Contest Rules

Last updated: 11 February 2021

Part A — General Rules

Our mission is to provide the best possible environment for our users to have free conversations and enjoy their time on Stereo, thus we came up with a contest with the following rules:

1. The promoter, Stereo App Limited of 1 Dover Place 5th Floor, Ashford Commercial Quarter, Ashford, Kent, TN23 1FB, United Kingdom, runs a contest where a certain number of users who are most successful (as defined in the context of the relevant Contest) at meeting certain criteria through their use of Stereo ("Participation Criteria") each week are awarded monetary prizes (the "Contest"). Each Contest is separate and has its own start and finish dates, Participation Criteria, number of winners and prizes including as set out in Part B - Contest-Specific Rules. We use the term “you” in these Contest Rules to refer to an eligible participant of a Contest.
2. Each Contest is only available to registered users of the App aged 18 or over and located and residing in any of the following jurisdictions: the UK and the U.S. An individual is not eligible to participate in a Contest if the laws of their jurisdiction prohibit them from participating in the Contest or using the App.
3. Conversations are only eligible for participation in the Contest if:
   1. they are in the English language; and
   2. they are not simultaneously streamed live on any other platform, app or website.
4. Calculation of each user's performance against the Participation Criteria will not include conversations which are deleted, prerecorded or made private and shall be calculated by our App and related software and systems. Our calculations shall be final and binding in all respects.
5. You will automatically be entered into a Contest in every Contest Week where you meet the Participation Criteria for the particular Contest running in that Contest Week. No purchase is necessary.
6. Each "Contest Week" runs once a week from midday UK time each Monday ("Start Time") to midday UK time the following Monday ("Finish Time"), or such other Start and Finish Times as we may notify to you via the App prior to the next Contest Week starting.
7. We reserve the right to stop running any Contest at any time after the completion of any Contest Week. If we decide to stop running a Contest, we will notify users via the App prior to the Start Time of the next Contest Week. In addition, we reserve the right to hold void, suspend, cancel, or amend a Contest or Contest Week where it becomes necessary to do so. If Stereo makes an update to these Contest Rules, Stereo will post the updated Rules on the App. Continued participation in any Contest after any update will mean that you have agreed to the update. Further terms and conditions set out in Stereo’s Terms of Service apply.
8. Any question or dispute between us and one or more individuals regarding the interpretation of these Contest Rules, a user’s eligibility to participate in a Contest, the awarding of a prize, or any other matter relating to any Contest shall be decided by us at our sole discretion.
9. The prizes we will award for each Contest, together with any limits on how much a single user can win within a Contest or across all Contests, will be set out here.
10. If two or more winners tie for the same place in a Contest Week, they will split the monetary prizes awarded to their corresponding placements. For example, if two winners tie for first place, they will split the first and second place prizes.
11. We will contact potential winners via the App within 48 hours of the Finish Time of the relevant week's Contest. Unless we are satisfied at our sole discretion that a potential winner is eligible to win a prize in accordance with these Contest Rules, each potential winner must sign and return an Affidavit of Eligibility within 5 days of receiving it from us to claim their prize. Depending on the winner's location, other reasonable documentation may also be required. In particular, winners in the U.S. may be required to provide a completed I.R.S. Form W-9 to us before receiving any prize money.
12. Once we have received a potential winner’s signed Affidavit of Eligibility (or otherwise confirmed to them in writing that they do not need to sign and return it) and successfully completed our security checks (including checking the potential winner's conversations and listeners), prize money will be transferred to the prize winner's account on the App which the user can withdraw to their bank account. The minimum amount a user can withdraw from the App to his/her bank account at any one time is US$50. The only available withdrawal method is PayPal and PayPal will charge a fee for such withdrawal.
13. The maximum amount you, as a single user can earn (i) as part of a Stereo Content in any particular week, and (ii) withdraw, is US$100,000. The maximum amount you, as a single user, can earn during your lifetime as part of any and all Stereo Contests is USD$150,000. Once you have reached the USD$150,000 limit, you will receive a message on the leaderboard page notifying you that the maximum limit has been reached and that you are no longer eligible to enter any further Stereo Contests at any point in time. No further minutes, listener numbers or any other metric will be used towards a Stereo Contest or a place on the leaderboard. Once you have reached the maximum limit, you and any other user engaged in a conversation on Stereo will receive the following message: “@username is not part of leaderboard, so keep in mind this current conversation will not form part of the leaderboard or any other Stereo Contest”. In addition to this, this notification will also apply to you if you are engaged in a conversation with a user who has reached the maximum limit, and your conversation will not form part of the leaderboard. The exercise of this clause will not restrict any other functionality or permissions of a user in any other way.
14. If we are unable to contact a potential winner or award them a prize using the means and within the timeframes described in paragraphs 11 and 12, if a potential winner fails to sign and return the Affidavit of Eligibility within 5 days of our provision to them of the Affidavit of Eligibility, or if our security checks fail, the individual may be disqualified from the Contest for that Contest Week and any prize they would otherwise have been eligible to receive will be forfeited.
15. To comply with our obligations, we will send the surname, county/state and country of major prize-winners and their respective Participation Criteria through which they won (e.g. number of listening minutes for the Listening Minutes Contest) to anyone who emails support@stereo.com within 28 days after the Finish Time of the relevant week's Contest. If you object to your surname or location being published or made available, please contact us at support@stereo.com. In such circumstances, we must still provide the information to the UK Advertising Standards Authority and potentially other parties on request as required by applicable law.
16. Winners are responsible for reporting and paying to the relevant tax authority any tax due on prizes awarded to them in accordance with local legal/tax requirements based on their personal circumstances. You acknowledge that we make no representations or undertakings regarding the tax treatment of prizes.
17. The App is only for users aged 18 or over. Every conversation with someone who we reasonably believe to be below 18 will be removed from the App. As users under 18 years of age are not permitted to use the App, anybody aged under 18 is not eligible to participate in any Contest.
18. Employees of Stereo App Limited or the Stereo Group, employees of our agents or suppliers who are professionally connected with the App or any Contest or their administration, and the immediate families or households of any of the above are not eligible to participate in any Contest.
19. We reserve all rights to determine whether in our reasonable belief your conversations are legitimate and therefore eligible for participation in a Contest; and to disqualify you if your conduct is contrary to the spirit or intention of any Contest. For example, the following are not permitted and you will be disqualified from participating in all Contests if you engage in any of these practices:
    1. Staying silent on the stream for more than 5 consecutive minutes in any conversation
    2. Paying Stereo users to listen to your stream in any form or otherwise compensating or incentivizing listeners in any way including but not limited to directly compensating listeners, promising portions of a prize to them or paying or otherwise incentivizing them to listen to a specific talk/stream
    3. Playing pre-recorded audio instead of talking live on the stream
    4. Allowing others to talk on your stream instead of you
    5. Spreading misinformation via your stream, or spreading disparaging information via your stream about Stereo creators, users and team
    6. Creating alternate or duplicate profiles and using both to participate in any Contest
    7. Otherwise failing to comply with these Contest Rules or the Terms of Service, including in particular but not limited to provisions relating to Conduct and User Content in the Terms of Service
20. If there is any reason to believe that there has been a breach of the Terms of Service or these Contest Rules, we, at our sole discretion, reserve the right to exclude you from participating in any Contest.
21. We will not accept responsibility for you not being able to enter any Contest whether due to you not being able to participate in conversations or other users not being able to listen to your conversations, regardless of cause, including for example equipment failure; technical malfunction; or systems, satellite, network, server or computer hardware or software failure of any kind.
22. You acknowledge that the third party from whom you received the license for the App or the Services (e.g., the Apple App Store, etc. (or their subsidiaries)) has no involvement in any Contest in any manner.
23. By entering any Contest, you promise to abide by these Contest Rules and our decisions, which will be final and binding in all respects. To the extent permitted by applicable law, we will not be responsible for any injury, damage or loss of any kind arising out of your participation in any Contest and YOU AGREE TO RELEASE, DISCHARGE, AND HOLD HARMLESS US OUR AFFILIATES AND SUBSIDIARIES, AND OUR AND THEIR EMPLOYEES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, SERVICE PROVIDERS, AGENTS AND ASSIGNS FROM AND AGAINST ANY OR ALL CLAIMS, LOSSES, INJURIES, OR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM PARTICIPATION IN ANY CONTEST.

Part B — Contest-Specific Rules

Contest i — “Listening Minutes Contest”

1. The Listening Minutes Contest starts on 26 August 2020 and ends on 25 October 2020.
2. The winner(s) will have the greatest number of listening minutes in a given Contest Week. Listening minutes are the number of minutes other users spend listening to your conversations, both live and recorded, via the App.

Contest ii — “Talk On Stereo Contest”

1. The Talk On Stereo Contest starts on 26 October 2020 and ends on 6 December 2020.
2. The winner(s) will have the conversation with the greatest number of simultaneous live listeners at any one point in a conversation in a given Contest Week. To be eligible to participate in the Talk On Stereo Contest, a conversation must be 30 minutes or longer.

Contest iii — “New Followers Contest”

1. New Followers Contest starts on 7 December 2020 and and ends on 20 December 2020.
2. The winner(s) will be those who have the biggest amount of new followers in any given Contest Week. To be eligible to participate in the New Followers Contest, all new followers must be authentic, without using bots or similar techniques and must be active on the app for 3 days. New users will be counted after passing Stereo’s active 3 day check.

Сontest iv — “Content Creators”

1. The “Content Creators” contest starts on 21 December 2020 and will run until further notice. If we decide to stop running a Contest, we will notify users via the App prior to the Start Time of the next Contest Week as mentioned in Part A, paragraph 7.
2. The winner(s) will have the conversation with the greatest number of simultaneous live listeners at any one point in a conversation in a given Contest Week. To be eligible to participate in the “Content Creators” Contest:
   1. A conversation must be 30 minutes or longer.
   2. Creators should not provide/promote monetary incentives to non-verified users who participate in talks as this can result in the creator being ineligible for the prize.
3. Users can only place in one position.
4. If two or more users have the same number of simultaneous live listeners in a contest week, the talker with the most followers will be ranked higher on the leaderboard.
5. To participate in the English language (UK and US) contest, users will need to be a verified Content Creator.