THE STANDARD PROMISE

Ethics Policy

STANDARD was built because the music review industry needed fixing. This policy explains what we're doing differently.

The Problem We're Solving

For too long, the music feedback industry has been plagued by unethical practices:

  • Pay-for-praise: Services that give positive reviews regardless of quality, as long as you pay enough.
  • Fake engagement: "Review" services that are really just bots and fake streams in disguise.
  • Hidden conflicts: Reviewers pushing their own services (mixing, production) during "objective" reviews.
  • Platform exploitation: Companies taking 30-50% of reviewer earnings, forcing them to cut corners.
  • No accountability: No way for artists to report bad actors or rate their experience.

STANDARD exists to fix all of this.

Our Commitments

💰

100% to Reviewers

We don't take a cut of review payments. Every dollar you pay for a review goes to the reviewer. We make money through optional platform features, not by skimming earnings.

🚫

No Pay-for-Praise

Higher tiers get more time and detail—not better reviews. Every reviewer signs an ethics pledge promising honest feedback regardless of payment amount.

⚖️

Reviewer Accountability

Artists can rate and report reviewers. We investigate every ethics complaint. Bad actors get removed. Good reviewers build verified reputations.

📜

Ethics Pledge Required

Every reviewer must read, understand, and agree to our Reviewer Ethics Policy before they can review anyone.

🎯

Actionable Feedback

Reviewers are required to provide specific, actionable feedback. "It's good" isn't a review. "Your hook needs X because Y" is.

🔍

Transparency

We publish quarterly reports on ethics enforcement. You'll know how many complaints we received, investigated, and acted on.

What Artists Can Expect

✓

Honest feedback about what's working and what isn't

✓

Specific, actionable suggestions you can implement

✓

Reviewers qualified in the genres they're reviewing

✓

The ability to rate your experience and report problems

✓

Progress tracking to see improvement over time

×

Guaranteed positive reviews (that's not what we do)

×

Fake streams, followers, or engagement

×

Reviews influenced by payment amount

Reporting Ethics Concerns

If you believe a reviewer has violated our ethics policy, you can:

  1. Rate your review: After every review, you can rate the reviewer 1-10 and leave notes.
  2. Submit a report: If you believe there was an ethics violation, click "Report" on the review page.
  3. We investigate: Every report is reviewed by the STANDARD team within 48 hours.
  4. Action is taken: Confirmed violations result in warnings, suspension, or removal.

We take ethics seriously. The whole point of STANDARD is to be the platform you can trust.

Questions about our ethics policy?

Email us at ethics@standard.live

I'm an Artist Reviewer Ethics Policy