> 13_ABOUT.MD

About everysong.

everysong is an audio similarity engine that finds free, copyright-safe Creative-Commons music that sounds like the song you uploaded. A consumer product at $5 lifetime access (live since 2026), and a service tier for studios, labels, and platforms (see /for-studios). This page covers what it is technically, who built it, and the promises that are encoded into how it operates.

The technical thesis

Audio similarity is a solved problem at large scale (Cyanite, Musiio, AIMS, Spotify's internal tools all do it) and an unsolved problem at indie creator scale. For a YouTuber or indie game dev with $0 budget and a copyrighted reference track, the existing options are: scroll through generic stock libraries, pay €99+/month to a B2B audio AI platform, or use an AI music generator with unsettled copyright status.

everysong is the indie creator's missing tool: the same matching technology (CLAP audio embeddings, librosa signal features, cosine similarity), narrowed to a deliberately small Creative-Commons catalogue (3,382 tracks), priced as a $5 one-time payment instead of a subscription. The engine is the same one Cyanite uses. The framing, the catalogue, and the price are what make it indie-tier accessible.

For details on the methodology, the trait reliability tiers (GREEN vs AMBER), and how cosine matching works against 3,382 tracks, see /how-it-works.

The brand promises

These are encoded in code, terms, and operational practice. Not aspirational copy.

$5 once. Lifetime access. No subscription.

One-time Stripe Checkout. No recurring billing infrastructure exists in the codebase. There is no subscription codepath that could be flipped on.

SINCE V1, 2026-05-08

30-day no-questions refunds.

Email [email protected] within 30 days of purchase. Full $5 back within 5 to 10 business days. No form, no questions, no retention attempts. See /refunds.

SINCE V1, 2026-05-08

If the project shuts down, the code goes open-source.

Already partially honoured: the public consumer site is open source at github.com/zaraonrecord/everysong from 2026-05-20 onward. Full source publication including the API and catalogue tooling on actual shutdown.

CODIFIED IN TERMS, 2026-05-08

Uploaded audio is deleted within ~30 seconds.

Only the 13-trait values, the CLAP embedding, and your email are retained. The audio file is removed from disk immediately after analysis. See /privacy for the full data inventory.

SINCE V1, 2026-05-08

Fair-use caps, not arbitrary gates.

50 uploads per day per account. The cap exists because compute costs money and the project is run by one person. Message [email protected] if you need more and the cap is usually lifted. The cap is documented honestly, not framed as a "free tier" or upsell trigger.

SINCE V1, 2026-05-08

Catalogue: CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA only. No CC BY-NC. No CC BY-ND.

Filtered to licenses that explicitly permit commercial use (so YouTubers can monetise, indie devs can ship paid games) and modification (so loops, fades, edits are legal). Excluded licenses are listed plainly on the licenses explainer.

CATALOGUE POLICY, 2026-05-08

No fake benchmark numbers.

Every audio trait shipped in v1 is colour-labelled GREEN (well-validated signal-processing) or AMBER (ML-classifier output, treat as second opinion). The 13 traits we ship are the ones we trust enough to publish. Other traits are not added until they pass validation. After approximately 1,000 real public readouts, a full eval report against MIREX-style test sets will be published.

METHODOLOGY POLICY, 2026-05-08

Inclusive language as a lint rule.

Zero sexist, racist, or ableist language in copy, code, comments, or commits. Treated as a build-failing rule on par with the JSON-LD validation. Standing since 2026-05-22.

LINT POLICY, 2026-05-22

Who built it

Zara, an independent developer based in the Netherlands. Background: client and freelance work in software development, primarily building products for other people. everysong is part of a portfolio of small indie tools shipped solo, each with the same operating principles (one-time pricing, no subscriptions, honest copy, open-source on shutdown).

Other products in the portfolio:

Contact: [email protected]. Replies within 48 hours during business days (Netherlands timezone, CET/CEST).

Infrastructure

Jurisdiction and compliance

everysong operates from the Netherlands. EU-resident customers fall under standard GDPR protections. Data Processing Agreements available on request for partnership tier. The customer-facing data inventory is on /privacy and is minimal by design: email address, Stripe customer ID, fingerprint history (the readouts you have generated). No tracking, no analytics SDKs, no third-party scripts on the marketing site.

Press and partnerships

Press inquiries

Press, podcast interviews, write-ups, indie-tool spotlights. Replies within 48h. [email protected], subject line "press" preferred.

Studio, label, and platform partnerships

Audio similarity as a service, custom catalogue integration, API access, white-label. /for-studios has the full surface. Direct contact: [email protected].

Customer support

Anything else: [email protected]. Refunds: [email protected]. Both inboxes are checked daily.

See also

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