Terms of Service · PianistDesk

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern access to and use of the PianistDesk web application (the "Service") and the website at pianistdesk.com (the "Website"). PianistDesk is operated by Timothé Watteau, an individual based in Switzerland, Case Postale, 1020 Renens VD 1, Switzerland ("PianistDesk", "we", "us" or "our").

Who these Terms apply to.

Schools. A university, conservatory, department or other academic music program that uses PianistDesk for its collaborative-piano program (a "School"). Parts A and B apply to Schools. If you accept these Terms on behalf of a School, you confirm that you are authorized to bind it.
Users. Individuals who access the Service, including coordinators, students, pianists and others invited to a request ("Users" or "you"). Part A applies to Users.

Order Forms. Schools use the Service under an order form or other written agreement signed with us (an "Order Form"). The Order Form forms part of that School's agreement with us. If it conflicts with these Terms, the Order Form prevails for that School.

Privacy. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information.

By signing in to or otherwise using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

Part A: Terms for everyone

1. What PianistDesk does

PianistDesk helps Schools coordinate collaborative pianists for student performances. It brings performance requests, pianist suggestions and assignments, rehearsal scheduling, piano scores and pianist workload into one workspace for each School.

PianistDesk is a software tool. We do not:

employ, engage, supervise or pay pianists, or guarantee that any pianist is available;
decide which pianist is assigned to a request; the School's coordinators decide;
reserve rooms or other facilities. A room recorded in PianistDesk is a note in the schedule. It does not book the room unless the School's own process does; or
set or enforce a School's policies, such as deadlines, hour allowances, fees or eligibility.

2. Your School controls its workspace

Access to a workspace comes from the School. The School decides who may sign in (for example, by approving email domains), who is a coordinator, and how the workspace is configured. As a result:

the School's own policies apply to your use of the Service. A School may display its own policies or terms in its workspace. Those are the School's documents, not ours;
the School's coordinators can view, edit, export and delete information in the workspace, including information you submit;
the School can change or end your access at any time, and your access ends if the School stops using PianistDesk; and
questions about the School's decisions, such as assignments, rehearsal hours, deadlines or eligibility, should go to the School.

Students and pianists sign in with an email address their School has approved. We create coordinator accounts at the School's request.
We sign you in with one-time codes sent by email. Anyone who controls your email account can sign in as you, so keep your email account secure and do not share sign-in codes.
Your account is for you alone. Do not sign in as someone else or let others use your account.
Keep your account information, such as your name, accurate.
Tell your School or us promptly if you believe someone else has accessed your account.

Age. You must be at least 13 to use the Service. If you are under 18, or under the age of majority where you live, you may use the Service only with your School's authorization and, where required, the permission of a parent or guardian.

4. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

use the Service unlawfully or in breach of your School's policies;
upload or share material that infringes the rights of others, including scores that you are not permitted to copy or share;
upload anything harmful, such as malware;
access, or try to access, workspaces, requests, files or accounts you are not authorized to use, or get around any access control;
carry out security testing, scanning or probing of the live Service without our prior written permission;
interfere with or overload the Service, or access it by automated means, such as scraping, except where we allow it;
use invitations or other email features to send spam or messages unrelated to a performance request;
harass or threaten anyone, impersonate anyone, or misrepresent your affiliation with a School;
enter sensitive information that is not needed, such as health or disability details, government identification numbers, financial account or card numbers, or immigration status, in notes, other fields or uploaded files; or
copy, modify, reverse engineer or resell the Service, except where the law allows it.

5. Information and files you provide

Ownership. You, or your School, keep all rights in the information and files submitted to the Service ("Content"). We claim no ownership of Content.

Permission to operate the Service. You give us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free permission to host, store, copy, process, transmit and display Content, but only as needed to provide, maintain, secure and support the Service for your School and as described in the Privacy Policy. This permission ends when the Content has been deleted from the Service and its backups, except where the law requires us to keep it.

Your responsibility. You are responsible for the Content you submit. Make sure it is accurate and that you have the right to share it.

Who sees it. Content in a request is visible to your School's coordinators and, depending on their role, to other participants in the request and the assigned pianist. Write notes on the assumption that the people they are about may read them.

Removal. We do not generally monitor Content. We may remove or disable Content that breaches these Terms or the law, when a School instructs us to, or after receiving a valid copyright notice.

6. Scores and copyright

Many printed scores are protected by copyright. By uploading a score, you confirm that the copy may lawfully be made and shared with the people involved in your request, for example because the law, the publisher or your School's policies permit that use. PianistDesk keeps scores in private storage for the request. It does not publish scores or share them beyond the request's authorized users.

Copyright complaints. If you believe material in PianistDesk infringes your copyright, send a notice to our designated agent: Timothé Watteau, PianistDesk, Case Postale, 1020 Renens VD 1, Switzerland, copyright@pianistdesk.com. The notice must include:

identification of the copyrighted work;
identification of the material you believe is infringing and enough information for us to locate it, such as the School and request reference;
your name, address, telephone number and email address;
a statement that you believe in good faith that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law;
a statement that the information in the notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on its behalf; and
your physical or electronic signature.

We may remove or disable the material and will inform the person who uploaded it and their School. If your material was removed and you believe that was a mistake, you may send a counter-notice as provided in 17 U.S.C. § 512(g). In appropriate circumstances, and in consultation with the School, we will end the access of users who repeatedly infringe copyright.

7. Emails

The Service sends emails, including sign-in codes, invitations, submission receipts, assignment and rehearsal notices, reminders about missing scores and, for coordinators who subscribe, weekly summaries. You cannot turn off essential emails while you have an account.

We cannot guarantee that every email is delivered on time, because School email systems may delay or filter messages. Always check PianistDesk for the current status of your requests and rehearsals. Some messages written by coordinators are set up so that replies go directly to the coordinator; those replies are handled outside PianistDesk.

8. Schedules, suggestions and workload totals

The information in the Service is only as accurate as what users enter. Confirm important details, such as rehearsal times, rooms and performance dates, with the people involved.
Pianist suggestions follow fixed rules based on instrument, availability and current workload. They are a starting point for coordinators, not an assessment of any pianist or a guarantee of availability. Coordinators make the assignments.
Rehearsal-hour and workload totals are calculated from scheduled rehearsals, not from time actually worked. They are not timesheets, and they are not intended to be the only basis for payroll, invoicing or compensation.

9. Changes to the Service and availability

We improve the Service regularly and may add, change or remove features. Commitments to Schools about changes are set out in Part B. The Service may be unavailable during maintenance, during outages at our providers, or because of events beyond our control. We do not promise that the Service will be uninterrupted or error-free. Keep your own copies of important material, such as your scores, and use the export features for schedules you rely on.

10. Reporting security issues

If you find a security vulnerability, please report it to security@pianistdesk.com. Do not access, change or delete other people's data, disrupt the Service, or disclose the issue publicly before we have had a reasonable chance to fix it.

11. Feedback

If you send us suggestions or feedback, we may use them without any obligation to you.

12. Suspension and termination

Your School can remove your access at any time.
We may suspend or restrict your access if this is reasonably necessary to protect the Service, other users or School Data, if you materially breach these Terms, or if the law requires it. Where appropriate, we will tell you and your School.
You may stop using the Service at any time. To have your account deleted, contact your School, or contact us and we will coordinate with your School.
Information you submitted forms part of your School's School Data and is handled according to the School's instructions, Part B and the Privacy Policy.

Sections 5, 6, 11 and 13 to 17 continue to apply after your access ends.

13. Disclaimers

Users receive access to the Service through their School and do not pay us for it. To the extent permitted by law, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, including warranties of accuracy, fitness for a particular purpose or uninterrupted operation. Nothing in these Terms excludes warranties or rights that cannot be excluded under the law that applies to you. Our commitments to Schools are set out in Part B.

14. Limitation of liability

To the extent permitted by law:

we are not liable to Users for indirect or consequential loss, for loss of profits or opportunities, for missed performances, rehearsals or deadlines, or for loss of data of which you could reasonably have kept your own copy; and
our total liability to a User arising out of these Terms or the Service is limited to USD 10.

These limitations do not apply to liability for intent or gross negligence, to liability for death or personal injury, or to any liability that cannot be limited under applicable law, including mandatory consumer protection law of the place where you live. Our liability to Schools is governed by Part B.

15. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by Swiss law, excluding its conflict-of-laws rules and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.

The courts of Lausanne, Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, have exclusive jurisdiction, with these exceptions:

if you are a consumer, you keep the protection of the mandatory law of the place where you live, and you may bring proceedings in the courts there where that law gives you the right to do so;
a School's Order Form may specify a different governing law or forum; and
either party may seek urgent interim relief from any competent court.

Before starting proceedings, please contact us so that we can try to resolve the matter informally within 30 days.

16. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. We will post the new version here with a new "Last updated" date. We will notify Schools at least 7 days before a material change takes effect, and inform Users by email or through a notice in the Service. Changes do not apply retroactively. If you keep using the Service after a change takes effect, the updated Terms apply to you. For a School with an Order Form in force, a material change that is unfavourable to the School applies only from the next renewal, unless the School agrees or the law requires the change earlier.

17. General

Entire agreement. These Terms, the Privacy Policy and any Order Form are the entire agreement about the Service.
Transfer. We may transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms to a company or other entity that takes over the PianistDesk business, including an entity controlled by the current operator. We will notify Schools in advance. You may not transfer your rights or obligations.
Events beyond our control. We are not liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control, such as outages at our providers, internet failures, natural events or government action.
Severability and waiver. If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest of these Terms remain in effect. Failing to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.
Notices. We may give you notices by email or in the Service. Send notices to us by email at legal@pianistdesk.com; formal legal notices should also be sent by post to the address above.
Sanctions and export laws. You confirm that you are not the subject of sanctions that prohibit you from using the Service, and that you will not use it in breach of applicable export control or sanctions laws.
Language. These Terms are written in English, and the English version governs.
No third-party beneficiaries. No one other than you, the School and PianistDesk has rights under these Terms.

Part B: Additional terms for Schools

B1. Order of precedence

If documents conflict, they apply in this order: (1) the Order Form, (2) Part B, (3) Part A. The Privacy Policy describes our practices; our contractual commitments about School Data are in section B5.

In Part B, "School Data" has the meaning given in the Privacy Policy: information entered into or generated in the School's workspace.

B2. Subscriptions and fees

Subscription. The subscription term, scope and fees are set out in the Order Form.
Fees and invoices. Fees are stated in the Order Form in US dollars (USD) and invoiced as stated there. Invoices are payable within 30 days of the invoice date. The Service does not take payments.
Taxes. Fees do not include taxes. The School is responsible for any applicable taxes other than taxes on our income. A tax-exempt School should provide its exemption certificate.
Automatic renewal. Unless the Order Form says otherwise, each subscription renews automatically for successive periods equal to the initial term, up to 12 months each, unless either party gives written notice of non-renewal at least 30 days before the end of the current term. We will remind the School of the upcoming renewal by email between 15 and 30 days before that notice deadline. We may change fees for a renewal term by notifying the School at least 60 days before the end of the current term.
Late payment. If undisputed fees remain unpaid 30 days after their due date, we may suspend the School's access after notifying the School in writing. We will restore access promptly once payment is received. We will not suspend access over amounts the School disputes in good faith.

B3. The School's responsibilities

The School will:

keep its approved email domains accurate. Anyone who controls an address on an approved domain can sign in to the School's workspace as a student, so the School should remove domains, and block individual addresses, that should not have access;
designate its coordinators and keep its pianist roster, teacher list and request roles up to date;
configure request types and student-status options so that they do not collect sensitive information, such as disability, health, financial aid or immigration status;
give its users the notices, and obtain the consents, that the laws and policies applicable to the School require. For example, a U.S. School relying on FERPA's school-official exception must describe, in its annual notification of FERPA rights, criteria that cover service providers such as PianistDesk;
if it allows users under 18, obtain any parental or guardian consent required, and make sure that no one under 13 is given access;
decide, before uploading School Data, whether the hosting locations and providers described in the Privacy Policy meet the School's legal requirements, such as data residency rules or privacy impact assessments required of public bodies;
remain responsible for decisions made using the Service, such as assignments, hours, pay and eligibility, and for School Data after it has been exported from the Service; and
use the Service only for its own academic music programs.

B4. Confidentiality

Each party will protect the other's non-public information disclosed in connection with the Service ("Confidential Information") with reasonable care, use it only for the purposes of this agreement, and disclose it only to people who need to know it and are bound by confidentiality obligations. Confidential Information does not include information that is or becomes public through no fault of the receiving party, that the receiving party already had or develops independently, or that it lawfully receives from a third party. A party may disclose Confidential Information where the law requires it, including under public-records laws that apply to public Schools, and will give the other party notice where lawful. School Data is also protected by section B5.

B5. Data protection terms for School Data

(a) Roles and instructions. The School is the controller of School Data. We process School Data only on the School's behalf and in accordance with its documented instructions. Those instructions consist of these Terms, the Order Form, and the School's configuration and use of the Service, including the actions of its coordinators. We will tell the School if we believe an instruction breaches applicable data protection law.

(b) Limits on use. We use School Data only to provide, maintain, secure and support the Service for the School, and to comply with the law. We will not sell School Data, use it for targeted advertising, use it to build profiles unrelated to the Service, use it to train artificial-intelligence or machine-learning models, combine it with other Schools' data, or disclose it except as these Terms permit.

(c) FERPA. For a U.S. School subject to FERPA, and to the extent School Data includes personally identifiable information from education records, the School designates PianistDesk as a school official with a legitimate educational interest. PianistDesk performs an institutional service for which the School would otherwise use its own employees, is under the School's direct control with respect to the use and maintenance of education records, uses those records only for the purposes the School authorizes, and will not disclose them further except as FERPA permits, including 34 C.F.R. § 99.33(a).

(d) Canadian Schools. For a Canadian School, we handle School Data as the School's service provider. We will follow the School's reasonable instructions to help it meet its obligations under applicable privacy legislation, including for access and correction requests, questions about storage locations, and privacy impact assessments. The School remains accountable for School Data.

(e) People with access. Access to School Data is limited to individuals who need it for the purposes in paragraph (b) and who are bound by confidentiality obligations. At the date of these Terms, only the operator of PianistDesk has administrative access.

(f) Sub-processors. The School authorizes us to use the providers listed in the Privacy Policy as sub-processors. We will notify the School's designated contact by email at least 7 days before adding or replacing a sub-processor of School Data. The School may object on reasonable data protection grounds within that period. If we cannot resolve the objection, the School may terminate the affected Service and receive a pro-rata refund of prepaid fees for the remaining term. Our providers process School Data under written data protection terms, and we remain responsible to the School for their processing to the extent required by law.

(g) International transfers. The School acknowledges that School Data is processed in the locations described in sections 7 and 8 of the Privacy Policy. We maintain the safeguards described there.

(h) Security. We maintain reasonable technical and organizational measures appropriate to the risk, including those described in section 10 of the Privacy Policy, and we will not materially reduce the overall level of protection during the School's subscription.

(i) Security incidents. We will notify the School without undue delay, and in any event within 72 hours, after confirming a breach of security that leads to unauthorized access to, or loss, destruction, alteration or disclosure of, School Data. We will provide the information reasonably available to us, take reasonable steps to contain and remedy the breach, and cooperate with the School's own notifications. We will not notify the School's users or authorities about an incident involving School Data without first consulting the School, unless the law requires otherwise.

(j) Requests from individuals. If we receive a request from an individual about School Data, we will forward it to the School within 5 business days and will not respond, other than to confirm that we have forwarded it, unless the School authorizes us or the law requires it. We will give the School reasonable assistance in responding.

(k) Legal demands. If an authority or other third party demands School Data from us, we will try to redirect the demand to the School, notify the School promptly unless the law prohibits it, and disclose only the minimum required.

(l) Return and deletion. During the subscription, coordinators can export schedules and pairings. If the School asks in writing within 30 days after its subscription ends, we will provide a copy of its School Data as CSV files, together with the uploaded score PDFs. After that period, or earlier if the School asks, we delete the School Data from our systems within 30 days. Database backups containing it expire automatically within a further 30 days. We will confirm deletion in writing on request. We may keep information that the law requires us to keep, such as invoices, and will continue to protect it under these Terms.

(m) Information and reviews. Once a year, and after a security incident, we will answer the School's reasonable security and privacy questionnaire (for example, a HECVAT) and provide the documentation we have, including our providers' published certifications or reports where their terms allow. On-site audits take place only if the law requires them or the Order Form provides for them.

(n) Aggregate statistics. We may compile aggregate statistics about use of the Service, such as the total number of requests or rehearsals across all workspaces, that do not identify and cannot reasonably be linked to any individual or School. We use them only to operate and improve the Service.

B6. Our commitments

We will:

provide the Service with reasonable skill and care, in material conformity with its description on the Website and in these Terms;
maintain the measures described in section B5; and
not knowingly introduce malicious code into the Service.

If the Service does not materially conform, the School should tell us, and we will use reasonable efforts to correct the problem. If we do not correct it within 60 days, the School may terminate its subscription and receive a pro-rata refund of prepaid fees for the unused period. Together with sections B8 and B10, these are the School's remedies for non-conformity, except where the law provides otherwise.

B7. The School's commitments

The School confirms that it has authority to enter into this agreement, that it collects and provides School Data lawfully and with any required notices and consents, and that it will ensure that its users' use of the Service complies with these Terms.

B8. Intellectual property claims

We will defend the School against third-party claims alleging that the Service infringes the claimant's intellectual property rights, and will pay damages and costs finally awarded against the School, or settlements we agree to, subject to section B9. This does not cover claims arising from Content, from third-party materials the School uses with the Service, or from combinations or modifications not made by us. The School must notify us promptly of the claim, let us control the defence, and cooperate reasonably. If the Service is, or may become, the subject of a claim, we may modify it, obtain the right for the School to keep using it, or terminate the School's subscription and refund prepaid fees for the unused period. This section states the School's exclusive remedy for intellectual property claims about the Service.

The School is responsible, to the extent permitted by the law that applies to it, for third-party claims arising from its Content (including scores uploaded by its users) or from its use of the Service in breach of these Terms.

B9. Limitation of liability for Schools

To the extent permitted by law:

neither party is liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, or for lost profits, revenue or goodwill; and
each party's total liability arising out of or relating to the Service and these Terms in any 12-month period is limited to the greater of (i) the fees paid and payable by the School in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the liability, and (ii) USD 5,000.

These limitations do not apply to liability for intent or gross negligence, to the School's payment obligations, or to any liability that cannot be limited by law.

B10. Term and termination

The subscription term is set out in the Order Form, and renewal is governed by section B2.
Either party may terminate for a material breach that is not remedied within 30 days after written notice, or immediately if the other party becomes insolvent or ceases to operate.
We may terminate on 90 days' written notice if we discontinue the Service entirely, in which case we will refund prepaid fees for the unused period.
When the subscription ends, access to the workspace ends and section B5(l) applies. The School pays fees for the period before termination. Sections B4, B5, B8, B9 and B12 continue to apply.

B11. Publicity

We will not use a School's name or logo, for example in customer lists, without its prior written permission.

B12. Public institutions

If the School is a public institution or government entity, the provisions of these Terms, including those on indemnities, governing law, forum and confidentiality, apply only to the extent permitted by the law that applies to the School. Nothing in these Terms waives any immunity the School has. The School may disclose these Terms and its Order Form where public-records law requires it.

B13. Governing law for Schools

Section 15 of Part A applies to Schools unless the Order Form provides otherwise.

B14. Notices to and from Schools

We send operational notices, such as sub-processor changes, planned changes to the Service or renewal reminders, by email to the School's designated contact. Formal notices of breach, non-renewal or termination must be in writing and sent to the addresses in the Order Form or, for PianistDesk, to the postal address above with a copy to legal@pianistdesk.com.

Contact

Timothé Watteau, PianistDesk

Case Postale, 1020 Renens VD 1, Switzerland

legal@pianistdesk.com

PianistDesk Terms of Service