You keep ownership of your music and creative work, to the extent you own or control it.
Vanguard does not become your label, publisher, distributor, manager, producer, agent, or owner.
Participation does not transfer your copyright, master rights, publishing rights, performer rights, monetization rights, or authorship.
If your work includes AI-generated, AI-assisted, licensed, collaborator-created, or third-party materials, your rights may depend on applicable law, AI tool terms, platform terms, licenses, permissions, and third-party rights.
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You are responsible for making sure your submission is original, lawful, and properly cleared.
This includes any:
- AI-generated or AI-assisted music;
- AI-generated or AI-assisted vocals;
- Synthetic Voice;
- voice models;
- AI tools;
- tool terms;
- beats;
- samples;
- loops;
- vocals;
- lyrics;
- melodies;
- artwork;
- video;
- short-form clips;
- linked materials;
- collaborators;
- producers;
- performers;
- names, images, likenesses, or voices;
- third-party materials.
If you use anything created by someone else, generated by a tool, licensed from a platform, provided by a collaborator, or hosted on a third-party service, you must have the rights, licenses, permissions, releases, and credits needed to submit it to the Event.
Do not submit work if it violates an AI tool term, voice model license, beat license, sample license, collaborator agreement, label agreement, distribution agreement, publishing agreement, platform policy, or any other agreement.
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AI tools are permitted and encouraged for this Event.
You may use AI tools where allowed by the Event Terms, Event Materials, tool terms, and applicable law.
This may include AI tools for:
- music generation;
- beat-making;
- composition;
- arrangement;
- lyric support;
- vocals;
- hooks;
- backing vocals;
- ad-libs;
- sound design;
- production;
- editing;
- artwork;
- video;
- short-form visual materials.
But you remain responsible for the final submission.
You must follow applicable tool terms, clear required rights, provide required disclosures, and avoid unauthorized voice cloning, misleading artist impersonation, or unlawful use of any real person’s name, image, likeness, voice, persona, brand, or identity.
Do not submit content that falsely suggests that a real artist, public figure, or other real person performed, endorsed, approved, or participated in your submission.
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Your submission may include uploaded files or links where permitted by the submission flow.
If you submit a link to content hosted on a third-party platform, you are responsible for making sure:
- the link works;
- the content remains accessible during review;
- Vanguard, Judges, and Event personnel can access it for Event purposes;
- you have the right to submit the linked content;
- the linked content follows the Event rules;
- the linked content does not violate the third-party platform’s terms;
- the linked content may be used in the Event context and under the Content Promotion & Media License where accepted.
Vanguard is not responsible if linked content becomes unavailable, restricted, removed, muted, blocked, geo-blocked, demonetized, modified, or otherwise affected by a third-party platform.
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By submitting, you allow Vanguard to use your submission as needed to operate the Event.
This includes the right to:
- receive and host your submission;
- make it available to Judges and Event personnel;
- review, score, rank, and process it;
- display it on Event pages, rankings, participant pages, winner pages, showcases, or archives;
- display submission excerpts, previews, clips, optional visual materials, AI-use categories, or tool-use categories where allowed by the Event rules;
- keep Event records;
- protect the integrity of the competition.
This is limited to Event operation and Event records.
Read more in the Event Terms.
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Broader promotional use is handled by the separate Vanguard Content Promotion & Media License.
That license may allow Vanguard to use your submission or excerpts in highlights, recaps, social posts, trailers, reels, shorts, newsletters, partner decks, ads, showcases, tool partner presentations, sponsor materials, and other promotional formats connected to Vanguard or the Event.
You can review the full license here:
Content Promotion & Media License
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Vanguard does not:
- sell your track as a standalone product;
- release your track as a paid album, compilation, playlist, mixtape, or music product without a separate written agreement;
- transfer your music rights to a label, publisher, distributor, sponsor, AI tool company, platform, or third party;
- claim authorship or ownership of your work;
- stop you from publishing, monetizing, licensing, or promoting your own work elsewhere.
A real standalone commercial release would require a separate written agreement with the relevant rights holder or rights holders.
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This is a public competition.
Submissions, excerpts, optional visual materials, rankings, placements, winner records, finalist records, Judge comments, Event reviews, AI-use or tool-use categories where published, and Event archive records may be displayed as part of the ordinary Event context.
Read more here:
- Privacy & Public Records
- Event Privacy Notice
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Please review the full documents before submitting:
- Event Terms
- Event Privacy Notice
- Content Promotion & Media License
- Universal Event Rules
- Vanguard Terms of Service
- Vanguard Privacy Policy
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Your work stays yours, to the extent you own or control it.
You must submit work that you own, control, licensed, or have permission to use, including any AI-generated or AI-assisted materials.
You are responsible for AI tools, tool terms, vocals, Synthetic Voice, voice models, beats, samples, visuals, collaborators, links, and third-party materials.
Vanguard can use your submission to run, judge, display, document, and archive the Event.
Broader promo use is covered by the Content Promotion & Media License.
Vanguard cannot sell your track as a standalone product without a separate written agreement.
