Terms of Service
How 88Beats — the music archive of 88Streams — works.
What is 88Beats?
88Beats is a music archive provided by 88Streams.com. It is a permanent, community-driven catalog where music is preserved, organized, and made accessible to everyone. Unlike streaming platforms where content can be removed at any time, 88Beats operates on the principle that music should endure — channels and content are never deleted; they are simply maintained and updated by the community.
A Labor of Love — Not a Business
88Beats is a non-commercial music archive — no ads, no subscriptions, no data mining, no pay-per-stream. It exists solely to preserve music for future generations.
A Permanent Archive
Once created, all content becomes permanent. Songs, albums, playlists, channels, comments, and votes are never deleted — they are preserved as a historical record. Content may be updated by authorized stewards, but the archive itself is immutable.
Deletion Window Exception
As an exception to the permanent archive policy, non-admin users may delete newly published content within a 14-minute window after the initial publish time. This applies to:
- Songs uploaded to a channel — artists and curators can delete a song within 14 minutes of publishing
- Albums created on a channel — can be deleted within 14 minutes of publishing
- Playlists created by a user — can be deleted within 14 minutes of publishing
- Comments posted on songs — can be deleted within 14 minutes of posting
After the 14-minute window expires, the content becomes permanent in the archive and cannot be removed by non-admin users. Site administrators retain the ability to delete any content at any time. This window exists to allow correction of mistakes (wrong file, wrong metadata, accidental publish) while maintaining the overall permanence of the archive.
Who Maintains the Archive?
88Beats is maintained by the community through Official channels (artist-managed) and Curated channels (community-managed). Full details on channel types and management are in the Guide.
Account Types & Visibility
Listeners are private — their activity is only visible to them. Official and Curated channel owners have public pages. See the Guide for a full breakdown of account types.
Content Retention Policy
As an archive, all content is permanent:
- Songs, albums, playlists, and channels are never deleted — they are preserved indefinitely
- Channels can be reassigned to new stewards if relinquished
- Comments, votes, and chart data become part of the permanent record
- Generated files (ZIP, M3U) are temporary and do not create duplicate records
Security & Abuse Prevention
88Beats uses CAPTCHA, rate limiting, CSRF tokens, EXIF stripping, and file size limits (880 MB audio, 1488 MB video, 8.8 MB images) to protect the platform. See the Guide for details.
Uploading Music
Only Official and Curated channel owners can upload music. See the Guide for step-by-step upload instructions.
File Requirements
- Audio — MP3, max 880 MB.
- Video — MP4, max 1488 MB.
- Cover Art — JPEG, PNG, or WebP, max 8.8 MB, square recommended.
Download Availability
Downloads are enabled by default. Channel owners may disable downloads per-song — when disabled, "No download links available" is shown, the audio streams through a protected endpoint, and the song is excluded from ZIP/M3U exports.
Deletion Policy
Channel owners can delete a song within 14 minutes of publishing. After that, it becomes permanent. Administrators can delete any song at any time.
Albums
Albums are permanent collections of songs. Channel owners can create, manage, and reorder albums from the Artist Dashboard. See the Guide for details.
Album Permanence & Deletion
Albums are permanent once created. Non-admin owners may delete an album within 14 minutes of publishing. Administrators can delete any album at any time.
Participating in Voting / Polls
Voting playlists are time-limited community polls. See the Guide for how voting works and how to participate.
Voting Permanence
All votes cast are recorded permanently as part of the archive. Your voting history is accessible on your Profile page under "My Votes".
Live Show Mode
Voting playlists may be promoted to Live Show mode by administrators. Live Shows add a hero card, real-time results access for authorized users, and OBS streaming tools. See the Guide for setup details.
Types of Playlists
88Beats supports User Playlists, Voting Playlists, and Bookmarked Playlists. See the Guide for full details on each type.
Playlist Privacy & Deletion
Playlists can be public or private. Non-admin users may delete a playlist within 14 minutes of publishing; after that it becomes permanent. Administrators can delete any playlist at any time.
Export & Import
Playlists can be exported as M3U files or imported from M3U/PLS files. Songs with downloads disabled are excluded from exports. See the Guide for import instructions.
Charts
Charts rank songs by play counts across weekly, monthly, and all-time periods. See the Guide for how to browse and filter charts.
Play Threshold
A play is only counted after at least 88 seconds (1 minute and 28 seconds) of listening. This policy ensures chart rankings reflect genuine engagement.
Chart Data Persistence
Chart data accumulates over the lifetime of the archive. All-time charts represent the complete historical record of listening activity.
Music Discovery & Data Usage
88Beats offers discovery features including a Discovery Feed, Related Songs, and personalized recommendations. See the Guide for how these work.
Data Usage
Discovery features use aggregated listening data (play counts, likes, follows, playlist membership, metadata) to generate on-platform recommendations only. This data is never sold, shared, or used for advertising.
Radio Stations
88Beats supports Icecast/Shoutcast, HLS, and Direct MP3 playlist radio stations. See the Guide for station types and player features.
Comments
Every song has a comments section for community discussion. See the Guide for how to comment, reply, and use timestamped comments.
Comment Permanence & Deletion
Comments become part of the permanent archive. Users can delete their own comments within 14 minutes of posting. Administrators can delete any comment at any time.
The Music Player
The 88Beats music player persists across page navigation so your music never stops. See the Guide for player controls, queue system, boxed mode, and visualizer features.
Play Tracking
Play events are recorded each time a song is played. This data feeds into the Charts system and artist dashboard analytics.
