cause. Tipino may suspend or terminate an account immediately and without advance notice in case of (a) violation of these Terms of Service or of the Terms of Use, (b) fraudulent conduct (including multi-account abuse, stream manipulation or false Artist claims), (c) repeated chargeback abuse, (d) non-payment, or (e) legal or regulatory obligation.
11.3 Effect on funds. Funds still in the monthly pool at termination are handled per §6. If no distribution to an Artist is possible, §6.6 applies (Tipino Music Fund). Accrued Artist balances remain subject to §7 (including the 12-month rule in §7.4).
12. Liability and warranty
12.1 Beta-stage service. The service is offered as a public Beta. It is provided “as is” and “as available“. Tipino disclaims, to the maximum extent permitted by law, any warranty of uninterrupted availability, absence of errors, or fitness for a particular purpose.
12.2 Cap on damages. To the maximum extent permitted by Swiss law, Tipino’s total aggregate liability for any and all claims arising out of or in connection with these Terms of Service is limited to the total amount of fees (subscription and trophy packages, excluding amounts distributed to Artists) the Fan has paid to Tipino in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.
12.3 Excluded heads of damage. Tipino is not liable for indirect, consequential, loss-of-profit or loss-of-data damages, except in cases of gross negligence or wilful misconduct.
12.4 Third-party streaming services. Tipino is not liable for outages, data inaccuracies, policy changes or termination of access by Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, SoundCloud, Last.fm or any other third-party service. If a streaming service withdraws access or provides incomplete data, the resulting distribution (including application of §6.5 and §6.6) is deemed correct.
12.5 Force majeure. Neither party is liable for non-performance caused by events beyond its reasonable control (e.g. natural disaster, war, strike, major infrastructure outage, governmental measure).
13. Data protection
13.1 Processing of personal data is governed by the Privacy Policy. By accepting these Terms of Service, the Fan acknowledges having read the Privacy Policy.
13.2 Tipino processes personal data as controller for the purposes described in the Privacy Policy and as processor only where expressly stated there.
14. Changes to these Terms of Service
14.1 Tipino may update these Terms of Service from time to time. Non-material changes (wording, clarifications) take effect upon publication of the new version on the service.
14.2 Material changes (in particular changes to fees, distribution logic, the Music-Fund clauses or liability) are announced at least thirty (30) days in advance by email and by in-app notice. The continued use of the service after the effective date, and — where re-acceptance is required — the explicit acceptance of the new version through the acceptance flow, constitute the Fan’s agreement to the updated version.
14.3 If the user refuses the updated version where re-acceptance is required, the account is suspended after the effective date and the termination rules in §11 apply; funds are handled per §6 and §7.
15. Governing law and jurisdiction
15.1 These Terms of Service are governed by Swiss substantive law, excluding its conflict-of-laws rules and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).
15.2 Exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising out of or in connection with these Terms of Service is Zurich, Switzerland, subject to any mandatory consumer jurisdiction rule that grants the consumer the right to sue at their place of residence.
16. Contact
Questions about these Terms or the service may be directed to:
📧 getintouch@tipino.app
✉️ Tipino – Association for Fair Artist Support, c/o Stephan Lipp, Hinwilerstrasse 217, 8626 Ottikon, Switzerland