Terms of Service

Last updated: 7 Oct 2026

What GrooveBench is

GrooveBench is a bench for setting up, measuring and comparing the equipment that plays your records — tracking force, anti-skate, azimuth, speed, hum and more. It also measures a record's own playback condition from a recording of it playing, and reports a 0-100 condition score and the measurements behind it.

Measuring and setting up your own equipment is the core of GrooveBench. Scoring a record's condition builds on that measurement work and remains a newer, developing part of the product: the score is labeled experimental wherever it appears.

The score is a measurement, not an appraisal. It is an estimate produced from a specific recording by a specific method. It is not a professional appraisal, a certification, or a guarantee of a record's condition or value, and we make no promise that any third party — a buyer, a seller, a marketplace or a grading service — will agree with it. What GrooveBench measures is playback condition from the recording you gave it; it does not assess a record visually and does not see the copy.

Use your own judgment before relying on a result in a sale or a purchase.

Your account

You are responsible for what happens under your account and for keeping access to it secure. Tell us at [email protected] if you think someone else has it.

You must be old enough to enter a contract where you live.

Your content

Your content stays yours. Records, notes, analyses, photographs and any recordings you save belong to you.

You grant us the permission we need to run the service for you: to store your content, and to process and display it back to you.

We may also use your measurements, readings, rig descriptions and saved recordings to improve how GrooveBench measures records, and for research. Anything we publish from that work is combined across many accounts: we never publish one person’s recording or readings; only you can, as a short clip in a study you publish. You can see your own and delete them at any time from within GrooveBench: a saved recording, or a result with its measurements and readings. Figures already combined across many accounts, which identify no one, are kept. This applies to every account; there is no setting to turn it off at present.

We do not show your content to other users. Saved recordings of commercial music stay private to you: nobody else hears them, except a short clip in a study you choose to publish.

You confirm that you have the right to store what you store.

Saved recordings

Saving recordings is available only to accounts we have specifically enabled it for. We may set limits on how much can be stored and may change or withdraw the feature; if we withdraw it we will give you a reasonable opportunity to retrieve what you have stored.

Copyright

Respect other people's copyright. If you believe material stored on GrooveBench infringes yours, send a notice to our designated agent; how to do it is on our copyright page.

Repeat infringers

GrooveBench ends the accounts of people who repeatedly infringe copyright.

What counts. A strike is recorded against an account when we remove material it stored in response to a valid infringement notice, or when we otherwise become aware that stored material infringes.

A strike is not recorded, or is withdrawn if already recorded, when:

• the notice did not meet the requirements for a valid notice (contact [email protected]);
• the account holder sent a counter-notification and the material was restored; or
• we are satisfied the notice was mistaken.

What happens. On a first strike we remove the material and notify the account holder. On a second we do the same and warn that a further strike will end the account. On a third strike the account is terminated and the person may not open another.

We may terminate an account sooner, including on a first strike, where the circumstances warrant it — for example material stored deliberately to redistribute it, or an attempt to evade an earlier termination.

Termination means the account is closed and saved recordings are deleted. Your records, results and their measurements are deleted too when you ask; figures already combined across many accounts, which identify no one, are kept.

Records. We keep a record of notices received, material removed, strikes recorded and accounts terminated, so that the policy can be applied consistently.

Getting it wrong. If you think a strike or a termination was a mistake, write to [email protected] and we will look at it again.

What you may not do

Do not use GrooveBench to break the law, to infringe copyright, to store material you have no right to store, to attack or overload the service, or to attempt to gain access to parts of it or to other people's accounts.

Do not present GrooveBench results as a professional appraisal or certification, or as our endorsement of a record's condition.

Availability

GrooveBench is provided as it is. We do not promise it will be available without interruption or free of defects, and we may change, suspend or discontinue parts of it. Where a change would remove something you rely on, we will give notice where we reasonably can.

Keep your own copies of anything you would not want to lose. Saved recordings are a convenience, not a backup service.

Free access

GrooveBench is currently free to use while it is early. We may introduce paid plans later; we will not start charging for something you are already using without telling you first.

Disclaimers and liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, GrooveBench is provided without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose.

To the fullest extent the law allows, Jacob Behm, d/b/a GrooveBench, is not liable for indirect, incidental or consequential damages, for lost profits, or for any loss arising from a decision you made in reliance on a GrooveBench result — including buying or selling a record. Our total liability is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim, or $100.

Some places do not allow these limits, in which case they apply to you only as far as the law allows.

Ending it

You can stop using GrooveBench and close your account at any time. We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, and will say why unless we are prevented from doing so.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. For material changes we will update the date and tell account holders. Continuing to use GrooveBench after a change means you accept it.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of Wisconsin, without regard to conflict of law rules.

Resolving a dispute

Please read this section. It affects how disputes between us are resolved, and it limits your right to go to court or take part in a class action.

Talk to us first

Most problems can be sorted out quickly. Before starting arbitration or a lawsuit, send a written description of the dispute and what you want to [email protected], and give us 60 days to resolve it. If you have a dispute with us, we will do the same for you. This step is required, and the 60 days is a genuine attempt, not a formality.

Agreement to arbitrate

If we cannot resolve it, you and Jacob Behm, d/b/a GrooveBench, agree that the dispute will be settled by binding individual arbitration, rather than in court, except as set out under What this does not cover below.

Arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules. The arbitrator's decision is final and may be entered as a judgment in any court with jurisdiction. Arbitration will take place in St. Croix County, Wisconsin, or by telephone or video, or by written submission only — your choice.

We will pay the arbitration filing and arbitrator fees for any claim under $10,000, unless the arbitrator finds the claim was frivolous.

Individual basis only

You and we each agree to bring claims only in an individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective, consolidated or representative action. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims or preside over any form of class proceeding.

If this paragraph is found unenforceable, then the whole of this “Resolving a dispute” section does not apply and the dispute proceeds in court under Going to court below. The rest of these terms are unaffected.

If many similar claims are filed

If 25 or more similar claims are brought against us by or with the help of the same lawyers, they will be arbitrated in batches of up to 50, one batch at a time, with a single arbitrator per batch. Each side may select claims for the batch. This applies to both of us and exists so that volume alone does not decide an outcome.

What this does not cover

This section does not apply to:

• claims that qualify for small claims court, which either of us may bring there instead;
• claims about intellectual property — copyright, trade mark, trade secret or patent;
• either of us seeking an injunction to stop unauthorized use or abuse of the service.

You can opt out

You may reject this arbitration agreement. Email [email protected] with your account email and the words “opt out of arbitration” within 30 days of first agreeing to these terms. Opting out costs you nothing, changes nothing else about your account, and we will not treat you differently for it. If you opt out, disputes go to court under Going to court.

If we later change this section, you may reject the change the same way within 30 days of being notified.

Going to court

Where this section does not apply — because it was opted out of, because the claim is excluded, or because the individual-basis paragraph was held unenforceable — the state and federal courts in St. Croix County, Wisconsin have exclusive jurisdiction, and you and we each waive any objection to that venue.

Surviving

This section survives the ending of your account and of these terms.

Contact

Jacob Behm, d/b/a GrooveBench · 842 Maud Road, Hudson, WI 54016 · [email protected]