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Your real name is required in your user account, not just a pseudonym

In digital music distribution, there are basic legal obligations that you must meet in order to have a user account with Bez Labelu and distribute music. We are often asked whether artists can perform anonymously or under a pseudonym and whether they are obliged to provide personal data such as their first and last name. Let us look at what Czech law requires.

There is a business relationship between you and Bez Labelu:

This article is only about the details in your user profile
You can find it at this address: https://artists.bezlabelu.cz/profile
These details serve as the basis for the contractual relationship between you and Bez Labelu. We do not publish them in any way and they are not automatically transferred anywhere.
The “First name” field must contain your official (real) first name. The “Last name” field must contain your official (real) last name.
These details have nothing to do with how the author of the music will be displayed on distribution platforms. That is set individually for each recording in the “Composer” and “Lyricist” fields – but please note that a songwriter pseudonym can only be used if it is officially registered and documented via Requests (Songwriter pseudonym type).

The legal requirement to provide details

To conclude a contract, the law requires certain basic details to be provided, such as first and last name and, where applicable, address, contact and payment details. These details serve to clearly identify the contracting parties and make it possible to issue a correct tax document, perform the contract and more. Without these details, contracts could not be legally valid.

In general, therefore, the law requires you to provide certain basic personal data in order to conclude contracts and fulfil legal obligations. These requirements vary according to the nature of the contract and the activity. For digital distribution, the following details, for example, are key; they are required by laws such as the Civil Code and tax legislation:

BASIC OVERVIEW OF THE REQUIRED DETAILS
Identification details: First and last name or company name, company ID number (IČO, for businesses), registered office or place of residence.
Identification details are essential for clearly determining the contracting parties. The parties to the contract must be sufficiently identified.
Contact details: Address, phone number or email.
Contact details are needed for communication and performance of the contract, especially when information has to be sent about an order, delivery, invoicing, changes, problems and so on.
Payment details: Information needed to make a payment, for example bank details or other payment details.
Under tax regulations, it must be demonstrated that payments are made in accordance with the law, which includes issuing a correct tax document.
Delivery details: First and last name or company name, company ID number (IČO, for businesses), registered office or place of residence.
To fulfil a contractual obligation when selling and delivering goods or providing a service, the place of delivery or of provision of the service must be known.
Identity verification details: Only for some contracts. For example, date of birth or ID document number.
If identity has to be verified because of legal obligations (e.g. AML – anti-money laundering, or for licences), further details may be required.


For digital distribution agreements, identification and contact details, payment details and, where applicable, delivery details are usually sufficient.

You provide us with your personal data for payment of the registration fee and (above all) for the performance of the agreement on the digital distribution of your music.

Failure to provide personal data

If you do not give your official first and last name in your user account, all distribution agreements between you and Bez Labelu are essentially invalid.

And on these grounds, we could remove your music from distribution (point 10 of Article II (Registration and User Account) of the Terms and Conditions of the Artists Bez Labelu distribution platform).

By failing to provide correct personal data, you breach not only the basic laws of the Czech Republic but also these specific provisions of our contractual relationship:

The right to a pseudonym

The right to a pseudonym is, of course, unaffected. Under Section 7 of the Copyright Act (Act No. 121/2000 Coll.), every author has the right to choose a pseudonym or to remain anonymous if they so wish. In digital distribution, this means that an artist can publish their work under a pseudonym, but for legal purposes and internal processing, their official first and last name are essential. For an author, however, the pseudonym must be officially registered – more in the article on pseudonyms.

Performer name pseudonym official name
Performer name: The name under which your music is released. It can be your official name or a pseudonym.
Pseudonym: An assumed name (or artistic brand) under which your music is released (instead of your real name).
Official name: Your real first and last name are required details for business dealings between you and Bez Labelu.

Whose name in the case of a band, choir, orchestra, etc.?

In such a case, use the name of, for example, the joint representative of the performers (see Section 68 of the Copyright Act (Act No. 121/2000 Coll.)).

Where a band, as an artistic ensemble, creates joint performances, for example at a concert or when recording in the studio, its artistic leader (e.g. the bandleader) represents the members of the band as their joint representative.

Anonymity vs. contractual obligations

We process the details we require from our artists in accordance with the GDPR and the Personal Data Processing Act (Act No. 110/2019 Coll.). We use personal data only for the purposes of concluding and performing the contract and fulfilling legal obligations. Publicly, each work then displays only the details the artist chooses – usually their pseudonym or artist name.

It is therefore perfectly fine for an artist to want to perform under a pseudonym. However, they must provide Bez Labelu with their real first and last name so that all contractual and tax requirements can be legally met.

If you have any further questions about personal data protection or the right to anonymity, do not hesitate to get in touch with us.