Performance Equity Pay Framework

1. What Performance Equity Pay Is

Performance Equity Pay is a performance-based payout framework, not a wage, salary, employment relationship, guaranteed royalty, or guaranteed return. It is intended to let approved artists participate in qualifying payout activity tied to verified performance inside Mixtape Plug or approved connected workflows.

In practical terms, the program is designed around three ideas:

• artists may be reviewed for program eligibility,
• verified activity may create or support a payout balance, and
• withdrawals are only available after review, threshold, and payout-readiness requirements are satisfied.

2. Eligibility and Activation

Listing Performance Equity Pay on a plan means the account may be eligible for review. It does not mean every user, every artist, every song, or every plan cycle is automatically activated for payouts.

To activate an artist account for Performance Pay review under the current policy, Mixtape Plug requires all of the following baseline conditions:

• an active eligible paid plan or approved Stage One relationship,
• an artist account in good standing,
• accurate artist identity and payout information,
• rights clearance for submitted music and related content,
• no unresolved fraud, abuse, chargeback, split, or ownership disputes, and
• at least one eligible track that reaches the current qualifying thresholds in a rolling 30-day window.

The current qualifying thresholds for initial activation are:

• at least 25 original plays on one eligible track in a rolling 30-day period,
• at least 10 unique listeners on that same track in the same rolling 30-day period,
• at least 60% average qualified listen completion across those original plays, and
• no fraud or manipulation flags that would disqualify the track or account.

Once activated, an artist account remains payout-eligible only while it continues to maintain at least 100 verified plays and 25 unique listeners across eligible tracks in a rolling 30-day period. Falling below that level does not automatically remove prior earned balance, but it may pause new reward accrual until the thresholds are met again.

Mixtape Plug may still approve, pause, reject, or remove eligibility where an account is incomplete, unverified, inactive, in breach, under review, or otherwise outside the current program rules.

3. What Counts as a Play

A play is a verified playback event for an eligible track that satisfies all of the following:

• the playback is tied to a unique play reference logged by Mixtape Plug,
• the listener session is attributable to a real listener account or an approved uniquely verifiable session,
• the play reaches at least 30 seconds of listening time, or 50% of the track length if the track is shorter than 60 seconds,
• the event is not reversed, duplicated, or later disqualified in fraud review, and
• the listener is not the same payout owner trying to generate self-credit through prohibited self-inflation behavior.

Multiple plays by the same listener can count as verified plays if they are real, separated, and behaviorally normal, but repeat plays do not automatically count as original plays for threshold or multiplier purposes.

4. What Counts as an Original Play

An original play is the first qualifying verified play of a specific eligible track by a specific unique listener during a rolling 30-day window. It is the key threshold metric for activation and for higher-quality payout review.

For a play to count as an original play:

• the play must already qualify as a verified play,
• the listener must not have already produced an original play for that same track during the prior 30 days,
• the listener must not be the artist account owner, a linked payout operator, or a collaborator account excluded by Mixtape Plug review,
• the play must come from ordinary listener behavior rather than loops, farms, scripts, or coordinated boosting, and
• the event must survive later fraud, dispute, and compliance review.

One listener can create only one original play per track per 30 days. Additional legitimate listens by that same listener may still count as verified plays, replay-rate signals, or retention signals, but not as new original plays.

5. Performance Metrics Measured

Mixtape Plug may measure the following performance metrics when deciding activation, payout accrual, multipliers, holds, or account review:

• Original plays: first qualified plays from distinct listeners on a per-track rolling 30-day basis.
• Verified plays: all qualified non-disqualified plays, including repeat listens that pass review.
• Unique listeners: distinct listener accounts or approved unique sessions attached to eligible plays.
• Completion rate: how much of the track qualified listeners actually consume.
• Replay rate: how often real listeners return after an original play.
• Listener concentration: whether too much of the volume comes from the same small cluster of listeners, devices, or networks.
• Verified sales events: approved sales-linked events that may fund a pool or increase eligibility weight.
• Conversion actions: approved follow, mailing-list, merch, booking, or related conversion events where Mixtape Plug tracks them.
• Fraud risk score: signals such as botting, duplication, loops, or self-inflation attempts.

Original plays, unique listeners, completion rate, and fraud status are the primary gatekeeping metrics. Total plays alone are not enough if the quality or originality of the traffic is weak.

6. Funding and Pool Structure

The program may use an internal artist payout account with funded-pool tracking. In that structure, Mixtape Plug may maintain values such as an available balance, total earned amount, total withdrawn amount, total pool-funded amount, a base pool cap, and a dynamic pool cap that can change over time.

A payout pool may be funded from sources such as:

• verified sales-event contributions,
• approved campaign allocations,
• internal reward allocations,
• sponsor or promotion support where allowed, and
• other source types Mixtape Plug records in the payout ledger.

Funding does not become final until Mixtape Plug verifies the source event, confirms that the money is collectible and not under refund or dispute pressure, and determines that the contribution is valid under the active program rules.

7. How Performance Pay May Be Calculated

Mixtape Plug may use a variable model rather than a single universal flat rate. That means the reward tied to a verified event can depend on the current funded pool, the remaining balance before the event, the performance multiplier assigned to the event or artist account, the decay settings used by the active program, and whether the event belongs to a play-driven reward path, a sales-driven contribution path, or another approved payout path.

In a play-driven framework, Mixtape Plug may evaluate:

• the verified status of the play or listener event,
• the track identifier and source event reference,
• the remaining funded pool before the reward is applied,
• the performance multiplier then active for the account or event, and
• the decay setting or other balancing control used to avoid overpaying from a limited pool.

In a sales-driven framework, Mixtape Plug may evaluate:

• the source type and source reference for the sale,
• gross amount, net collectability, and any platform-approved deductions,
• the portion of the event that should count as a pool contribution, and
• whether the sale remains verified after any hold, refund, chargeback, or dispute window.

Mixtape Plug may also use verified sales count, account status, current pool capacity, program season, challenge rules, or anti-abuse weighting to increase, reduce, pause, or zero out a reward calculation. Unless Mixtape Plug publishes a fixed rate in a more specific controlling document, Performance Pay should be understood as a variable internal formula rather than a guaranteed cents-per-play promise.

8. What Does Not Count

The following categories may be excluded from payout qualification, pool funding, or withdrawal approval:

• illegal botting of accounts, bot traffic, click farms, scripted spins, emulator farms, or other automated listener fabrication,
• self inflation of spins, including the artist or affiliates replaying tracks to manufacture thresholds,
• self-funded or coordinated transactions created mainly to trigger rewards,
• duplicate event references or unverifiable source records,
• refunded, reversed, charged back, or disputed sales events,
• content with unresolved ownership, sample-clearance, or split disputes, and
• activity generated while an account is suspended, paused, or otherwise out of compliance.

If Mixtape Plug reasonably concludes that an account used illegal botting, listener farming, self inflation of spins, account rings, VPN rotation, mass signups, or similar manipulation tactics, Mixtape Plug may disqualify the affected plays, reverse balances, pause the payout account, and deny future eligibility.

9. Review, Holds, and Adjustments

Mixtape Plug may place activity, balances, or withdrawal requests under review before paying them out. Reviews may be triggered by fraud signals, unusual velocity, chargeback exposure, identity issues, payout-processor limitations, split disputes, rights disputes, or any other issue affecting payout confidence.

Mixtape Plug may make prospective or corrective adjustments including:

• reclassifying an event from verified to unverified,
• reducing or reversing a funded contribution,
• freezing part of a balance during investigation,
• pausing a payout account, or
• denying a withdrawal where the account is not payout-ready.

10. Withdrawal Rules

Available balance does not automatically mean immediate cash settlement. A withdrawal may only be approved when the balance is truly available, the account is eligible, and the payout workflow is operational.

Under the current framework, Mixtape Plug may apply a minimum withdrawal threshold of $75.00 before a withdrawal request is reviewed. Mixtape Plug may change that threshold prospectively if the payout program, processor costs, or administrative overhead changes.

Withdrawal approval may depend on:

• completed identity and payout setup,
• available processor rails for the artist’s location,
• tax and reporting compliance,
• completion of any review or hold periods, and
• the absence of unresolved account, rights, or payment disputes.

11. Reporting and Statements

Mixtape Plug may show or send summary information about funded amounts, verified events, earned rewards, pending balances, paid withdrawals, or rejected events when the relevant reporting systems are active. Those summaries are operational records, not audited financial statements, unless Mixtape Plug expressly labels them otherwise.

If a reporting view conflicts with a later fraud review, processor adjustment, or signed agreement, Mixtape Plug may correct the record to match the final reviewed result.

12. Changes and Program Discretion

Mixtape Plug may change the Performance Pay framework prospectively as product scope, fraud patterns, payment rails, budget, or creator-program design changes. That can include changing qualifying event definitions, multipliers, pool caps, thresholds, seasons, reporting cadence, or whether the program is active at all.

If Mixtape Plug publishes a more specific program notice, challenge rule set, artist addendum, or signed label agreement, that more specific document controls for the applicable payout cycle or artist relationship.

13. Questions

Questions about Performance Equity Pay, payout review, withdrawal eligibility, or a specific artist account can be sent through Support. General benefit language remains defined on the Plan Terms page.