Terms of Service

1. Agreement to these Terms

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern access to and use of honkytonkhalloffame.com and related pages, tools, guest links, submissions, archives and services operated as the Honky Tonk Hall of Fame (“Hall,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). By accessing or using the Hall, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Hall.

2. Nature of the Hall

The Hall is an independent cultural publication and archive focused on honky-tonk people, venues, music, traditions and history. It is not a government agency, licensing authority, trade association, accredited museum, professional credentialing body, or official industry registry. Inclusion, induction, featuring, ranking, omission, correction or removal is an editorial decision of this independent publication.

The Hall may publish researched history, interviews, contributor accounts, personal recollections, opinion, archival material, source-based reporting and other editorial content. Historical records and memories can conflict. Publication is not a judicial finding, legal determination, professional certification or guarantee that every factual proposition is complete or permanently settled.

3. Editorial discretion

We retain sole editorial discretion over what we research, solicit, review, edit, publish, feature, contextualize, annotate, correct, update, archive, restrict, restore or remove. Submission does not create a right to publication, induction, continued hosting, placement, attribution format, prominence, indexing, preservation or compensation. We may decline or remove material for any lawful reason or no stated reason.

4. Accounts, guest passes and access

Guest links and passes are limited permissions, not ownership interests or accounts with publishing authority. Only authorized Hall administrators may publish to the public site. You may not share a restricted link contrary to its terms, bypass access controls, use another person’s identity, probe protected routes, interfere with security, or attempt to obtain permissions not granted to you. We may expire, suspend, rotate or revoke any pass or session.

5. Submissions

If you submit text, photographs, recordings, video, audio, documents, links, metadata, names, biographical material, comments or other content (“Submitted Material”), the Contributor Agreement is incorporated into these Terms. You are responsible for Submitted Material and for having the rights, permissions and lawful basis needed to provide it.

You must not knowingly submit material that is false in a manner likely to harm another person, defamatory, threatening, unlawfully discriminatory, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, confidential without authorization, infringing, fraudulent, malicious, illegal, or designed to compromise the Hall or another system.

Allegations involving criminal conduct, abuse, fraud, sexual misconduct, professional wrongdoing or similarly serious reputational matters may be rejected, held for additional verification, edited, restricted or removed.

6. Intellectual property and license to the Hall

You retain ownership of original Submitted Material to the extent you own it. By submitting material, you grant the Hall the license described in the Contributor Agreement. Except for Submitted Material and third-party material, the Hall’s site design, original editorial material, compilations, databases, branding, software and presentation are owned by or licensed to the Hall and are protected by applicable law.

No permission is granted to scrape, republish, sell, mirror, systematically copy, train a competing archive from, or commercially exploit substantial portions of the Hall except as permitted by law or written permission.

7. Inductee and contributor designations

“Inductee,” “contributor,” and similar labels are editorial designations used by the Hall. They are not governmental, professional, legal or industry-wide certifications. A person may be a contributor, an inductee, both or neither. We may change, correct or remove designations when editorially appropriate.

8. Third-party material, links and embeds

The Hall may link to or embed third-party websites, social posts, video, audio, maps, records and other material. Third-party inclusion does not necessarily mean endorsement, sponsorship, affiliation or adoption of every statement on that service. We do not control third-party availability, accuracy, security, privacy practices or terms.

9. No reliance

Do not rely on the Hall as the sole source for travel, event, business, legal, medical, financial, safety or other consequential decisions. Venue hours, ownership, addresses, accessibility, schedules, ticketing, policies, alcohol service, pricing and other details can change. Confirm important information with the relevant venue, organizer, person or authoritative source.

10. Corrections and complaints

Good-faith reports of factual errors, mistaken identity, privacy concerns, copyright issues or potentially unlawful content are welcome. A complaint does not automatically require removal. We may investigate, request documentation, annotate, correct, update, temporarily restrict, preserve evidence, restore, remove or take no action as appropriate. See the Corrections Policy and Copyright / DMCA Policy.

11. Privacy

Our collection and use of personal information is described in the Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms.

12. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate access, revoke passes, disable submissions or remove content when we reasonably believe it is necessary to protect the Hall, contributors, subjects, users, third parties, evidence, legal rights or system security.

13. Disclaimers

THE HALL AND ITS CONTENT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, AVAILABILITY AND ERROR-FREE OPERATION. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT HISTORICAL OR CONTRIBUTOR MATERIAL WILL BE COMPLETE, UNDISPUTED OR PERMANENTLY AVAILABLE.

14. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE HALL AND ITS OWNER, EDITORS, CONTRIBUTORS, CONTRACTORS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA, LOST REPUTATION OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION ARISING FROM USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE HALL. TO THE EXTENT A MONETARY CAP IS PERMITTED, AGGREGATE LIABILITY WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF $100 OR THE AMOUNT YOU PAID DIRECTLY TO THE HALL FOR THE SERVICE GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM DURING THE PREVIOUS 12 MONTHS.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain exclusions or limitations, so portions of this section may not apply to you.

15. Indemnity

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Hall and its owner, editors, contractors and service providers from claims, losses, liabilities and reasonable costs arising from your Submitted Material, your infringement or violation of another person’s rights, your unlawful conduct, or your material breach of these Terms. This does not require you to indemnify a party for that party’s own unlawful conduct where such indemnification is prohibited.

16. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to conflict-of-law rules, except where federal law controls. Subject to any non-waivable law, disputes must be brought in a state or federal court with jurisdiction serving the Hall operator’s principal place of business in Texas. Before filing suit, the parties should make a good-faith effort to resolve the dispute through written notice where practical.

17. Changes

We may update these Terms. Material changes will be reflected by a new “Last updated” date. Continued use after the effective date of revised Terms constitutes acceptance to the extent permitted by law. Contributors may be required to affirm a new legal version before a later submission.

18. Miscellaneous

If a provision is unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect and the affected provision will be enforced to the maximum lawful extent. Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. These Terms, the Contributor Agreement, Privacy Policy, Copyright / DMCA Policy and any written agreement specific to a service constitute the applicable agreement concerning the Hall.

19. Contact

For legal, privacy, correction or copyright concerns, use the Hall’s Legal & Content Notice form. Copyright notices should also follow the requirements in the Copyright / DMCA Policy.