Terms Of Service

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS IN THEIR ENTIRETY OR YOU’LL MISS SOMETHING IMPORTANT. REMEMBER, YOU AGREE TO ALL OF SAID TERMS WHEN YOU PURCHASE/RENEW WITH HOSTCRATE. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE CONTACT US. THANK YOU.

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Use of Hostcrate services (purchasing/renting/renewing) (both in Second Life and outside Second Life) (Hostcrate (.stream/.com/.net) constitutes the acceptance and agreement to our Terms of Service and all of our polices whether you have read the policies or not.

This agreement is between Hostcrate and subscribers to our hosting and shoutcast services, herein referred to as client. This agreement is effective for any period during which the client is a subscriber of any service offered by Hostcrate.

If a Hostcrate account is used to violate our Terms of Service, we reserve the right to terminate your service without notice and without refund. We prefer to advise customers of inappropriate behavior and any necessary corrective action, however, certain violations will result in immediate termination of service WITHOUT notice and WITHOUT REFUND. Our failure to enforce this policy, for whatever reason, shall not be construed as a waiver of our right to do so at any time.

Our Services may not be used for illegal purposes, or in support of illegal activities. Hostcrate (Hostcrate.com) reserves the right to cooperate with legal authorities and/or injured third parties in the investigation of any suspected crime or civil wrongdoing. This includes DMCA reported violations.

Broadcast Bitrate – Overstreaming

  • 320kbps Limit: While you may stream at 320kbps, this bitrate is not recommended for all users. Many listeners cannot support streams at this rate, and Second Life imposes limitations that may cause playback issues. Choose a bitrate that balances quality and accessibility for your audience.
  • Overstreaming: Streaming above your plan’s bitrate limit is prohibited and may result in automatic suspension of your stream. Continued overstreaming can lead to permanent account termination without refund.
  • Responsibility: It is your responsibility to monitor and maintain proper broadcast settings.
  • Please note that a stream will go into offline mode automatically if it detects you are attempting to over stream. You *will* have to log into your control panel and click “Start”.

Content / Content Restrictions

  • Client agrees to take sole responsibility for all content, including audio streaming, web pages, and any other service that is utilized. Hostcrate is not liable for any action taken against a client as a result of their stream content or web content.
  • Hostcrate will not actively monitor the content of client’s broadcasts or website. Client will not, however, use server resources for any illegal activity, including the sharing of copyrighted programs as well as slanderous material. Client will not run any program that is specifically designed to bog down server resources.
  • Client will not use our resources to transmit bulk or spam Email. This is defined as mail sent to a large group of recipients who did not expressly request to be sent the mail.

Licenses

  • Obtaining any necessary broadcasting licenses (e.g., ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, RIAA) is your responsibility. Hostcrate does not provide or include licensing in any plan.

Liability

  • Hostcrate will not be held liable for any injury, loss of business, loss of property, loss of data, or other mishap caused by the use provider’s services or provider error. Hostcrate will make every effort to provide an uninterrupted service connection; however we do not warrant that the service connection will be error free or uninterrupted. We DO NOT perform backups for clients – That is solely the responsibility of the client. Hostcrate shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental or consequential damages sustained or incurred in connection with lost data or service. This includes the performing of scheduled and unscheduled server maintenance. Hostcrate is hereby waived of any legal obligation pertaining to the use of our service.

Privacy

  • Hostcrate will not release any personal information about our clients, unless permission is expressly granted. Some information may be made public, if client chooses to list their content on our site for promotional purposes.

Account/Stream Transfers

  • If you wish to transfer your stream to another person in Second Life, you must follow these specific instructions and conditions:
    1. Transfer Fee: A transfer fee of L$500 applies for each transfer. This fee is non-negotiable and ensures the process is not abused.
    2. Account Standing: The stream being transferred must be in good standing (not overdue or in late status). Late accounts cannot be transferred.
    3. Authorization Form:
      • The current owner (transferor) must complete a transfer authorization form, explicitly granting permission for the transfer.
      • The new owner (recipient) must provide a signed notecard acknowledging the transfer. The contents of these notecards will be provided by the Hostcrate owner via IM and must be pasted into self-created notecards.
    4. Presence Requirement: Both the transferor and recipient must be present with the Hostcrate owner and at least one additional manager to complete the transfer.

    Responsibilities After Transfer

    • New Owner’s Obligations: The new owner must immediately update all passwords and account information to prevent access by the previous owner. Any requests to change passwords or other account details must be made directly to the Hostcrate owner and must be clear and specific (e.g., control panel password, radio password, admin password).
    • Hostcrate’s Liability: Hostcrate is not responsible for:
      • Loss of account information if the new owner fails to update passwords.
      • Retention or removal of files left by the previous owner. It is the previous owner’s responsibility to remove all personal files or data before the transfer is finalized.

    Policy on Unauthorized Transfers

    Streams may not be sold, transferred, or gifted to anyone outside this policy. Unauthorized transfers will result in the immediate termination of all associated accounts without refund and permanent banning from Hostcrate services.

    If you are interested in selling streams, you must become an authorized affiliate. Failure to comply with this policy will lead to account suspension or termination.

Payments / Refund Policy / Cancellations

  • Payment for services will be collected before an account is created. Payment of 1 to 4 weeks minimum is required depending upon the plan chosen. Thereafter, you may be able to renew at the minimum of a week but no more than 3 years of time in total.
  • We have a strict no refund policy. If you would like to test out a demo so you may try before you buy, you can contact a STREAM TEAM member to have this setup for you. Contacting the owner, LustyLexxi Larimore, is best.
  • Requests for canceling accounts may be made done by clicking “Won’t Renew” on their rental box. Client also understands and agrees by this TOS that all payments to Hostcrate are non-refundable.

Resources

  • Accounts may not use more than 10% of the total CPU and RAM resources for no more than 90 seconds. Said processes may be stopped at anytime at the discretion of Hostcrate without warning if it is an issue with server performance. If such problem continually occurs, customer will be contacted VIA IM and/or notecard. Account may be suspended/terminated if necessary (if it is affecting the server performance and/or other  customers) and only at the discretion of Hostcrate.

Customer Abuse / Right to refuse

  • We have zero tolerance for abusive language and/or abusive behavior towards our company and/or service we provide and/or our employees. Any customer deemed at our sole discretion to be abusive to our company and/or service we provide and/or our employees will result in immediate irrevocable account termination without any refund. Threats to sue, slander, libel, etc., are all considered forms of abuse and will result in immediate irrevocable account termination without any refund, and we further reserve our right to execute all rights and remedies that we may have at law and in equity.
  • Hostcrate has the right to deny a service to anyone at anytime with or without reason.

Resell Authorization

  • You must be authorized to resell our streams to anyone whether in Second Life or out of Second Life (including other virtual worlds). If you are interested in reselling our streams at a discounted rate, please contact LustyLexxi Larimore. If you are caught reselling our streams without the express permission by the owner of Hostcrate, ANY/ALL of your and resold accounts will be terminated WITHOUT refund and WITHOUT notice. You will be permanently banned from all Hostcrate services.

3rd Party Equipment/Software

  • It is NOT the duty of staff to assist you with 3rd party equipment such as Shoutcast boards and making your notecard for such a thing, for example. Staff will however TRY TO assist you in telling you what you need to do if requested but they are NOT required to fix your Shoutcast board, etc as that is the job of the creator of that board – not Hostcrate. Staff is not required to create your notecard for your Shoutcast board. It ISN’T the job of staff to assist you in 3rd party software like SAM, VDJ, WINAMP, and etc HOWEVER IF they have the knowledge to do so, they can be kind in helping you.. In that regard, They may offer their services to assist in these matters at their discretion and rate which is OUTSIDE of Hostcrate, as such Hostcrate WILL NOT responsible for any of said offered services. Google is your best friend so please try to use all the resources available to you.

Service Level Agreement

  • Things happen. Nothing is ever perfect. So, with that said, we are not liable for network outages, maintenance updates, software updates/releases, security breaches or anything of the like. However, if it is something that could be prevented then we will credit your account for no more than 2 weeks of time. You must send a notecard within 3 days of the service interruption to LustyLexxi Larimore with your full name, the date of incident and explanation of what happened so it can be reviewed. Please note that you will not receive credit if it is on your side like an ISP issue, broadcast software issue or anything of the like.

VIP Licenses (formerly lifetime licenses)

Copyright / Royalties / Licenses

  • Client is solely responsible for any applicable license fees for their location. Hostcrate.com does not award free licensing to clients, such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, RIAA, SIAE, GEMA or CARP.
    If you choose to stream your own music into/outside of SL directly or using a streaming relay host, the content and any copyright/royalty fees and any other possible issues are the sole responsibility of the individual, Hostcrate and its Affiliates and/or partners CANNOT be held liable for any damages, loss, or legal actions taken against you. This INCLUDES streaming outside of Second Life.

Unmetered / Unlimited Policy

Transfer of Ownership

  • The owner or Hostcrate will give at least 5 days notice to the transfer of business assets and transfer of ownership to another. Hostcrate, neither owner – past or present – will be held liable for any changes made to accounts or service. You have the right to stay or go elsewhere at any time.

Price Changes

  • We reserve the right to change prices at any time, without notice. Additionally, if we terminate this agreement without cause pursuant to number 14/21 or any other parts of the Agreement, You understand that *IF* We agree to provide services to you in the future, the amount you paid under any prior term or time period is not determinate of the amount you pay should We provide Services to you again. It is your responsibility to check for plan or price changes should you wish to take advantage of plan or price changes which may have occurred. As of October 9th, 2019, grandfathered pricing will no longer be possible for any services. The time currently on your rental will not change if you have paid for services in advance. Price change will be incurred once your time has run out if applicable.
  • to accounts or service. You have the right to stay or go elsewhere at any time.

Public Feedback

  • We have a zero tolerance policy for posting negative feedback on any public location about our company and/or our employees before contacting the owner or upper management to discuss your issue. Doing so will result in immediate account termination without any refund. Although it is your right to post feedback without discussing your issue with us first, it is undoubtedly unfair and unprofessional not to, which is not the type of client we want to deal with. We have the utmost respect for all of our clients, and are more than fair with all of our clients. We will do anything and everything possible to keep all of our clients satisfied. But in the unlikely event you are not satisfied, all that we ask is to discuss your issue with us first. For example, if you are the type of person to run to the forums at the first chance you get to complain, post on blog or other website, please do not sign up with us. Furthermore, all of our policies that pertain to keeping information given to us confidential including but not limited to our privacy policy, confidentiality agreement, non-disclosure agreement are nullified once you discuss your experience publicly. For example, if you make a post in public, then you are waiving your protection of privacy.

Suspension / Termination Policy

  • As of April 23rd, 2021:
    When you rental reaches overdue status (red box), you risk losing your account. ALL regular streams are recycled once the account is terminated. IF you have a Lifetime (VIP) Licenses, you can reactivate your license at anytime using the appropriate reactivation vendor for the license plan you paid for initially. If you’re unsure of which license you have, contact us! Staff does terminations/suspensions multiple times during the week. It is NOT our responsibility to contact you when you are in late status, the rental box sends out notices via local chat AND direct from our bot (Hostcrate Classito). You can also click on your box to find out your remaining time.***EMAIL NOTIFICATION IS COMING VERY SOON.**

Backup Stream Policy

  • Backups or/and multiple accounts are not guaranteed as things happen per section #17. It is highly recommended to have more than one stream account just in case of an event in which prevents you from streaming – whether with Hostcrate or not.

Other Policies

Amendments

  • Hostcrate reserves the right to revise, amend, or modify our terms of service and ALL other policies and agreements at any time and in any manner without notice. It is the responsibility of the customer to check for such changes in accordance with our policies

Revised 11/29/2024

2008 – 2024 Hostcrate.stream/.com/.net – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.