SOVICE Player Guide

1. Your Label and Starting Budget

Every player starts with Ф100,000 in virtual SOVICE funds. This is the starting budget used to sign artists and build a roster.

Your SOVICE label consists of your available budget and the current value of the artists you have signed. Together, these make up your Label Value.

Your username is the identity displayed in SOVICE rankings. It can be anything you like, although players may choose a music-inspired name such as a fictional label, artist collective, producer name or music alias.

SOVICE funds:

• have no real-world monetary value;
• cannot be purchased, withdrawn, transferred or exchanged for money or anything of monetary value; and
• exist solely for participation in SOVICE.

Players may only allocate funds that are available within their SOVICE label. Borrowing, leverage and negative available balances are not permitted.

2. Tracked Artists and Monthly Listeners

SOVICE tracks the Spotify monthly listener figures of selected artists.

Spotify monthly listeners represent the number of unique listeners who have listened to an artist during the relevant rolling period. Because this is a rolling measure, an artist's monthly listener figure may increase or decrease from day to day.

SOVICE records listener data on a daily basis using data available to it from third-party sources.

The timing of updates may vary and SOVICE does not guarantee that new listener data will become available at a particular time each day.

3. Signing Artists and Building Your Roster

Players build their label by allocating SOVICE funds to artists they want to sign. All currently active signings together form the player's roster.

The value of a signing changes according to movement in the artist's tracked monthly listener figure and the SOVICE valuation methodology applied to that signing.

If an artist's tracked monthly listeners increase, the value of the signing increases. If their tracked monthly listeners decrease, the value of the signing decreases.

Players can increase an existing allocation where permitted, or release an artist and use the resulting available budget elsewhere.

4. Signing Allocations

New signing allocations must be made in increments of Ф1,000.

For example, valid signing requests include:

• Ф5,000
• Ф10,000
• Ф17,000
• Ф25,000

A request for Ф10,500 would automatically be rounded down to the nearest Ф1,000 (Ф10,000 in this example) when placed.

The minimum new signing allocation is Ф1,000.

Where an entire existing signing is being released, the final value returned to the player's available budget does not need to be divisible by Ф1,000.

5. Maximum Allocation to One Artist

At the time a new artist is signed, or an existing signing is increased, a player may not allocate more than 20% of their total Label Value to a single artist.

The limit applies to the player's total allocation to that artist, not separately to individual requests.

For example, if a player's Label Value is Ф100,000, the maximum permitted allocation to one artist when making a new signing is Ф20,000.

If a player already has Ф10,000 allocated to that artist, they could add no more than a further Ф10,000 while their Label Value remains Ф100,000.

Signings that grow above 20%

An artist does not need to be released simply because the value of their signing subsequently grows to more than 20% of the player's Label Value.

The 20% rule is tested when a player makes a new signing or increases their allocation to an artist.

Therefore, if a signing grows naturally from 20% of the player's Label Value to 25%, 30% or more, the player may continue to keep that artist on their roster.

However, the player cannot increase that allocation further while doing so would breach the 20% limit.

If the artist is later released and the player wishes to sign them again, the normal 20% limit will apply based on the player's Label Value at that time.

6. Signing an Artist

Signing an artist is subject to a one-day execution delay.

This rule exists because information affecting an artist's popularity may become publicly known before that change is fully reflected in reported monthly listener numbers.

Without a delay, a player could potentially request a signing after already knowing that a significant movement was likely to appear in the next listener update.

How the signing delay works

When SOVICE receives a valid request to sign an artist:

1. the request is recorded on the date it is received;
2. the signing does not use the listener figure available at the time of the request; and
3. the signing becomes active using the first valid daily listener dataset available following the one-day delay.

For example:

7. Releasing an Artist

Releasing an artist is also subject to a one-day execution delay.

The same principle that applies when signing an artist applies when releasing one. A player may already know of an event which is likely to affect the next reported listener figure.

A release request received on Monday will therefore normally be valued using the applicable valid Tuesday listener data.

This creates the same information delay for both signing and releasing an artist.

8. Request Date and Confirmation

Signing and release requests are recorded according to the date on which SOVICE receives the request, regardless of when SOVICE subsequently replies or provides confirmation.

SOVICE will always aim to confirm requests as soon as reasonably possible.

Administrative delays in sending confirmation will not normally change the request date or applicable execution data.

For example, if:

• a valid request is received on Monday;
• the applicable execution data is Tuesday's valid dataset; and
• SOVICE does not send confirmation until Wednesday,

the request will still be recorded using the Tuesday execution data.

Only requests successfully received through a communication method accepted by SOVICE will be treated as submitted.

A message which fails to send or which SOVICE does not receive is not a valid request.

9. Order of Requests

Where a player submits multiple requests, SOVICE will process them in the order in which they were received.

Allocation limits and available budget will be assessed accordingly.

A player cannot commit the same available funds to multiple signings simultaneously.

If a request cannot be completed because the player does not have sufficient available funds or because it would breach the 20% artist limit, SOVICE may reject the request or limit the allocation to the maximum permitted amount in an eligible Ф1,000 increment.

10. Requests Are Binding

Once a valid signing or release request has been received by SOVICE, the request is treated as submitted.

A player can make amendments or cancellations to a pending signing before it becomes active using the next applicable day's data.

Amendments or cancellations must be provided in the same channel of communication as the original request.

Once an artist has been signed and the signing is active, the player must submit a release request to remove that artist from their roster. The normal release delay will apply.

11. Label Value and Rounding

A player's Label Value is calculated using their available budget together with the current value of their active artist signings.

For display and reporting purposes, total Label Values are rounded to the nearest Ф1.

SOVICE may retain greater precision internally when calculating movements in individual signing values.

As a result, adding together individually displayed or rounded figures may occasionally produce a very small difference from the displayed total Label Value.

The underlying SOVICE calculation will determine the official Label Value.

12. Missing, Delayed, Duplicated or Incorrect Data

SOVICE relies on external data and automated processes. Occasionally, data may:

• fail to update;
• be delayed;
• be duplicated;
• contain an obvious error;
• be missing for a particular artist or date;
• be incorrectly imported or processed; or
• otherwise appear unreliable.

Where SOVICE reasonably believes that a dataset is affected by an error, SOVICE may treat that dataset as invalid for gameplay purposes.

An unchanged listener figure will not automatically be considered an error. SOVICE will determine whether there is reasonable evidence that the underlying data or update process has malfunctioned.

During a data issue

Where valid new data is temporarily unavailable, SOVICE may continue to display the most recent valid listener figure until reliable data becomes available.

Players should not receive an artificial gain or loss solely because of an identifiable technical or data-processing error.

Pending signing and release requests

If a signing or release would otherwise have taken effect on a day for which the relevant data is determined to be invalid, execution will be postponed until the first subsequent valid dataset for that artist becomes available.

The original request date will remain unchanged.

For example:

If possible, SOVICE will attempt to perform a manual check on Spotify to retrieve the true monthly listener value, should our systems or data source fail to provide or source the updated figure for that day.

Corrections

SOVICE may correct:

• artist listener histories;
• signing values;
• Label Values;
• execution values;
• player records; and
• leaderboard rankings.

Corrections may be made where reasonably necessary to correct a data, calculation or administrative error.

Corrections may be applied retrospectively where required to restore the result that would reasonably have occurred had the error not taken place.

13. Major Data Disruptions

Occasionally, an issue may be more significant than a single missing or incorrect daily update.

This could include:

• an artist becoming unavailable;
• an artist's Spotify profile changing or being merged;
• historical listener information becoming unreliable;
• a change in how the underlying listener metric is reported;
• prolonged loss of data;
• a third-party data source becoming unavailable; or
• another event which makes normal valuation impractical or unfair.

In these circumstances SOVICE may temporarily suspend signing or release activity in the affected artist.

Where reliable tracking cannot reasonably resume, SOVICE may release, cancel or otherwise settle affected signings using the most recent reliable information available.

Any decision will be made with the aim of treating affected players consistently and avoiding artificial gains or losses caused solely by the disruption.

14. Label Information

Players may receive information showing their available budget, active artist roster and total Label Value.

Because some SOVICE processes and confirmations may be administered manually, information provided to players may not always update immediately after a request is submitted.

Where there is a difference between an earlier report and a subsequently confirmed calculation, SOVICE's underlying records and valid data will determine the official Label Value.

15. Leaderboard and Label Rankings

Where SOVICE operates a leaderboard, players are ranked using the official Label Values recorded by SOVICE.

Leaderboard information may not update immediately following every signing or release request or every data update.

If an error is identified, SOVICE may correct affected Label Values and leaderboard rankings.

A temporary leaderboard ranking does not override SOVICE's underlying player records.

16. Fair Play

Players must use SOVICE fairly and in accordance with the Terms of Use and this Player Guide.

Players must not attempt to:

• exploit technical faults or incorrect data;
• manipulate signing, release or other gameplay requests;
• deliberately submit misleading information;
• interfere with SOVICE systems or data;
• create or use accounts in a way intended to gain an unfair advantage; or
• exploit an obvious error which a reasonable player would recognise as incorrect.

The existence of a technical or administrative error does not entitle a player to retain a benefit created solely by that error.

SOVICE may correct affected signings or Label Values and may restrict participation where reasonably necessary to protect the integrity of the game.

17. Manual Administration

Some SOVICE processes may be performed or reviewed manually.

This includes the processing or confirmation of certain signing and release requests, label reports and corrections.

A delay in manual administration does not alter the normal gameplay rules.

In particular, the date on which SOVICE replies to a player does not determine the request date where SOVICE aims to maintain a reliable record showing when the original request was received.

18. Changes to the Player Guide

SOVICE may update this Player Guide as the game develops, including to introduce new features, clarify existing rules or respond to technical or operational changes.

Material changes will not normally be applied retrospectively to completed gameplay unless doing so is reasonably necessary to:

• correct an error;
• address misuse or exploitation;
• protect the integrity of SOVICE; or
• comply with applicable requirements.

The version of the Player Guide published by SOVICE from time to time is the current version.

19. Questions and Support

If a player is unsure how a rule applies, they should contact SOVICE using one of the contact methods made available through the SOVICE website.

Where an unusual situation is not expressly covered by this Player Guide, SOVICE will apply the existing rules as consistently as reasonably possible and with regard to the fairness and integrity of the game.