Terms & Conditions

Welcome to Sravyam (referred to interchangeably as "the Platform", "Sravyam", "We", "Us", or "Our"), a digital audiobook streaming service owned and operated by Sravyam Private Limited (also operating under the brand name BOOKKIFY). These Terms and Conditions ("Terms") constitute a legally binding agreement between Sravyam Private Limited and any individual or entity accessing or utilizing our mobile applications, web applications, software, content libraries, or related digital services.

By registering an account, purchasing a subscription, uploading literary materials, submitting recorded narrations, or otherwise engaging with the Platform, you explicitly agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms in their entirety, you must immediately cease all access and use of the Platform.

1. User Categories & Scope of Agreement

To facilitate an end-to-end ecosystem for digital spoken-word audio, the Platform services three distinct groups of users. These Terms apply comprehensively to all interactions, supplemented by specific provisions for each stakeholder tier:

• Consumers / Subscribers: Individual end-users who access, stream, and listen to audiobooks and literary content hosted on the Platform for personal, non-commercial enjoyment.
• Creators / Publishers: Authors, copyright owners, publication houses, or legal assignees who license original literary texts, manuscripts, or pre-recorded audio files to the Platform for monetization and distribution.
• Freelance Narrators: Independent voice artists, voice-over talent, or performance professionals engaged through or by the Platform to record vocal renditions of licensed literary works.

2. Consumer & Subscriber Terms

2.1 Account Eligibility and Security

Consumers must be at least 18 years of age, or the legal age of majority in their respective jurisdiction, to establish a paid subscription account. Individuals under the legal age may use the Platform solely under the supervision and explicit consent of a parent or legal guardian. Users are strictly responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their account credentials, passwords, and access tokens, and accept liability for all activities executed under their registered account profile.

2.2 Subscription Architecture and Billing

Sravyam operates primarily on a recurring, premium subscription-based access model designed to deliver continuous streaming content. By opting into a premium account tier, the Consumer explicitly agrees to the following pricing and billing protocols:

All displayed rates are inclusive of applicable statutory taxes, including Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India, unless stated otherwise. Sravyam reserves the absolute right to modify subscription fees, introduce new subscription tiers, or alter promotional discount frameworks. Any price modifications will be communicated to existing subscribers at least thirty (30) calendar days prior to implementation and will apply solely to subsequent billing cycles.

2.3 Digital Streaming License

Conditioned upon active account status and successful payment processing, Sravyam grants the Consumer a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable, personal license to stream the audio assets available within their subscription tier. This license is restricted strictly to real-time, non-commercial playback on authorized compatible digital hardware. Downloading, offline caching (outside of authorized application features), ripping, modifying, distributing, broadcasting, or publicly executing Sravyam audio content is strictly prohibited.

3. Cancellation & Refund Policy for Consumers

This policy governs financial adjustments following premium tier subscription purchases. Sravyam ensures compliance with digital consumer protection protocols regarding instantly consumed intangible media assets. A summary is provided here; see our full Refund Policy for details.

3.1 Right of Cancellation

Consumers may cancel their Sravyam subscription at any point via their account settings panel or by formally contacting customer support at support@sravyam.in. Upon cancellation, the current subscription will remain active until the conclusion of the paid billing horizon (end of the current month or current year), at which point access will automatically revert to a restricted free tier or terminate, and no further automatic renewals will occur.

3.2 Refund Eligibility Thresholds

Given that digital streaming provides instantaneous access to protected intellectual property immediately upon billing confirmation, refunds are highly restricted to prevent systematic abuse of content creators. The following criteria strictly dictate refund issuance:

• Technical Default: If a successful payment is logged, but a verified system failure on the Platform prevents content delivery or library access for a continuous duration exceeding forty-eight (48) hours, and our technical support grid cannot remediate the issue within seventy-two (72) hours of formal notification, the user is entitled to a full or prorated refund.
• Unauthorized Duplication / Billing Error: In instances where an explicit technical glitch results in multiple concurrent billings for a single subscription account within the same cycle, the erroneous secondary charges will be refunded in full.
• The 48-Hour Inactivity Window (Annual Plans Only): Subscribers who purchase an Annual Plan (Rs. 999) may request a refund within forty-eight (48) hours of initial transaction execution, provided they have streamed less than an aggregate total of thirty (30) minutes of audio content. Once streaming duration exceeds 30 minutes, or the 48-hour window expires, the annual subscription becomes entirely non-refundable.
• Monthly Plan Absolute Non-Refundability: Due to the minimal cost threshold and immediate availability of consumable data, all payments associated with the Monthly Plan (Rs. 99) are strictly non-refundable under standard circumstances.

3.3 Execution Process for Refunds

To request an eligible refund, the consumer must file a formal ticket within seven (7) calendar days of the disputed billing event. The ticket must detail the registered user identification, payment transaction numbers, bank statements proving deduction, and clear grounds for the request. Approved refunds will be re-routed exclusively back to the original source payment instrument (Credit/Debit Card, UPI, Netbanking, or Digital Wallet) within seven (7) to ten (10) business days, subject to the standard settlement processing timelines of third-party payment gateways.

4. Creator & Publisher Terms

This section delineates the legal parameters governing the ingestion, monetization, and archiving of literary properties furnished by original authors, copyholders, or publishing enterprises.

4.1 Licensing of Literary Rights

When a Creator or Publisher uploads, submits, or syncs a literary work, text manuscript, or pre-existing audio track to Sravyam, they grant the Platform a non-exclusive, territorial or worldwide (as selected during metadata onboarding), sub-licensable right to digitize, index, format, reproduce, stream, distribute, and promote the work via our platform distribution channels. The ownership of the core underlying intellectual property remains securely vested in the original Creator or Publisher.

4.2 Content Warranties, Indemnity, and Public Domain Works

The Creator/Publisher explicitly warrants that they possess undisputed, unencumbered legal ownership, copyright titles, and distribution authority over all submitted content. They confirm that no asset infringes upon third-party copyrights, trademark architectures, privacy rights, or statutory regulations in India or internationally.

The Creator/Publisher agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Sravyam Private Limited, its directors, and technical infrastructure partners from any and all legal actions, demands, liability suits, damages, or financial outlays resulting from verified or alleged copyright infringement claims linked to their uploaded materials.

4.3 Revenue Optimization and Royalty Outlays

Sravyam will remunerate Creators and Publishers based on a clearly structured royalty system, calculated proportionately from the aggregate revenue generated via the Rs. 99 and Rs. 999 subscription pools. The payout metrics are determined through proportional user engagement metrics (e.g., verified completed minutes listened). Sravyam will render comprehensive analytics and execute royalty disbursements on a standard quarterly schedule (Net-45 days post-quarter completion), subject to the fulfillment of minimum withdrawal thresholds and mandatory Indian tax withholding regulations (TDS).

5. Freelance Narrator Corner

This section governs the operational and legal parameters binding voice artists, voice-over actors, and narrators who collaborate with Sravyam to produce digital audio assets.

5.1 Work-for-Hire Protocol & Rights Transfer

Unless explicitly negotiated otherwise via an isolated, independent Master Services Agreement (MSA), all audio recordings, vocal stems, performance tracks, and voice assets developed, recorded, or submitted by a Freelance Narrator for projects assigned by Sravyam constitute a Work-Made-for-Hire under the provisions of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 (and corresponding global frameworks). Consequently, all intellectual property rights, copyrights, distribution privileges, and ownership titles in the recorded vocal data shift entirely and exclusively to Sravyam Private Limited immediately upon creation. Narrators waive all moral rights and future royalty claims over these performance assets, except where explicit revenue-share structures are written directly into an official project brief.

5.2 Compensation Architecture

Freelance Narrators will receive compensation based on the specific operational terms outlined during assignment acceptance, which typically utilize one of the following models:

• Per Finished Hour (PFH): Payment is computed based on the exact duration of the final, mastered, edited, and approved audio output delivered to the Platform.
• Fixed Project Milestone: Payment is disbursed as a flat, lump-sum fee paid upon successful delivery and technical approval of a complete book or specific content chapters.
• Hybrid / Performance Allocation: A minor base fee combined with localized performance metrics or subscription pool bonuses, as expressly agreed in the narrator onboarding console.

All disbursements are contingent upon the delivery of audio tracks that satisfy the technical quality specifications of the platform (as detailed in Section 5.3) and will be processed within thirty (30) days of formal asset verification.

5.3 Strict Technical and Quality Benchmarks

To preserve the user experience for our subscribers, all audio files delivered by Freelance Narrators must conform to Sravyam's rigid quality thresholds:

• Audio files must be delivered in uncompressed WAV or high-bitrate MP3 format (minimum 192kbps, constant bitrate, 44.1kHz, 16-bit).
• The noise floor must not exceed -60dB, and peak amplitudes must balance uniformly between -3dB and -6dB without digital clipping.
• Audio files must be entirely free from background ambient noise, room reflections, breaths, clicks, pops, digital distortion, or tracking stutters.
• Narrators must ensure precise textual alignment with the provided script or book text. Unauthorized structural modifications, omissions, or additions to the text during narration are strictly prohibited.

Any audio submission that fails to fulfill these quality criteria will be returned for mandatory re-recording or remedial engineering. Persistent delivery of substandard audio assets or failure to meet project deadlines constitutes valid grounds for immediate contract termination and forfeiture of pending fees.

6. Intellectual Property & Prohibited Usage

All elements comprising the digital framework of Sravyam—including software code, mobile interface layouts, graphical designs, promotional typography, logos, trade names, system databases, and the curated streaming audio catalog—are the exclusive intellectual property of Sravyam Private Limited or its respective licensors. Users agree not to engage in, facilitate, or deploy automated mechanisms for:

• Data scraping, harvesting, extraction, spidering, indexation, or reverse-engineering of the Sravyam applications or core infrastructure.
• The deployment of any automated framework, AI training crawler, script, or systematic bot to consume audio data for machine learning models or text-to-speech synthesis training without separate, explicit written clearance from Sravyam.
• Circumventing, bypassing, deactivating, or neutralizing any digital rights management (DRM) architectures, geo-blocking protocols, or anti-piracy markers embedded across the service.

7. Termination of Service

Sravyam retains the absolute, discretionary authority to suspend, freeze, or permanently terminate any account (belonging to a Subscriber, Creator, or Narrator) without prior notice or financial liability if the user breaches these Terms, participates in fraudulent financial activity, violates copyright statutes, or engages in actions that jeopardize the system security or reputation of the Platform. Upon termination, all streaming access privileges immediately cease, and any outstanding unauthorized fees or structural royalty balances may be withheld or forfeited to offset incurred legal or technical damages.

8. Limitation of Liability & Warranty Disclaimers

The Platform is delivered to all user tiers on an "As Is" and "As Available" operational basis, devoid of any explicit or implied warranties, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a specific purpose, or non-infringement. Sravyam does not guarantee that the software application will operate uninterrupted, error-free, or devoid of localized server latency.

In no event shall Sravyam Private Limited, its corporate officers, directors, or technical workforce be held liable for any indirect, incidental, punitive, collateral, or consequential financial losses, or data damages arising from your usage or inability to use the platform. Sravyam's total aggregate financial liability for any verifiable legal claim brought under this agreement shall be strictly capped at the total financial amount paid by the specific user to Sravyam during the twelve (12) month period immediately preceding the event that triggered the claim.

9. Amendments to Terms

Sravyam Private Limited reserves the absolute right to revise, edit, or append these Terms at its sole discretion. When material updates are made, we will provide notification to registered users by updating the "Effective Date" at the top of this document, issuing an in-app system notification, or distributing an electronic notice to the user's registered email address. Continued interaction with the Platform following the publication of revised Terms implies formal acceptance of the modified version.

10. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

These Terms and Conditions shall be interpreted, governed, and enforced strictly in accordance with the substantive laws of the Republic of India, without regard to its conflict of law principles.

Any dispute, controversy, claim, or difference arising out of or relating to these Terms—including questions concerning its existence, validity, interpretation, performance, or termination—shall first be directed to our internal grievance cell for amicable mediation. If an amicable settlement cannot be achieved within forty-five (45) calendar days from the initiation of informal talks, the dispute shall be referred to and finally resolved by binding arbitration in accordance with the Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (as amended). The arbitration tribunal shall consist of a sole arbitrator mutually appointed by both parties. The seat and venue of the arbitration proceedings shall be Thrissur, Kerala, India, and the proceedings shall be conducted exclusively in the English language. Subject to the arbitration framework, the courts of competent jurisdiction located in Thrissur, Kerala shall hold exclusive territorial jurisdiction over any legal matters arising from this agreement.

11. Contact Information & Grievance Redressal

For any clarifying questions regarding these Terms and Conditions, subscription cancellation requests, refund claims, copyright infringement alerts, or narrator workflow inquiries, please contact our dedicated compliance desk via our Contact page.