Terms of use

Who we are

Uncommon Ear (uncommonear.com) is run by Magic Factory, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. In these terms, "we" means Magic Factory, LLC. Contact us at legal@uncommonear.com.

What the service is

Uncommon Ear is a free search tool and mirror for music and sound effects that their makers have released under Creative Commons Zero (CC0 1.0). You can search, preview, download, clip, loop, and add tracks to a collection. The audio is never sold. We can change, pause, or stop any part of the service.

Accounts

• You do not need an account to browse, preview, or download. An account lets you keep a collection of tracks across devices. You need an account to use the MCP server.
• One account belongs to one person. Do not share it.
• Keep your email account secure. Anyone who can read your sign-in emails can sign in as you.
• Give us a real email address that you control.
• We can suspend or close an account that breaks these terms or harms the service.
• You can delete your account at any time from the account menu.

Acceptable use

When you use the site, the sign-in system, or the MCP server, do not:

• scrape, crawl, or download the catalog in bulk in a way that harms the service or its other users;
• get around, probe, or abuse rate limits, the bot check, or other protections;
• copy our catalog, descriptions, or audio mirror in bulk to publish or resell as a competing library of the same tracks, as-is;
• attack the service, or try to reach accounts or data that are not yours;
• use the service for anything illegal, or to infringe other people's rights.

These rules limit how you use our service. They do not change the CC0 license on any track. You can always get tracks from their original sources, which we link on every track page.

The audio and its license

Each track is offered under CC0 1.0 as its source recorded it. We check each source and credit it, but we cannot guarantee that a source's claim is correct. Read the license page for what CC0 means, what it does not cover, and how we check. If you think a track should not be here, use the takedown process described there.

The MCP server and API

The MCP server at uncommonear.com/mcp lets AI assistants search the catalog on your behalf. You need an Uncommon Ear account to use it, and you sign in when you connect an assistant. You are responsible for what an assistant does with your access. You can remove an assistant at any time under Connected assistants in the account menu, and deleting your account ends every assistant's access. The server is read-only. Free accounts are limited to 20 calls per minute and 300 calls per day. Pro accounts are limited to 60 calls per minute and 20,000 calls per month. The acceptable use rules above apply to every call, including calls an assistant makes for you. We provide the server as-is, and we can change or remove it at any time. Do not use it to get around the limits on the rest of the site. We record your use of it, as described in the privacy policy.

The JSON API at uncommonear.com/v1 follows the same rules. You need an API key from your account, you are responsible for what is done with your keys, and you can revoke a key at any time under API keys in the account menu. Keep your keys secret. The API is read-only, and its calls count toward the same limits as MCP, which depend on your plan. We record your use of it, as described in the privacy policy.

Pro

A paid Pro plan is planned but not available. We will add terms for it here before it launches.

No warranty

We provide Uncommon Ear and its audio as is, without promises. We do not promise that the site will always work, that it is free of errors, or that a track's license status is correct, that a track is suitable for your purpose, or that it is free of third-party rights. The law in your country may give you rights that cannot be waived; these terms do not take them away.

Limit of liability

To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, lost profits, or lost data arising from your use of the service or of any track. Our total liability to you for anything related to the service is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim and 100 US dollars. Nothing here limits liability that the law does not let us limit, such as for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

Ending your use

You can stop using the service at any time and delete your account. We can end or restrict your access if you break these terms. The sections on audio, warranty, and liability continue after that.

Changes to these terms

We can update these terms. We change the date at the top when we do. If you keep using the service after a change, the new terms apply to you.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (USA), without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. Disputes go to the state or federal courts located in Massachusetts, except where the law of your country gives you the right to go to court at home.

Contact

Write to legal@uncommonear.com. For the privacy side of things, see the privacy policy.