iOwnDigital user manual

This manual is for the people who run iOwnDigital (Jason and Neil) and for the artists, managers and labels who sell on it. It opens from the footer of the shop and the vendor portal, under User manual. It is kept up to date with every change to the platform.

The three parts of the platform

The shop and the vendor portal share one account system but have separate front doors. Signing in on one does not sign you in on the other.

Signing in

Every account signs in in two steps. This is required for everyone, fans included.

1. Type your email and password on the Log In page, or press Google or Microsoft if you joined that way.
2. Check your email for a six digit code. It arrives within a minute and works for ten minutes. The code is shown large in its own box near the top of the email, under the iOwnDigital logo, so it is easy to read on a phone.
3. Type the code into the six boxes. Each box moves on as you type, and you can paste the whole code into the first box. When the last digit goes in you are signed in on your own; Confirm and sign in does the same thing.

Show at the right of a password box shows what you typed, so you can check it; Hide covers it again, and it covers itself when you press Log In. The field you are typing in has a green edge. Google and Microsoft sign in, when they are switched on, sit under the one red Log In button as quieter buttons with their logos.

If something in a form is missing or wrong (sign in, create account, the password reset, the checkout, the Account page, and for vendors a release's Overview (the recording date), Details (the price) and Promo (the sample's start and end) tabs), a red line under that field says what, and a red box at the top says Fix 2 fields to carry on (or however many there are). Press it to jump to the first field, or press one of the lines in the box to jump to that field. Everything you typed stays in the form, the terms tick included, so you only fix what is wrong. A wrong email and password together still only say that they do not match, never which one was wrong.

When you create an account, the Country list starts on the country you are visiting from (the same guess as the language and currency pickers), or on Somewhere else when yours is not on the list. Change it if it is wrong.

If the code does not arrive, press Send a new code. Each code allows five wrong tries; after that, press Send a new code for a fresh one. After ten wrong tries in one sign in, log in again from the start. After twenty wrong tries on one account in a day, the account only opens again after Forgot password?, so somebody who knows a password still cannot guess their way in. Starting a new sign in cancels any unfinished one on the same account.

If the page says your sign in timed out, log in again: the sign in step lasts fifteen minutes, and each new code keeps it open as long as the code works.

To reset a forgotten password, press Forgot password?, type your email, and follow the link in the email. The link works once and lasts an hour, and only the newest link works. Resetting signs you out on every device. At most three reset emails go to one address an hour.

If you sign up with an email that already has an account, the form says so in red under the email, That email already has an account, with two links under it: Log in and Reset password (on the vendor portal they open the vendor portal's own pages). Nothing is made, changed or emailed, and each try is in the audit log. Because this tells whoever is typing that an address has an account, it is limited: five such answers an hour from one place, and five an hour for one email from anywhere; after that the page says to wait. (Until 11 October 2026 the page hid this and emailed the owner instead; people only found out from that email, so Jacob changed it.) An account whose code was never entered can still be signed up again, which replaces the unfinished one.

The copyright agreement. Every new account agrees to the copyright rules in their own pop up, separate from the terms. Fill in the form, tick the terms and press Create account: the copyright notice opens on top of the page. It says the videos belong to the artists, every copy you download carries your name and can be traced to the account that downloaded it, you may not upload, share, sell, stream to others or give away any video or remove its marks, and breaking this ends the account with no refund and may lead to legal action. Scroll the notice to the end: the thin red line under it fills as you go, and Scroll to the end to continue turns to Read. Only then does I agree work; pressing it closes the pop up and creates the account. Not now (or Escape) closes it and nothing is created. With a keyboard or screen reader, the notice also counts as read after it has had focus for three seconds. The same pop up comes up when joining the vendor portal, when applying to sell with a fan account, and on the page that asks people who joined with Google or Microsoft to accept the terms. The time it was agreed is kept on the account. (In a browser with JavaScript switched off there is no pop up: the notice sits in the form with its own tick box above the terms.) Check it: open Create account, fill it in and press Create account; I agree stays grey until the notice is scrolled to the end.

The terms links. The Terms of Sale and Terms of Use links on the sign up form (and on the terms page after Google or Microsoft, and the Terms of Sale link at checkout) open in a new tab with a Close this page button at the top right. It closes that tab and takes you back to the form. The tab row on every legal page (Privacy, Cookies, Terms of Sale, Terms of Use and the Commerce Disclosure) reaches every other, and each shows the date it was last updated (the Commerce Disclosure too, since 12 October 2026); in a tab opened from a form, moving between them keeps Close this page working. A new account only accepts its password once the code from its sign up email has been entered: if you close the code screen before that, signing in says the email and password do not match, so sign up again or use Forgot password?.

After eight wrong passwords from one place, that place has to wait fifteen minutes before trying that account again. After thirty wrong passwords for one email address in an hour, from anywhere, that address signs in with an emailed code first, so somebody guessing its password can never keep its owner out. The page says so and shows Email me a code:

1. Press Email me a code. The page says a code is on its way (it says this for any address, so it never tells who has an account).
2. Open the newest sign in code email for that address. Each code works for an hour, and at most three are sent an hour, so if a new one does not arrive, the newest one already in the mailbox still works.
3. Type your password and the six digit code, then press Log in. You are signed in straight away; this counts as both steps.

If the page says the code and password do not match, check both and use the newest code. Somebody who does not have the mailbox gets nowhere this way, however often they try. After twenty wrong codes with the right password in a day, use Forgot password?. Resetting the password also makes the password alone work again, until the next thirty wrong ones; otherwise that happens after the hour.

The shop and the vendor portal keep separate sign ins, so being signed in to one does not sign you in or out of the other.

Passkeys

A passkey lets you sign in with your fingerprint, your face or your phone or computer's screen lock instead of typing a password and waiting for the emailed code. It counts as both sign in steps, because only your own device holds it and the device checks it is you. Your password and the emailed code keep working, so a passkey is an extra way in, never the only one.

To add a passkey (fans on the shop's Account page under Security, bands on the vendor portal's Security page in the top menu):

1. Sign in as usual.
2. Under Passkeys, type a name if you like (such as Work laptop), so you can tell your passkeys apart later. Left empty, it is named after the device, such as "Windows, Chrome".
3. Press Add a passkey and follow what your device asks (touch the fingerprint reader, look at the camera, or type your screen lock PIN).
4. The page says Passkey added and the passkey appears in the list with the date it was added.

If you signed in more than ten minutes ago, the page first asks you to confirm it is you: press Email me a code, type the six digit code from the email, and press Confirm. Then add the passkey within the next ten minutes. This stops somebody who finds your computer left signed in from adding a passkey of their own.

To sign in with a passkey, open the Log In page and press Sign in with a passkey, or tap the email box and pick your passkey from the list your browser shows there. You are signed in straight away, with no code to type.

A passkey made on the shop only works on the shop, and one made on the vendor portal only works on the vendor portal, because they are different web addresses. Add one on each if you use both.

Each passkey in the list shows when it was added and when it was last used. Rename changes its name; Remove asks once more, then removes it. You can always remove a passkey, the last one included, and you still sign in with your password and the emailed code. You get an email whenever a passkey is added to or removed from your account: if you did not do it, remove that passkey and change your password straight away. You can keep up to ten passkeys on each site.

A passkey sign in follows every other rule of signing in: a new device still needs approving before it plays or downloads videos, a suspended account cannot sign in, and too many sign ins in a short time are refused for a while. The admin account can use a passkey too, on iowndigital.com. The admin view signs itself out after thirty minutes with nothing done.

For fans

Language and currency

The shop speaks nine languages (English, 日本語, 简体中文, 繁體中文, 한국어, Español, Français, Deutsch and Português) and shows prices in 112 currencies: twelve main ones (US$ USD, € EUR, £ GBP, ¥ JPY, A$ AUD, NZ$ NZD, C$ CAD, S$ SGD, HK$ HKD, ₩ KRW, NT$ TWD and ¥ CNY) and 100 more, from the UAE dirham to the Zambian kwacha, which is every currency Stripe can charge cards in whose exchange rate two free sources agree on. The first time you visit, both are picked from the country you are in (a visitor from Thailand starts in Thai baht, from Senegal in CFA francs; a country whose currency is not on the list starts in US dollars). To change them:

1. Scroll to the bottom of any shop page.
2. In the row with the copyright line, open the language picker (the one with the globe) and choose your language, or open the currency picker and choose your currency. The currency picker lists the twelve Main currencies first, then More currencies A to Z by their three letter code with the name in your language (for example THB · Thai baht). With the picker open, type the first letters of a code to jump to it.
3. The picker shows your choice straight away and the page dims a little for a moment while the new words and prices arrive. Your choice is remembered on this browser for a year. While you are signed in your emails follow it too, in any of the nine languages.

Prices follow the language. Picking a language that clearly means one currency also moves the shop's prices to it: 日本語 to yen, 한국어 to won, 繁體中文 to New Taiwan dollars (Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong, patacas in Macau), 简体中文 to yuan (Singapore dollars in Singapore, ringgit in Malaysia), and Deutsch or Français to euros, unless you are in a country that speaks it and has its own money (for example Swiss francs in Switzerland, Canadian dollars for French in Canada). English, Español and Português are spoken in too many countries, so they leave prices as they are. When the prices move, a note at the bottom of the screen says so, for example "Prices now in Japanese yen. Keep A$ instead": press Keep A$ instead to go back. A currency you picked yourself (in the currency picker, on Account, or with that Keep link) is never changed by a language again. Prices only move to a currency the shop can sell in that day; otherwise they stay as they were.

The same two choices are on Account, under Language and currency, each with a line saying what it changes. The language picker at the top of every page does the same as the one at the bottom. Other languages in the bottom picker does not change anything: it explains how to use your browser's own translate for any other language. The words bands type themselves (titles, venues, descriptions, liner notes, setlists, credit roles and bios) are shown in your language once they have been translated: by the band, by iOwnDigital, or automatically by a computer. A computer translation carries a small Machine translated note with a Show original button beside it; press it to read what the band wrote, and Show translation to go back. Song titles and names are never translated. Until a translation exists you see the band's own words, in English (or in Japanese if that is all they wrote). The legal pages (Privacy, Cookies, Terms of Sale, Terms of Use) are in English and Japanese only until a lawyer has checked a translation; in the other languages they say so at the top. Emails from iOwnDigital come in all nine languages, in the language you use the site in. An email in any language other than English starts with one line saying it was translated into your language using AI. Every email from iOwnDigital carries the iOwnDigital logo at the top. The logo travels inside the email itself, so it shows straight away without your mail program fetching anything from the internet, and opening an email still tells nobody that you opened it. A mail program that shows plain text only gets the same words without the logo.

A price in your currency is the band's own price worked out at that day's exchange rate and rounded up to a whole number. In currencies with a small unit it is rounded up to the next 10 (yen, won, forint, Icelandic krona, Chilean and Colombian pesos, CFA francs and others where a US dollar buys 100 or more) or the next 100 (Vietnamese dong, Indonesian rupiah and Uzbek som), always less than about 10 US cents. Currencies with no smaller unit, such as yen, won and dong, never show decimals; neither does the Icelandic krona. For a band paid in a currency other than yen, 1% (the cost of the bank transfer that pays it, setting PAYOUT_FEE_BPS) is included too, so iOwnDigital's half is not eaten by that cost; the band's own share is never reduced. When the card payment service, Stripe, has to change your money into yen (the currency iOwnDigital's account is in), a small amount is included to cover that, so for any currency but yen it is in the price, even when you pay in the band's own currency (for example an A$25 video is A$26 in Australian dollars). iOwnDigital adds no conversion or card fees at checkout, and a release page says so under the price. iOwnDigital GK is a business in Japan, though, so your own bank may charge a fee for an overseas purchase: the checkout says "No iOwnDigital conversion or card fees are added. Your own bank may charge a fee for an overseas purchase." That fee, if any, is set by your bank, not by iOwnDigital. Prices move a little each day with the exchange rate. If a currency's rate cannot be fetched for more than five days, prices show in the band's own currency instead, with a note saying so. The same happens, with a note giving that reason, for a very cheap video whose price in your currency would come to less than the smallest amount Stripe can charge in it (for example A$0.50 is only HK$3, and Stripe charges at least HK$4), and for a price that would be more than Stripe can charge in one payment (in Indonesian rupiah that is about US$55). Outside the twelve main currencies, the smallest price is Stripe's own minimum for that currency or about 50 US cents, whichever is higher.

The home page

The top of the home page plays a short silent clip of a featured concert, with its price and a Buy now button (or Watch now if you already own it). Up to three releases take turns there, a new one every 8 seconds: the thin bars under the buttons show which one is on and how long until the next, and pressing a bar shows that release. Pointing at the clip, or moving into it with the Tab key, holds the turn. The round button at the bottom right of the clip pauses the clip and the turns; neither plays for people who have asked their device to reduce motion. Own It Forever sets itself letter by letter when the page opens, and the line under it turns through three short promises (Keep the file. No subscription. Yours on every screen.); a screen reader hears the full sentence. Under New Releases, the buttons such as Concerts or Isolated tracks show only the releases that match, and each says how many it holds (for example Concerts 3); All shows everything again. A button with nothing in it is left out. Browse has the same buttons with counts over the whole shop, and they keep your search, so Concerts after a search shows the concerts it found; the page address changes too, so a filtered list can be shared. The full genre list is on Browse. Searching on Browse matches titles, artists, venues and genres in English and Japanese, and the heading shows what you searched for.

Each release card shows, in this order: the title in large type, the band and the running time, one line on what you get (for example "9 songs, 5 isolated tracks", only when the band marked its songs or the release has isolated tracks), and the price in green (or Free with an account). On a computer with a mouse, resting the pointer on a card (or moving to it with the Tab key) plays its free sample silently inside the cover, when the release has one. It never plays on a phone or tablet, when your device is set to reduce motion, or with the browser's data saver on, and nothing is loaded until you point at the card.

When a page takes more than a moment to arrive (the home page, Browse, a release, checkout and the page after paying, My Library and Account), grey shapes in the layout of that page show where its parts will be, so a slow connection never looks like a broken link. A fast page shows them not at all. Keyboard users can press Tab once on any page for Skip to content. On a narrow window the top links sit on their own row under the logo and wrap onto a second line, so Log In (or Account) and My Library are always in view; on a phone they fold into a Menu button (see How the shop moves). A Concerts shelf follows underneath. A green tick on a cover means you already own it.

How the shop moves

The shop moves on purpose, so you can see what changed and where things went. Everything below stops for people who have asked their device to reduce motion: the pages simply show their finished state. The admin pages, and the form and document pages (sign up, log in, the code step, forgot and reset password, checkout, Account, the legal pages, the Commerce Disclosure, Support and the accept terms page), keep plain scrolling and none of the page-wide movement (since 11 October 2026, after a sign up page froze in Brave on a Mac as an email was typed).

• Scrolling: on a computer the mouse wheel glides instead of jumping (phones keep their own scrolling). Links to a spot further down a page glide there. On long pages the green line under the header fills as you read. Scrolling down tucks the header away; the slightest scroll up brings it back.
• The home page: the clip holds still and dims while the shelves slide up over it. Covers further down rise in a short wave as their shelf arrives. Choosing a filter button shrinks away the covers that leave and slides the rest into place. A soft sheen crosses a cover when the mouse arrives. Once a shelf holds more covers than fit across the screen, a computer can grab the row and fling it sideways. Under Yours on every screen a TV, a laptop and a phone light up in turn.
• Opening a release: the cover you clicked glides into its place on the release page, in browsers that support it (others open the page as usual), and the title rises word by word. The sample player grows to full size as you reach it. The numbers in What you get count up once. On a phone the buy bar folds down from where the red button was.
• Going from page to page: the old page lifts away and the new one settles in while the header stays still, and the highlight behind the open page slides to the new one. On a phone (720px wide or less) the top links fold into a Menu button; it opens a panel from the side with the same links, and closes with the cross, Escape, a link or a tap outside.
• About: a soft glow drifts behind the opening words, the bands on iOwnDigital run past in a slow line (point at it to pause it). How it works is three numbered cards you can read at once (the scroll-through version was removed on 12 October 2026).
• Small things: the main red buttons have a light travelling round their edge and give off a few sparks when pressed. A confirmation at the bottom of the screen can be swiped away. Changing language scrambles the home headline into the new words; changing currency counts every price to its new amount.

To check it: open the home page on a computer and scroll. The header tucks away, the shelves slide over the clip, and the covers further down rise in. With reduce motion switched on in your device's settings, none of it moves.

Buying a release

1. Open a release from Browse.
2. Press Buy and own it. If you are not signed in you are asked to log in first.
3. Choose Pay by card, or Pay at a convenience store when you are paying in yen (between ¥120 and ¥300,000, Stripe's limits for convenience store payment).
4. Tick the box to accept the Terms of Sale for this purchase, then press Continue to payment. The button stays greyed out until the box is ticked.
5. Pay on the Stripe page. You come back to a page that says It is yours.

If you chose a convenience store, the order page says how many days you have to pay at the counter (three by default). After that the order is cancelled on its own and you can buy the video again; paying late sends the money back.

Before you buy, a release page shows the cover, running time, price, full Details and setlist (including song times), and Credits. These are available without signing in. Liner Notes show a short preview of up to three lines with a fade; logging in or creating a free account unlocks the full notes, with no purchase required. Full notes are withheld from signed-out browsers. Full video playback and downloads still require ownership. Notes retain paragraph spacing and individual lines, such as a list of audio tracks.

The three steps, Review, Pay and Yours, show at the top of the checkout, the payment page and the page you come back to. A finished step gets a green tick, so you can always see how far along you are. On each page the line into the step you are on draws itself, the newest tick is drawn in, and what is under the steps slides in from the side. On the page after a paid order, the video's cover lifts and flies into My Library at the top of the page (the Menu button on a phone), which glows with a "+1", once per order.

On a phone, once the red button on a release page scrolls out of view (or before it comes into view), a slim bar at the bottom of the screen shows the price and the same button (Buy and own it, Log in to buy, Sign up to get it free or Add to my library), so you can buy from anywhere on the page. It hides again when the red button is back on screen, never shows on a release you already own, and sits above the phone's home swipe area. On a computer the button stays beside the cover.

The price shown is the price charged, in the currency you picked, with tax included and no iOwnDigital fee added (your own bank may still charge a fee for an overseas purchase). Today that tax is Japan's consumption tax; once iOwnDigital switches on sales tax per country, the checkout says the tax is worked out for your country on the payment page, where Stripe may ask for your billing address, and the price stays the same. The checkout page says which exchange rate it was worked out with. The price is fixed when you press Continue to payment: if the exchange rate changed since the page opened, the page says so and shows the new price, and nothing is charged until you press again. A refund goes back in the currency you paid in, for the amount you paid. A receipt arrives by email. Emails from iOwnDigital (the receipt, the note that a download has started, the note that your copy is ready) are written in the language you use the site in, any of the nine (a translated one says so in its first line): changing the language while signed in switches your emails too. The video's title in the email is the one the shop shows you. Before you buy, a release page shows how many songs, credits and words of liner notes it has, the free sample, and a short taste of the liner notes; the setlist, the full notes, the credits and the captions open up once you own it.

Some releases are Free with an account: Browse and the home page say so instead of a price, and the release page shows Free with the normal price struck through and "Free when you create an account and confirm your email". To get one:

1. Press Sign up to get it free on the release page (if you already have an account, use Log in on the sign up page instead).
2. Fill in the sign up form and enter the six digit code from the email. You come straight back to the release.
3. Press Add to my library. The video is yours, exactly as if you had bought it: streaming, three downloads and your own personal copy, which is emailed to you when it is ready.

Each account can take each free release once. It is for customer accounts only: a vendor login or the admin sees a line saying so instead of the button, and an account whose email is not confirmed is asked to confirm it first. Nothing is charged, so there is no receipt.

If you start paying twice for the same video (two tabs, or going back from the Stripe page), the older payment page is closed when you start the newer one. If two payments still go through, you keep one copy and the second payment is refunded automatically; its order page says This payment is being refunded.

Refunds

A digital video cannot be handed back. Once you have started your download there is no refund. Before any download has started, write to support@iowndigital.com and iOwnDigital can still refund it. If you have a technical problem receiving your download, write to the same address and it is put right.

You are shown this before you pay, every time. After you tick the terms and press Continue to payment, a box opens with these exact words: "Once you have started your Download there is no possibility of a refund. If you have a technical issue receiving your Download please reach out to us at support@iowndigital.com". Press I understand to go on to payment, or Go back to stop. Nothing is charged until you press I understand, and the time you pressed it is kept with your order. The Returns line on the Commerce page and the Terms of Sale say the same thing (the Terms of Sale are in English and Japanese; the other seven languages show the English with a note).

To check it: open any release, press Buy and own it, tick the terms and press Continue to payment. The box appears, and the Stripe page opens only after I understand.

My Library

Cover artwork stays inside each row's thumbnail while you move between its controls and Watch on a TV below the list. The TV link opens the TV connection page.

My Library lists everything you own. Each row shows the running time, how many downloads you have left, and whether your personal copy is ready (after the video is re-encoded, it says an updated copy is made at your next download, and you are emailed when that new copy is ready, with how many downloads you have left). If your copy could not be made, opening the video or asking for a download tries again, up to two more times; if it still fails, write to support and iOwnDigital makes it again for you. Watch opens the player and Download jumps to the download box. When every download of a video is used, the row shows Ask for more downloads instead: press it, add a note if you like (for example "my laptop was replaced"), and press Send request. The row then shows Request sent until iOwnDigital decides, and you are emailed either way, in the language you use the site in. You can have one request waiting per video. A band copy (see "Watch your Videos as a fan" for vendors) says Band copy and how many of its five downloads are left. The small bars at the top right show how many of your device seats are in use. While your personal copy is being made, its row says Usually ready within the hour: you are emailed when it is ready, and you can download it any time after that, now or months from now, and watch straight away meanwhile. Each row reminds you that asking for a download link uses one of your three downloads. Under the list, a link opens the help page for moving a video between your phone and computer.

Your certificate of ownership

Every row in My Library has a Certificate of ownership link, and so does the What you get box on a video you own. It opens a page that says "This certifies that (your name) owns a licensed copy of (the video) by (the artist)", with the day you bought it and the reference of your purchase. Press Print or save as PDF to keep it; printed, it comes out light on A4 landscape. When the page opens, the reference decodes from a row of characters into your own, and a red Forever seal stamps down on the corner. Only you can open your certificate: anyone else, or a refunded purchase, gets the "page is not here" page. Videos you were given, and band copies, have one too.

Watching

Open the release from My Library and press Watch now. Streaming works as many times as you like, forever. The player has captions (when the artist supplied them), playback speed, Loop this chapter, and Copy a link at this time. Tap a song in the Setlist to jump straight to it (with a keyboard: Tab to a song, then Enter or Space). The first time you open a video you own in a browser, a padlock by Setlist clicks open and the songs sharpen one after another. On the Liner Notes tab, the notes brighten line by line as you read down them. The arrow keys move between the Details, Liner Notes and Credits tabs. Before you buy, Watch a sample plays the free sample. If the release has isolated mixes, the buttons under the player switch between the full mix and each instrument.

If the video will not play, a message under the player says why. The usual reason is that all your device seats are taken by other browsers: press Go to your devices, remove one you no longer use, and reload the release page. New signed-in devices are added automatically when a seat is available; no approval email is needed.

Downloading

Every purchase includes three download allowances, and they never expire. Buying a video, streaming it, signing in on a new device, or receiving the ready email does not use an allowance or start a download window. Only confirming a download request starts its 72-hour window and uses one allowance. The ready email directs you to sign in and open My Library yourself, without issuing a download link. While your personal copy is being made, a small ring turns beside "still being prepared" (here and in My Library); it cannot show how far along the copy is, so it only turns. The first time you come back after the copy is ready, the ring closes with a tick.

1. Open the release and find the Download box on the right.
2. Read the warning: asking for a link uses one of the three straight away, even if you never click it.
3. Press Download. A short copyright notice appears: tick I understand (the video is for your own use, copying, sharing or showing it in public is not allowed, and every copy can be traced to your purchase), then press and hold Yes, give me a link now for a second, until it fills ("Press and hold to confirm" is written under it). Letting go early does nothing, but a second tap within four seconds confirms too (that is how a phone screen reader gets through). With a keyboard, Enter or Space presses it at once. Without the tick nothing is sent and no download is used.
4. Press Download the file. The link works for 72 hours. You are also emailed to say the download has started. That email has no link in it: to start again, or to pick up a download that stopped, sign in and open My Library on the same device.

The link only opens while you are signed in to the account that bought the video. Open it while signed out and you are asked to sign in first (with the emailed code as usual), then the download starts. Signed in as anyone else, the link says it belongs to another account and gives nothing, so a link passed on to somebody else is no use to them. Each link can start up to five downloads; trying again within a few minutes counts as the same download, and so does picking up a download that stopped part way on the same device without signing out in between (up to three times, within a day of starting it, each time at least 8 MB or 1% of the file further on). Picking it up again gets only the rest of the file. Anything else starts a new download. After five, ask for a new link (which uses one of your three downloads). The download box and the email both say this. Downloads require a signed-in owner and an available device seat. Blocked or removed devices remain refused and signed out. If a link will not open (it has expired, it is used up, it belongs to another account, it was tried too often, the device is blocked, or all your seats are in use), the shop shows a page saying why, with a button back to My Library.

Your download is your own copy: it carries an invisible reference to your purchase in its picture and sound, so a copy found where it should not be can be traced back to the sale (nothing in it is your name or email), and it opens with a four second copyright notice in English and Japanese, then a short thank you card carrying your name. (A copy made before 1 October 2026 is made again, with the notice, the next time you open the video.) Once all three downloads are used you can still stream it, forever, and ask for more from My Library (see above).

Devices

Your account holds up to three devices (the admin can give a household more). Signed-in browsers and linked TVs take an available seat automatically when you stream or request a download. There is no approval email or waiting page. Older pending devices become active on their next attempt if a seat is available; old approval links return to My Library. When all seats are used, free one on Account before trying again.

Signing in on a new browser queues an informational alert with the browser, operating system, approximate location and Tokyo time. It contains no website links and needs no approval. If the sign-in was not yours, open iOwnDigital yourself using a saved bookmark or by typing the address. On Account, change your password to sign out other sessions, remove unfamiliar devices and passkeys, and secure your email account. Signing in alone does not consume a playback seat or a download.

To free a seat, go to Account, Devices and Downloads, and remove a device you no longer use. Devices show when they were added and last used, with This device marking the current browser. Removal remains available only from an active device seat. A removed or blocked browser is refused when it next tries to play or download. Account and My Library show how many seats are used.

You can remove up to three devices in any 30 days, so the seats cannot be passed round without end. Under the device list the Account page says how many removals you have left. Once they are used, the cross buttons are greyed out and the page says the date and time (Tokyo time) from which you can remove another. Refused removals are recorded in the audit log. If you are stuck (a lost phone, a new household), write to support: the admin can reset your devices or give you extra seats.

Moving a video to another phone or computer

The help page Move your Video between phone and computer (linked from My Library, the "ready to download" email, Getting Started and the footer, and open to everyone at /help/move-files) explains it in English and Japanese. The easiest way is to download the video straight onto the device you want it on (which uses one of your three downloads), or simply to stream it on any approved device. For a file you already have, it gives short numbered steps for iPhone and Mac (AirDrop, or iCloud Drive and the Files app), iPhone and Windows (the Apple Devices app with a USB cable, or iCloud for Windows), Android and Windows (a USB cable set to File transfer, Quick Share, or Google Drive) and Android and Mac (Google Drive, or a USB transfer app such as OpenMTP).

Your account

The account button, top right. Signed in, the top right of every page shows a round button with your profile picture (or your initials on a colour) and your first name. Press it, or tab to it and press Enter or the Down arrow, to open the account menu: your name and your email with most of it hidden, then My Library (with how many videos you own), Account settings, Devices (how many of your device seats are in use, such as 2 of 3), Language and currency (the ones in use, such as EN · A$), Help (the support page and its answers) and Log out. Every item lights up when you point at it or reach it with the keyboard; the Up and Down arrows move between them, and Escape or a click anywhere else closes the menu. The admin also sees Admin in it. Signed out, the same spot shows Log in. On a phone the button is not in the bar: the same block sits at the top of the Menu panel. The vendor portal has the same button, with Account settings, Help and Log out.

Your profile picture. On Account, under Your details, press Upload a picture and choose a JPG, PNG or WebP up to 5 MB. It shows straight away in the circle and in the top right button. Change picture replaces it and Remove takes it away. The picture is checked to be a real image, turned the right way up, cropped to a centred square and kept as a small copy only; the camera and location details a phone photo carries are removed. Only you (and the iOwnDigital admin) can see it, and deleting your account deletes it.

Changing your name or email. Your name and email are shown under Your details but cannot be changed there: your name is on the thank-you card of your personal copies and your ownership certificate, and your email links your account to its purchases. Under them, Need to change your name or email? asks support to do it: pick My name or My email, type the new one and a reason, and press Send request. A line confirms it was sent and support answers by email. You can send three requests a day.

Account is in groups, with links at the top to jump to each: Devices and Downloads, Language and currency (the same choices as the footer pickers), Emails (a plain list of what iOwnDigital emails you: sign in codes, password reset links, new-device login alerts, receipts, your copy being ready and a download having started (with no link in it), and answers to requests for more downloads; none of it is advertising, so there is nothing to switch off), Security (two factor sign in, always on, and your password), Your details (your profile picture, then your name and email, shown but not changeable, and your phone), My Preferences (your favourite genres), Notifications (alerts for the artists you follow, and the monthly newsletter), and Delete my account on its own at the bottom. There you can change your phone, change your password (which signs you out on every other device and cancels any reset link already emailed), pick your favourite genres, Export my data as a file, and Delete my account. If you joined with Google or Microsoft you have no password yet: the same box is headed Set a password and asks only for the new one. Delete my account opens a pop up in two steps. The first says what happens: videos you have downloaded are yours to keep, you will not be able to download them again, streaming stops on every device, and your remaining downloads and certificates of ownership disappear with your account. Press Confirm I wish to delete my account (or Cancel, Escape, or click outside to close it) and a six digit code is emailed to your account's address, shown half hidden on screen. The second step warns This cannot be undone: type the code and press Delete my account. The account is deleted at once: you are signed out on every device and TV, nothing opens any more, and you get an email saying it has been deleted, with what is kept and lost and to contact support if it was a mistake. Signing in again, by password, emailed code, Google, Microsoft or passkey, says "This account has been deleted. Contact support@iowndigital.com if this was a mistake." A code works for 15 minutes; five wrong tries use up a code, and only five codes can be sent an hour. The admin account and a band's only login cannot be deleted here (write to support). Purchase records are kept for seven years because Japanese tax law requires it. From the moment you delete it no release alert or newsletter is sent to you; when it is deleted for good your profile picture, the artists you followed or asked for and your newsletter choice are deleted too.

Hearing about new releases, and the monthly newsletter

Every artist on the shop has their own page (press the artist's name on any release page, or go to /band/ and the artist). It lists their videos on sale and has a button Notify me of new releases from and the artist's name. Press it and it changes to Following and the artist's name in green: when that artist puts a new video on sale, you get one email, in the language you read the site in, with the cover, the title, the date, the running time, the price in your currency and a Watch the sample button. Press the button again to stop. The same button sits beside the artist's name on every release page. If you are not signed in, the button takes you to log in (or to create an account from there) and brings you back, and the follow is made as you return. After you buy a release, the done page asks once Notify me when (artist) adds more with one button to follow them.

Account > Notifications has two switches and your artists:

1. New releases from artists I follow: on unless you turn it off. It covers every artist you follow.
2. Monthly newsletter: new releases on iOwnDigital: off unless you turn it on (it is advertising, so it is never on by itself). On the 1st of each month (Tokyo time) it lists everything that went on sale the month before and can still be bought, with the genres you like first. A month with nothing new sends nothing. You can also say yes with the unticked box Send me the iOwnDigital newsletter when you create an account, or on the done page after a purchase.
3. Artists you follow: each artist is a chip with an × to stop following them. To add one, type their name in Add an artist: matching artists on the shop are suggested (use the arrow keys or click), and Enter or a comma adds what you typed. Backspace in the empty box takes the last chip off. If the artist is not on iOwnDigital yet, pick Tell me when (name) joins iOwnDigital: the chip is marked "not on iOwnDigital yet", and when iOwnDigital confirms that artist has joined, you follow them and get one email saying so. You can wait for up to 50 artists like this.

My Preferences keeps your favourite genres the same way: type a genre and press Enter (only the site's own genres are accepted), and the × on a chip removes it. Receipts, download emails and security emails always come; the switches only cover the alerts and the newsletter. Every alert and newsletter email ends with links that unsubscribe you in one click without signing in (one artist, all release alerts, or the newsletter), and your mail program's own Unsubscribe button works too. Export my data includes who you follow and when you said yes to the newsletter.

Two accounts cannot be deleted from this page, because nothing could sign in to what they look after afterwards: the admin account, and the only login of a vendor. The page says so and points to support@iowndigital.com, who hand the vendor to another person first (on the admin's Vendor logins).

Earnings, for people credited on a video

If a band credits you on a video and gives you a share of its sales, it can invite you by email to claim your profile.

1. Sign in to iOwnDigital with the email address the invite was sent to, or create a free account with it.
2. Open the link in the email and press Accept. The link works once, for 7 days, and only for the account with that email address. If it has run out, ask the band to send a new one. One account can claim one profile.
3. Your Earnings page opens. You can reach it again from Account, with the Your earnings button.

Earnings shows each video you have a share in, with the band and your share; your balance in each currency, with a bar showing how close it is to being paid; every sale with the band's price, your share and your amount (refunds show in minus); and every payout statement, which you can open and print. To be paid, choose Where you are based under Getting paid and press Save changes. If you are based in Japan, press Connect with Stripe and follow Stripe's steps: Stripe checks your details and holds your bank account, and iOwnDigital never sees it. Anywhere else, iOwnDigital pays you by bank transfer and will ask you for your bank details directly. You are paid the same way and at the same amounts as bands: once your balance reaches the payout threshold (for example ¥50,000 or A$500) and your payout details are set, it goes into the next monthly payout run, and you get an email with the reference when it is sent. Your share is worked out in the band's currency and paid in it.

Your public profile. At the top of Earnings, Your public profile has your bio and photo as they appear on your page on the shop. Type a new bio, or choose a new photo (JPG, PNG or WebP up to 5 MB), and press Send for approval. Your page keeps showing the old bio and photo until iOwnDigital approves the change; the box says a change is waiting, and you are emailed when it is approved or rejected (with the reason). The band that credits you can send changes too; both go into the same waiting change.

The crew list, for editors, mixers, camera and lighting people

The crew list is a page of people who make concert videos, which bands can use to find help. It only shows once iOwnDigital switches it on (Admin > Setup > Crew marketplace); until then none of its pages exist.

To list yourself:

1. Sign in, open Account and press Join the crew list.
2. Fill in your Name shown, where you are Based (a city, or Remote), tick What you do (Edit, Mix, Master, Camera, Lighting, Colour), write About you in any language and pick the language you wrote it in under Written in. Add your Languages, an optional Rate guide, and up to five Links to your work, one a line, each a full address starting with https://.
3. Press Send for checking. Jason checks every listing before it shows, usually within 3 days, and you get an email either way. If it is sent back, the email and the page say why; change it and press Send for checking again.

Once it is approved your listing is on the shop's Crew page. Your bio is translated into the site's other languages for readers, with Show the original under it. Videos you are credited on at iOwnDigital appear on your listing by themselves once you have claimed your profile (see Earnings above). Your email address is never shown on your listing.

Requests from bands arrive by email and under Account > Crew requests (the same page). Press Accept and share emails to start talking: you and the band each get the other's email address, by email and on the request. Press Decline and the band is told politely, with no reason needed. A request nobody answers closes after 14 days. iOwnDigital only introduces you: you agree the price and pay each other directly.

When you are booked up, press Turn off Available for new work: your listing shows Busy, and bands can look but cannot send new requests. Press Available for new work to open it again. Changing what your listing says sends it to be checked again, and it is hidden until it is approved. A week after you accept a request the band can leave you one review; you can reply to it once, from the same page. If a review breaks the rules, anyone signed in can press Report this review under it, and iOwnDigital decides whether it stays. Take my listing down (press it twice) removes your listing at once: its reviews stop showing and requests still waiting are closed. Deleting your account takes the listing and its words down too.

Installing the app

The shop can be installed as an app on a phone, a tablet or a computer. It is free, it needs no app store, and it opens full screen from your home screen (or your computer's app list) straight onto My Library. If you are signed out, it asks you to sign in first, exactly as the website does. Buying still happens on the website pages inside the app, and the app shows the same shop, so nothing you own is different.

On My Library a card says Get the iOwnDigital app with Install and Not now. Not now hides the card for 30 days on that browser. Whenever you change your mind, use Install the app in the footer (under Platform) or on the Account page. None of these show inside the installed app, or in a browser that cannot install apps (such as Firefox on a computer, or the browser built into Instagram or Facebook).

On an Android phone or tablet (Chrome or Samsung Internet), you install it like this:

1. Open the shop in Chrome and sign in.
2. Press Install on the card in My Library, or Install the app in the footer.
3. Press Install in the box your phone shows. The iOwnDigital icon appears on your home screen.

If no Install button appears in Samsung Internet, use its own menu: press the menu button (three lines), then Add page to, then Home screen.

On an iPhone or iPad, the app is added from Safari:

1. Open the shop in Safari (not Chrome) and press Install. A short box shows the two steps.
2. Tap the Share button (a square with an arrow pointing up): at the bottom of Safari on an iPhone, at the top on an iPad.
3. Choose Add to Home Screen, then Add. The iOwnDigital icon appears on your home screen.

On a computer, in Chrome or Edge:

1. Open the shop and press Install on the card in My Library, or Install the app in the footer.
2. Press Install in the box the browser shows. The app opens in its own window, and it is in your Start menu (Windows) or Applications (Mac).

In the app, videos play and go full screen exactly as on the website (use the player's full screen button). Checkout with Stripe opens Stripe's own page inside the app and comes back to the shop when you have paid. Links to other sites (Instagram, Facebook, Bots & Pieces) open in your normal browser. With no connection, the app shows a page saying You're offline: videos need a connection to play, and files you already downloaded are in your device's Downloads or Files app. Press Try again once you are back online. To remove the app, remove it like any other app (press and hold its icon, then Remove or Uninstall).

The app keeps only the site's own public files on the device (its styles, scripts, fonts and icons) so it opens quickly. It never keeps your library, your account, a video or a download there.

Watching on your TV

You can watch the videos you own on a TV with the iOwnDigital app for Apple TV, Google TV and Android TV, or Amazon Fire TV (each from that TV's own app store), or in a TV's web browser at iowndigital.com/tv. The TV never asks for your password. Instead, you link it with a short code from your phone or computer:

1. Open the iOwnDigital app on the TV (or go to iowndigital.com/tv in the TV's browser). It shows an 8 character code, such as K7QM-4XRP, and a square QR code.
2. On your phone or computer, go to iowndigital.com/tv/link and sign in as usual (or point your phone's camera at the QR code, which opens the same page with the code already filled in). My Library also has a Watch on a TV link to it.
3. Type the code and press Continue. The page shows which kind of TV asked and when. Check that it is the TV in front of you, then press Link this TV.
4. Within a few seconds the TV shows My Library by itself.

The code works once, for 10 minutes. If it runs out, press Get a new code on the TV. Only link a TV you can see: nobody from iOwnDigital will ever ask you for this code. Typing wrong codes is limited (10 tries in 15 minutes), so a code cannot be guessed.

A linked TV can only show your library and play your videos. It cannot buy anything, see or change your account, or open the vendor portal or the admin view.

The TV is a device like any other, so it uses one of your device seats (see Devices above). If it is the account's first device, it plays straight away. Otherwise the first time you press play the TV says Approve this TV first, and we email you the usual Approve link: open it on a phone or computer you already watch on and press Approve. The TV appears on Account, Devices and Downloads, as "Apple TV", "Android TV", "Fire TV" or "TV" with the browser's name. To stop a TV playing, press the cross next to it there: it is signed out at once. You can also choose Sign this TV out on the TV itself; it then keeps its seat until you remove it.

On the TV, use the remote's arrows to move (the chosen tile or button has a white ring and lifts a little), OK to choose, and Back to go back. A video's page shows its artwork, running time, venue and chapters. Play starts it; if you stopped part way before on that TV, Resume from carries on where you left off (the place is remembered on the TV itself, not on our servers), and Play from the start starts again. Pick a chapter to start there. While a video plays, the remote's play/pause, fast forward and rewind keys work, left and right jump 10 seconds while the controls are hidden, and the controls (back, previous chapter, 10 seconds back, play/pause, 10 seconds forward, next chapter) appear with any key and fade after 4 seconds. The TV screens follow the language picked on the website on that TV, in all nine languages.

For vendors

The language of your emails. iOwnDigital's emails to your band (a release approved or sent back, a new price, a bio or photo decided, a video replacement, a payout sent) go to your band's contact email in one language only: the language the contact person uses the site in (English if we do not know it), with one subject line in that language. To change it, the contact person signs in and picks a language with the language picker. If the language is not English, the email opens with one line saying it was translated using AI. An email about one of your releases links straight to that release in the vendor portal (for a new price, its Details; after a send back, its Publish checklist; for a new video, its Video), and an approval also links the release on the shop.

Joining

1. Go to iowndigital.net and press Apply to sell on iOwnDigital.
2. Fill in your artist, band or label name, your name, email and password, pick the country you are based in (the list starts on the country you are visiting from), and accept the terms. The list is the same one Sales and payouts uses, so the country you pick decides whether you can be paid through Stripe (choose Somewhere else only if yours is not listed).
3. Confirm the six digit code from your email.

Already have an iOwnDigital account as a fan? Log in on the vendor portal with it instead. The portal then shows Apply to sell as your email, and asks only for the artist, band or label name, where it is based, and the terms. (The iOwnDigital admin account cannot apply to sell.)

Jason contacts every new vendor to book a short video call. Until that is done your account shows Waiting for verification. You can start filling in releases straight away, but nothing goes on the shop until the video call is done: while you wait, Send for approval is refused with a plain reason, and iOwnDigital cannot approve your releases yet either.

Until everything needed to pay you is in place, Your releases shows Getting ready to be paid at the top: four steps with a tick on each one done. Account checked is ticked once iOwnDigital has verified you, Where you are based once you have chosen your country, Payout account once your Stripe payout account is connected (or, if you are paid by bank transfer, once iOwnDigital has recorded your bank details), and Currency once your currency is settled. The step to do next is lit. Set it up opens Sales and payouts, which shows the same steps. The box goes away once all four are ticked.

Making a release

Press + New release. Each release has eight tabs, read as eight steps. A tick means the tab is complete; a tab that still needs something shows its step number instead. Above the tabs a bar and a line say how many sections are done (for example "5 of 8 sections done") and link straight to the next section to do. On Your releases, each release shows its title in large type, then the band, the kind, the running time and the price in green on one line (or No price yet, or Free with an account), then one line saying what to do next. Beside it is one small bar per section of the editor, and a green bar means that section is complete. Hover over a bar to see which section it is. A band with more than 25 releases sees them a page at a time, with "Showing 1 to 25 of 60", the page numbers and a choice of 25, 50 or 100 a page. The line under the tabs slides to the tab you open. On a phone the tabs fade out on the side that has more; swipe the row sideways to reach them. On a phone, once a tab's own Save changes button has scrolled off the screen, a slim bar appears at the bottom with the tab's name, how many sections are done and Save changes, so you can save without scrolling back (on Overview, Details, Liner Notes and Promo). On Publish the bar carries Send for approval instead, once nothing stops the release being sent. The bar never covers the last of the page and goes away again when the tab's own button is back on the screen. Whatever you typed stays in the boxes after you save, and a problem is said under the box it is about, with a Fix 1 field link at the top that jumps to it.

English and Japanese. Words you type (titles, venue, notes, song names, roles) are stored per language. Use the language picker at the top of the page (top right on a computer, under the logo on a phone), or the one at the bottom, to switch between English and 日本語 and fill in the other language. The shop never shows one language in place of the other. The portal can also be used in 简体中文, 繁體中文, 한국어, Español, Français, Deutsch or Português: everything you type in one of those is saved as the English version (the Overview tab says so), because buyers who do not read Japanese see the English.

Uploading the video

Drag the master file onto Upload the video, or click it (or tab to it and press Enter) and choose the file. Every upload box shows the file types it takes and its size limit before you choose anything, for example MOV, MP4, M4V, MXF, MKV and "Up to 1 TB" for the master; isolated tracks take WAV, AIFF, FLAC, MP3, M4A or AAC up to 20 GB each, captions SRT or VTT up to 20 MB, cover art and the social card up to 30 MB, the banner video up to 500 MB and the intro clip up to 50 GB. A file of the wrong type or too large is turned away at once, before anything is sent. Each file you choose gets its own card under the box with its size, how far it is (for example "Uploading 42% · about 18 min left · 38 MB a second"; the time left is worked out from the last minute's speed, so it appears after a few seconds and settles rather than jumping) and a bar. Pause stops sending and keeps your place; the play button carries on from there. Stop asks once, inside the card, whether to throw away what was sent: Stop does, Keep going carries on. When a file has gone the card says "Uploaded. Checking the file." and the file appears in the list above. If something goes wrong the card turns red with the reason and a button to try again, which carries on from the last finished part. The isolated tracks box takes several files at once: they upload one after another, each named from its file name (choose one file to use the Track name you typed instead). Large files upload in parts and can take a long time; keep the page open until it reaches 100%. A short drop in the connection is retried on its own. If the upload does stop (the laptop slept, the connection went), choose the same file again on the same computer and it carries on from where it stopped rather than starting over. If the site is briefly unreachable at that moment (or when the upload starts, or while it finishes), it tries again, and if it still cannot get through it says the connection dropped and keeps your place, so choosing the file again later still carries on. An upload that nothing has been added to for a week is cleared away; choosing the file again after that starts it from the beginning on its own, as it does when the site can no longer accept the saved place at all. If you were signed out meanwhile, the upload stops and says so: sign in again and choose the same file, and it carries on. If your login can no longer upload to this release (for example you were removed from the band), it stops and says so rather than trying again, and asks you to check with the band's owner; if iOwnDigital has suspended the band, it says that instead and points you to iOwnDigital support. The platform then checks the file and makes a working copy for chapter marking. This takes a few minutes.

Replacing the video of a release that is on sale

Once a release has been on sale, a new video for it is a serious change: every buyer's own copy is made again and every buyer is emailed. So it costs your band US$2 for each buyer who owns the release, and iOwnDigital checks the new video before anyone sees it. The release keeps the same page and price, and buyers keep watching the current video until iOwnDigital approves the new one. Only do this to fix a real mistake.

1. Open the release, then Video. Scroll to Replace the video.
2. Read the box. It shows how many buyers own the video, the fee per buyer (US$2.00), the total in US dollars and, for a band paid in another currency, today's exchange rate and the total in your own currency, worked out exactly and rounded up only to the next cent (or the next whole yen or won), for example You pay A$5.77 AUD for two buyers when US$1 is A$1.44019.
3. Tick I understand this is a serious change... and press Start the replacement. If a sale or a new exchange rate changed the figure since the page opened, it says so and nothing starts: check the new figure and tick again.
4. Upload the new video in the box that appears, as with the first upload. The figure you ticked is held for 7 days; after that the cost is worked out again.
5. The section then says Waiting for iOwnDigital. You can upload a different file instead, or press Withdraw the replacement to stop: nothing is charged.

When iOwnDigital approves, the fee is taken from your balance on Sales and payouts as a line called video replacement fee, the release is rebuilt from the new video, and each buyer is emailed once it is ready. If your balance is lower than the fee it goes below zero, and your next sales pay it back before any payout is made. If iOwnDigital does not approve it, you are emailed the reason, the uploaded file is deleted and nothing is charged; the reason also shows on the Video tab. If an approved video cannot be processed after all (a fault on our side), the fee is put back on your balance automatically, the release keeps its current video, and you are emailed and the Video tab says so; you can start again.

To check it: on a release on sale, open Video and look for Replace the video with the buyer count and the total.

Caption files can be .srt or .vtt, saved as UTF-8, UTF-16, Shift_JIS or EUC-JP; Japanese captions saved by Windows subtitle tools are read correctly. A file in any other encoding is refused with a message asking you to save it as UTF-8.

Marking chapters

1. Play the video, or use the frame step buttons, until the playhead sits exactly where a song starts.
2. Press + Add chapter here.
3. Type the song name in the row that appears, then click away to save.

Hover the bar to see the frame under your cursor. Click a row number to jump the playhead to that chapter. A start time that cannot be read is said in red under that chapter's Starts box, and what you typed stays there to correct. Each chapter runs until the next one starts. Times are frame accurate: the last two digits of a timecode are the frame.

You can also type a start time. It reads like the timecode in your edit software: 01:02:03:12 is hours, minutes, seconds and frames, and 01:02:03 is hours, minutes and seconds. For 23.976 or 29.97 fps videos the timecode counts frames the same way an edit suite does (non-drop), so a start time copied from your timeline lands on the same frame here.

If you replace the master with one at a different frame rate, every chapter keeps its time. If the new cut is shorter, chapters that now start after the end are listed in a warning above the chapters and marked Past the end; move or remove them.

The free sample

On Promo, set where the sample starts and ends as hours, minutes and seconds (00:12:30). The social card, banner video and thank you clip boxes each list the file types they take and their size limit, the same ones the site checks: JPG or PNG up to 30 MB for the social card (a square image works best on Instagram and Facebook), MP4 or MOV up to 500 MB for the banner, and MOV, MP4 or M4V up to 50 GB for the thank you clip. There is no length limit on the banner or the clip. Only the buyer's name is drawn on your thank you clip, so the clip itself should say thank you; iOwnDigital sets where the name sits (about two fifths of the way down the picture). Without a clip of your own, your buyers' copies start with iOwnDigital's own thank-you clip. The caption box takes one file per language. The sample must be at least 10 seconds and at most one minute long, and must end before the video does; anything else is refused when you save.

Credits

Press + Add performer or + Add crew, then type the name and the role. Credits only shows a tick once every row has a name (in either language) and a role in both languages. Removing a row you added by mistake removes it completely. If iOwnDigital has joined a person's profile across several releases, typing a different name on your row gives that row its own person, so the other releases keep theirs; ask iOwnDigital to fix a spelling on a shared profile. Start typing a role for the full list, or write your own. Use the arrows to change the billing order. Every name becomes a profile page; add a photo and a short bio under Profiles in the top menu. On Profiles each person has their own card, showing their initials until a photo is added. Each card shows the name in large type, the roles they are credited with and how many of your releases they are on, then what the card still needs in amber (Next: add a photo) or Photo and bio ready in green. Drop a photo on the card's upload box or click it: it takes JPG, PNG or WebP up to 5 MB, says so before you choose, and turns away a wrong file at once. A photo that is refused when you save is said under the box, and the bio you typed stays. A new bio or photo is sent to iOwnDigital for approval when you save: the person's public page keeps the old bio and photo until it is approved, the card says a change is waiting, and you (and the person, if they have claimed their profile) are emailed when it is approved or rejected, with the reason. To check it worked: save a new bio, open the person's page on the shop and it still shows the old bio, while the card says the change is waiting.

Crew shares

A band can give anyone credited on a release, on stage or behind it, a share of every sale of that release. The share comes out of the band's own side of each sale, never out of iOwnDigital's, so iOwnDigital's share is the same with or without crew. Each sale keeps its own split, so a share you set or change applies to sales from then on only; sales already made are never changed.

1. Open the release, then Credits. Under the performers and crew is Crew shares, with one row for each person credited on the release.
2. Type the person's share of each sale as a percentage (for example 5 or 2.5) under Share of each sale (%) and press Save changes. Type 0 to remove it.
3. The line at the top shows how much you have given away in total and how much your band keeps. All the crew shares on a release together can be at most your band's own share of a sale (50% for your first 9,999 sales, 60% after that). If a share would go over, the box says how much is left to give and nothing is saved.
4. To let the person see and collect their money, press Send invite on their row, type their email, pick the language the email is written in, and press Send invite. The email gives them a link that works once, for 7 days. Sending a new invite stops the old link working. You can send at most 3 invites a day to one person and 20 a day in all.
5. Each row shows Not claimed, Invited (with the email and when the link stops working) or Claimed.

Money owed to a person builds up from their first sale, whether or not they have claimed their profile yet; it is paid once they have. Your Sales and payouts page and your statements show a Crew column whenever a sale paid crew shares, so the gross, tax, iOwnDigital, crew and your share always add up. If you remove the last credit of a person on a release, their share on it goes too. Share amounts are never shown on the shop or on anyone's public profile.

Sending for approval

Open Publish. When every row shows a tick, press Send for approval (this works once Jason has verified you; until then the page says Waiting for verification). If you change the English liner notes, a song name or a role after its Japanese was written, that line shows the Japanese as needing a check until iOwnDigital's translator confirms it or new Japanese is saved (re-saving the Japanese liner notes yourself counts as checking them). iOwnDigital usually answers within a business day, by email, in the one language your band's contact person uses the site in (any of the nine, with a line saying it was translated using AI when it is not English). Payout notices come the same way. If it comes back, the note from iOwnDigital shows at the top of the editor; fix it and send it again. If iOwnDigital removes a release from the shop, its status reads Removed, Publish shows the reason instead of the button, and the release cannot be sent again: email support@iowndigital.com to talk it through.

Preview

Press Preview at the top of the editor to see exactly what a buyer who owns the release will see, including the English venue and description a Japanese buyer sees until the Japanese is written.

Translations

Everything you type for a release (title, venue, short description, liner notes, setlist and credit roles, and the bios of the people credited) is translated by computer into the site's other eight languages a minute or so after you save, so buyers everywhere read it in their own language. Song titles and names are left exactly as you wrote them. You do not need to do anything for this to happen.

To check or correct the translations, open the release and press Translations at the top of the editor, beside Preview. Each piece of text is shown as you wrote it, with a box for every other language underneath. Each box says who wrote it:

To correct a translation:

1. Click into the language's box and change the words.
2. Click anywhere outside the box. It saves by itself, and the label changes to Band.
3. To check it worked, open Preview with the site set to that language: your words are there, with no Machine translated note.

When a box says English changed, check this, read the new English above it, then either fix the words (they save when you click away) or press Still correct to keep them as they are. Empty a box and click away to hand that language back to the computer. Typing in the English box (only shown when you wrote in Japanese first) changes your English everywhere, and every other language is translated again from it. If automatic translation is switched off, or has used up iOwnDigital's monthly allowance, the page says so; you can still type any language yourself.

Sales and payouts

Sales and payouts shows your balance, your current split, every sale with the price paid, the tax, iOwnDigital's share and your share, and every statement. Its settings are in two groups, each setting with its name, one plain line saying what it does, and its control. Getting paid shows the four getting-paid steps with ticks, then Where you are based (it starts on the country you are visiting from until you save one; it cannot change once your Stripe payout account exists) and Payout account (the Stripe button, or on the bank route the bank details iOwnDigital has recorded). Changing where you are based, connecting Stripe and opening Stripe's dashboard all decide where your money goes, so if you signed in more than ten minutes ago the page first asks you to confirm it is you: press Email me a code, type the six digit code from the email and press Confirm, and the buttons appear. This stops somebody who finds a computer left signed in from sending your money to their own account. Language and currency has Portal language (the same choice as the language pickers) and Your currency: the currency you set prices in and are paid in. If Stripe pays you (bands based in Japan), it is taken from your Stripe payout account. If you are paid by bank transfer (every other band), you choose it yourself: pick it under Payout currency (it starts at your country's currency) and press Save changes. You must choose it before you can set a price or a release can go on sale. You can change it until your first sale; after that only iOwnDigital can change it, so write to support if it needs to change. A price you set before changing it keeps its old currency until you type a new one, and money you already earned stays in its currency. Buyers pay in their own currency, but every sale on this page and on statements is in yours, at your own price, so exchange rates never change what you earn. Your balance is paid out once it reaches the threshold, the equal of US$300: ¥47,500 for a yen balance, A$430, US$300, €270, £230, NZ$540, C$430, S$380, HK$2,350, ₩400,000, NT$9,600 or CN¥2,000. Under the threshold nothing is lost: the balance carries over to the next month, and the next, until it reaches it, and then everything is paid at once. Until you choose Where you are based, the page asks for it before saying whether you are paid through Stripe or by bank transfer. Every date on this page and on statements is the Tokyo date, because iOwnDigital GK is in Tokyo. A refund or chargeback shows as a line with the sale's figures in minus; if Stripe later says a refund failed, a refund reversed line gives your share back. Under Sales and statements, choose Today, 7 days, 30 days, All time or Custom (two dates) to show only the sales and statements in those Tokyo days; the choice is kept in the page address, so a filtered page can be bookmarked or shared. Each list shows "Showing 1 to 50 of 130", the page numbers with the current one lit, and 25, 50 or 100 rows a page. Every sale is there, however many there are (the list used to show only the newest 100 lines without saying so). Open a statement and press Print or save as PDF to keep a copy or show the band. The three figures at the top are your balance, with a bar showing how close it is to being paid out, your split, and how many sales you have made in total.

Finding crew for a video

When the crew marketplace is switched on, Crew appears in the shop's menu and in the band portal's menu. Anyone can look; only a band signed in to the band portal, and verified by iOwnDigital, can send a request.

1. Open Crew on the shop and filter by what you need (Edit, Mix, Master, Camera, Lighting, Colour), Available now only, or where they are based, then press Show.
2. Open a listing and press Send a request. This opens the band portal (sign in there if asked).
3. Pick the Job, which video it is for (or New Video, not on the shop yet), an optional Needed by date and Budget, write a short Brief, tick the box saying you agree the price and pay each other directly, and press Send request.

The person sees your brief and your band name, never your email. If they accept, you both get each other's email address, by email and on Band portal > Crew; you agree the price and pay them directly, and iOwnDigital takes nothing. If they decline you are emailed, with no reason given. A band can have 5 requests waiting for an answer at once and send 20 a day, cannot send a second request to the same person while one is waiting, and cannot send one to somebody marked Busy. A request with no answer closes after 14 days.

A week after someone accepts, Band portal > Crew shows How did it go? on that request: pick 1 to 5 stars, write up to 600 characters, tick that it is about real work and fair, and press Post review. One review per accepted request; the person can reply once, and iOwnDigital can hide a review that breaks the rules. You can still give them a share of a video's sales afterwards, from the release's Credits tab (Crew shares above).

Watch your Videos as a fan

Each person who signs in to the band's portal can have every one of the band's videos in a shop library of their own, free. It must be a separate shop account with a different email from your vendor login.

1. On Your releases, find Watch your Videos as a fan under the list.
2. Type the email of your own shop account (it can be one you have not created yet) and press Link this login.
3. If that account does not exist yet, create it on the shop with that email and enter the emailed code.
4. Open the shop signed in to that account. Every release of the band that is on the shop is in My Library, marked Band copy, with five downloads each, and with your name on your personal copy as for any buyer. Releases the band puts on the shop later are added the next time that account opens the shop.

It uses the usual three device seats, and nobody is paid for these copies (they are not sales). You can link one login, once. A problem with the address you typed (not an email address, your own vendor login, or an account that cannot be linked) is said under the box, and what you typed stays. To change or remove it, contact iOwnDigital. The card then shows the linked email and how many band copies it holds. If iOwnDigital removes it, the card says "iOwnDigital removed your fan login; contact support to set a new one." instead of the form, and the band copies stay paused until a new one is set. If your fan login account applies to sell on the vendor portal itself, its band copies pause straight away (a fan login cannot be a vendor login). It cannot be your vendor login, or any vendor or admin login. If the band is suspended, or you leave the band, the band copies stop playing and downloading, but they are not deleted: they work again if the band is reinstated or you are added back.

While any vendor portal page loads, grey shapes in that page's own layout show where its parts will be (a page that is quick never shows them).

Fans who follow you

Your releases page shows how many fans follow your new releases. Each of them gets one email when a new release of yours goes on sale (when iOwnDigital approves it for the first time, not when you upload it). Fans cannot see the number.

For the admin

Wanted artists

Wanted artists (a tab of its own) lists the artists fans asked to follow that are not on iOwnDigital yet, grouped by name (capitals, accents, spaces, punctuation and a leading "The" do not matter), with how many fans are waiting, the newest request and a few spellings, most wanted first. It shows where demand is. When a band joins whose name matches, it appears under Possible matches and on Needs your attention as Wanted artists that joined. Nothing is linked by itself, because two bands can share a name:

1. Open Wanted artists and check the band under Possible matches is the artist the fans meant.
2. Press Yes, same artist to link them: every waiting fan now follows the band and gets one email, in their language, saying the artist is on iOwnDigital. Or press Not the same, and that band is never offered for that name again.
3. For a name that does not match by itself (a band renamed, a spelling nobody guessed), pick the band in that name's Link to a band list and press Link.

Linking and turning down are in the audit log, and in the Done log of Needs your attention.

Only the addresses listed in the ADMIN_EMAILS setting can open the admin view (today admin@iowndigital.com and jason@iowndigital.com; Jason chose on 28 September to keep one shared login, and each address is its own named account if more are ever added, see Adding another admin below). Sign in on iowndigital.com as usual, then press Admin in the top menu. On a phone the row of admin tabs is wider than the screen: it fades out on the side that has more tabs, so swipe it sideways; it opens scrolled to the tab you are on. Buttons that remove or refund something are red.

Long lists. Transactions, Downloads, Audit log, the people list on Accounts, Support messages and the payout runs on Payments and payouts show one page at a time, newest first. So do the download requests on Waiting for approval, the cards on People and the rows on Translations (each page of Translations starts with its release's heading). Under the list it says where you are, for example "Showing 51 to 100 of 312", with the page numbers (the page you are on is lit green; the arrows go to newer and older pages) and Rows per page of 25, 50 or 100 (50 unless you pick another). The number beside the heading of Transactions and of the people list counts every row that matches, not just the ones on screen. Nothing is left out any more: Transactions and Accounts used to stop at the newest 100 without saying so, the audit log at 300, the support inbox at 100 and the payout runs at 50. A search looks through every row, not only the page you are on, and starts again at page 1.

Dates. Above each of those lists (the payout runs too, since 1 Oct 2026) is a row of ranges: Today, 7 days (today and the six days before), 30 days, All time and Custom. They are all Tokyo time, like every time in the admin view, so Today means today in Tokyo. Custom shows From and To date boxes (type the date or pick it from the small calendar) and Show; typed the wrong way round, the earlier day is taken as the start, and one box on its own is fine ("From 1 September 2026"). The line under the ranges says which days you are looking at. A range works together with the search and the pages, and it stays in the page address, so you can copy the address and send someone the same filtered list. On Accounts the range is the day each person joined. To check it: pick 7 days on Transactions and the count beside the heading drops to that week's orders; change the search and the range stays.

While a page loads. If an admin or vendor portal page takes more than a moment, grey shapes in the layout of that page show where it will appear, instead of the old page just sitting there. A fast page never shows them. With reduced motion switched on in your device's settings they stay still.

The same look on every admin page (1 Oct 2026). These work the same way everywhere in the admin view:

• Clear rows. A release waiting for approval shows its title big, then the band, kind, running time and the day it was sent on one line, then what happens next: green Everything is complete and ready to approve when it can be approved, amber when something is missing (it names the tabs) or when the newest master is still being checked. A download request leads with the video, then the buyer's email, the band and the day they asked, then their note. A People card leads with the name, then the other language's name and the number of credits in green, then an amber line of what is still to add (English or Japanese name, photo, English or Japanese bio), or a grey line saying it is complete. A Support messages card leads with who wrote, then the topic and time, the status, the message, and a line saying what to do next ("Reply to ... by email, then mark it closed").
• Problems under the field. On every admin form that needs something typed (a refund's reason and tick, a removal's reason, Add downloads, Give a Video free, the four device tools, Change currency, Mark as paid, a fan login, Add person, a People card's photo and Merge into), a missing or wrong entry is said in red under that field before anything is sent, and the server checks the same again. Nothing you typed is cleared. A form with more than one field also shows Fix 2 fields at the top, which jumps to the first. The buttons grey out while a form is being sent, so a double press sends once. What each button does has not changed.
• Approve and Send back in thumb reach. On a phone, once the top of a review page scrolls away, a slim bar at the bottom keeps the release's title, Send back (it jumps to the note box) and, when the release can be approved, Approve (which still asks once more).
• Photos. A People card's photo box shows what it takes up front (JPG, PNG or WEBP, up to 5 MB). Drop a photo on it or click it to choose one; the chosen file shows with its size and Remove, and a wrong type or a file too large is said at once.
• Setup in groups. Setup is grouped like the shop's Account page: Payments and money, Videos and files, Sign in and email and The platform, with links at the top to jump to each and to Exchange rates. Every service has one plain line under it saying what it is for, and its state (the same green, amber or grey dot and words as before) at the end of its row.
• Buttons. The main action of a page or row (Approve, Prepare a payout run, Approve a run, Pay with Stripe, Mark as paid, Verify, Give, Save a person, Save seats) is the red button; other actions are the grey button; Suspend, Remove, Refund and Reset are the red outlined danger button.
• Loading shapes. Every admin page, including a review page, a customer, their devices, a statement, People, Support messages, Translations and Setup, shows grey shapes in its own layout while it loads.

To check it: on Accounts, open a customer, press Add without typing a reason. The line "Type a reason first" appears under the reason box, nothing is added, and the +3 you picked is still chosen.

Needs your attention

Needs your attention is the first admin tab. It works like an email inbox for everything waiting for you: releases sent for approval, new prices, bios and photos, requests for more downloads, crew listings, reported reviews, bands to verify, open support messages (including requests to change a name or email, which open that account's page), refunds Stripe could not pay, payouts to approve, failed background jobs and video replacements. The tab shows how many are waiting in amber and, beside it in green, how many are new to you. The same count is on a card at the top of Waiting for approval.

The page has three parts side by side (one under the other on a phone):

• Folders on the left. Waiting is everything still to deal with, with how many are new. Done (your log) is everything that has been decided, newest first, each with a coloured outcome (Approved, Rejected, Sent back, Closed and so on), the time and who decided it. With notes is every item anyone has written a note on. Waiting, by kind lists each kind on its own.
• The list in the middle. New items are in bold with an amber dot. An item stays new for you until you open it; another admin opening it does not change yours. The search box at the top looks through titles, details and notes.
• The reading pane on the right. Pick an item to read it: what it is, when it started waiting, and its history (when it started waiting, who opened it and when, and what was decided). Open to deal with it takes you to the page where you approve or reject it; nothing is decided in the inbox itself, and once you decide it, it moves to Done with the time.

Notes. Under the history you can add a note (up to 2000 characters), for example "Called the band, waiting on a new master". It is kept with your name and the time and date, shows in the item's history, and is found by the search. Only admins ever see notes: bands, crew and buyers never do.

The morning email. Each morning (from 7am Tokyo time) every admin with the switch on gets one email when something is waiting, saying how many of each kind and how many are new since yesterday, with a link to the list. On a morning with nothing waiting no email is sent. Untick Email me a summary each morning at the top of the page to stop it for yourself; tick it again to start it. A preview of the email shows under the inbox while it is on.

Titles in Done. Every line in Done (your log) shows the real name of what was decided, in your language: the video's title, the band's name, the person's name, or for a payout the band or person and the amount. That includes things decided before the inbox existed. Only something that has since been deleted shows its kind and a short code instead (for example Bands to verify 8542CEE4).

The new count on the tab. The green "new" count on the tab always matches the inbox: on Needs your attention it is counted from the same list you see, it drops as soon as you open an item, and on any other admin page it is brought up to date as soon as something new arrives or something is dealt with.

To check it: send a new price for a video on sale from a band's account, open Needs your attention, and it is in Waiting in bold. Click it: the bold goes and the history says "You opened it". Write a note and press Save note: it shows in the history with the time. Approve the price on its page, come back, and it is in Done (your log) marked Approved.

Changes waiting for your approval

New prices. When a band changes the price of a video that is already on sale, the shop keeps selling at the old price until you decide. Open the video from Needs your attention (or its review page): the New price waiting card shows the old and new price, who asked and when. Approve new price (press twice) puts it on sale at once, in the currency the band typed it in; Reject needs a reason, which the band is emailed. The band is emailed either way, and both are in the audit log (price_change.approved or price_change.rejected, under money). A price Stripe could not charge, or one under the 4K minimum for a 4K video, is not approved and says why. An order a buyer had already started keeps the price it was started at.

Bios and photos. A band's or a person's own change to a bio or photo shows on People under Bios and photos waiting, with the current and new bio side by side and the new photo. Approve change (press twice) puts it on the person's page at once and has the bio translated; Reject needs a reason. The person (if they have claimed their profile) and the bands that credit them are emailed either way. Changes you make yourself on a People card still apply at once.

The thank-you clip and where the buyer's name goes. Every buyer's own copy starts with a short thank-you clip. A band can upload its own on its video's Promo tab; for every video that has none, the copy starts with iOwnDigital's own clip, which you set on Setup, under Videos and files, in the Thank-you clip box. On a clip only the buyer's name is drawn (the clip itself says thank you), in white with a soft shadow so it reads on a busy picture, centred across the screen. A very long name is made smaller so it fits. Japanese names are drawn in a font with kana and kanji. If there is no clip at all, the copy starts with the plain five second "Thank you, name" card, as before.

To set the clip:

1. Open Admin, then Setup, and scroll to Thank-you clip under Videos and files.
2. Drop the clip on the box, or press it and choose the file. It takes MP4, MOV or M4V up to 500 MB, and the clip can be at most two minutes long.
3. When the box says the file has arrived, press Use this clip. The site checks it is a real video and shows a still from about two seconds in, with its name, size and length. A file that is not a video, or is longer than two minutes, is refused with a message saying so.

To set where the name goes:

1. In the same box, type Name position as the percentage of the way down the picture where the middle of the name should sit. The default is 40, about two fifths from the top, which is the gap between the clip's "THANK YOU" and its note (Jason's answer of 9 October 2026).
2. Type Name size as the name's height in percent of the picture height. The default is 5 (about a twentieth).
3. Press Preview the name. Two pictures appear: the clip's still with "Jason McNamara" and with a Japanese sample name, at the numbers you typed. Nothing is saved yet, so try numbers until it looks right.
4. Press Save.

Under each part the box says how many buyers' copies the change will make out of date. Changing the clip (or pressing Remove the clip, which asks once more) touches the copies of videos without their own clip; changing the position or size touches every copy made over a clip. Each of those copies is made again the next time its owner opens the video, and only if they still have a download left, so nothing is rebuilt for a buyer who never comes back. Every change is in the audit log as setting.changed, followed by thanks.copies_stale with how many copies it touched. To check it worked: press Preview the name and the name sits where you set it; a buyer's new copy then starts with the clip and their name in the same place.

The 4K minimum price. On Setup, under Payments and money, 4K minimum price is the lowest price a band can set for a video whose master is 4K (2160 lines or more). Pick a currency, type the amount and press Save; each band's minimum is that amount converted into its own currency at the day's rate. Leave the amount empty (or 0) to switch it off; it starts off. Every change is in the audit log as setting.changed. A video's review page shows its master's resolution, a 4K badge, and a red line if its price is under the minimum.

Gifts, free videos and more downloads

• Download requests (on Waiting for approval, under the release queue, with the number waiting): each row shows the buyer's email, the video, how many downloads they have used ("used 3 of 3") and their note. Choose +1 or +3, then press Approve to add that many downloads to that purchase, or press Decline to leave it as it is. The buyer is emailed either way, in their language. The buttons grey out while the answer is saved, and a request can only be decided once, so pressing twice changes nothing more. Every decision is in the audit log with your name and the number added.
• A customer's page: on Accounts, click a customer's email. It lists every video they own, whether they bought it or it was a Gift, and how many downloads they have used. Add downloads gives one video +1, +3 or +5 more downloads; type a reason first (it goes in the audit log). Give a Video free adds any release on the shop that they do not own yet: choose it, type a reason and press Give. A gift pays the band nothing, counts as no sale, has no tax, never appears in payouts or the vendor's sales page, and cannot be refunded. The personal copy is made just as for a purchase. On Transactions a gift shows as Gift, with who gave it and why, and no Refund button.
• Deleting and restoring an account (on a customer's page): an active account has Delete account at the bottom (press it twice); it does exactly what the customer's own delete does and emails them. A deleted account is kept hidden for 14 days (ACCOUNT_DELETE_GRACE_DAYS in lib/policy.ts) so it can be restored on a support request: its page shows Deleting with the date, when it was asked for and by whom, Restore account (everything comes back exactly as it was, library, devices, passkeys and Google or Microsoft links included, and the customer is emailed that it is restored) and Delete now (type the account's email to confirm; it skips the wait). The customer is never told about the 14 days. After the 14 days a daily job deletes it for good: name, password, devices, passkeys, Google and Microsoft links and any crew listing go. Its page then shows Deleted with the date and the Transaction history (date, order, release, paid, refunded), and the email kept on its orders. Searching that email on Accounts or Transactions still finds the deleted account and its orders for seven years, after which the email on the orders is cleared too. Reinstate never brings a deleted account back; only Restore does. The admin account and a band's only login cannot be deleted. Every step (code sent, wrong code, deletion asked for, restored, deleted, a sign in to a deleted account) is in the audit log.
• Free with an account: on a release's review page (open it from Waiting for approval, from the Free with an account card beside the queue, which lists every release that is free now, or with Open in admin on the release's own shop page while signed in as the admin), the card Free with an account shows On or Off. Make it free with an account turns it on; Turn free off puts it back on sale at its price. Only the admin can change it; vendors never see or set it. While it is on, the shop shows the release as free and any confirmed customer can add it to their library once, for nothing, recorded as a gift with the reason "free with an account". Every switch is in the audit log.
• Band members' fan logins: on Accounts, under Vendor logins, each person has a Fan login box showing the shop account they linked from the portal (see "Watch your Videos as a fan" for vendors). Only you can change it after it is set: type another customer account's email and press Save, or press Remove fan login. Once you remove it, the member cannot link any fan login again themselves: the row says Removed by iOwnDigital and has Let them link again, which lets them link one more from the portal (it is in the audit log); or type an address for them and press Save. The old login's band copies are paused, not deleted, and the new one gets the band's videos. It cannot be the member's own vendor login, any vendor or admin login, or an address that is already another member's fan login. Every link, change and removal is in the audit log, and so is each band copy given (as a gift with the reason "band copy", five downloads, no money to anyone, never in payouts). Suspending the band, or suspending or removing the member, pauses that fan login's band copies at once; reinstating or adding the member back brings them back. On a customer's page and on Transactions these show as Band copy.

Changing a customer's name or email

Customers and vendor logins cannot change their own name or email; they ask on Account > Your details, with a reason. Each request is an open support message: it shows on Needs your attention and in Support, where Open the account goes to that account's page. There, Name and email lists their open requests and lets you change either. Press Save name and email. A new email must not belong to another account. When the email changes, both the old and the new address get an email saying so, password reset links already sent stop working, and the request is closed. Every change is in the Audit log as "admin.identity_changed", with the old and new values. The admin account's own email cannot be changed here. A new name shows on the ownership certificate at once, but personal copies already made keep the old name on their thank-you card until they are made again (Make copy again on Transactions).

Video controls and keyboard shortcuts

The player has a visible Playback speed menu (0.5x to 2x) and Quality selector. Auto adapts HLS streaming to your connection. Manual quality choices come from that video's actual stream, with resolution and bitrate shown. A single-file sample shows Original; browsers using native HLS select quality automatically. The encoder produces 1080p, 720p, 540p and 360p versions where the source supports them.

After 120 seconds of continuous pause following playback, the video shows its artist, title, copyright notice and a Resume button. A normal pause keeps the current frame visible until then. The copyright button (©) opens the notice at any time and pauses playback. Play or Resume closes it and continues the video. The native video control bar supplies playback controls without a second overlapping pause button.

Select the player, then press ? or its keyboard button for grouped shortcut help. K or Space toggles playback; M toggles mute; Up/Down changes volume; J/L or Left/Right moves ten seconds; Shift+Left/Right changes chapter; Shift+1 to 9 selects available audio tracks; C toggles available captions; F toggles full screen. While paused, comma/period steps a frame when the release frame rate is known. Shortcuts apply inside the focused player, never while typing in a form. Esc closes the help window.

People, support and getting started

The People pages list everyone credited on the shop. Each card shows a photo when supplied (initials otherwise), the name, roles, and up to two credited releases with their band names, followed by the number of credits and whether they are on stage, behind the scenes or both. Band and release names are searchable. People with matching names keep separate profiles and links through their unique person IDs; a shared name never merges them. A person's own page lists every video they are on: the video's title big, then the band, the year and the side (performers or crew) on one line, and their role in green. The Support form says a missing or wrong email address, or an empty message, in red under that field, both at once, and keeps what you typed. Getting started shows its four steps numbered, each with one button to the page it is about. After joining with Google or Microsoft, the page that asks you to accept the terms says under the tick box if it was left empty. These pages, and People, a person's page and Support, show grey shapes in their own layout while they load. On a phone, the room kept for the buy bar on a release page is now under the footer, so the footer's last line is never hidden behind the bar.

Crew accounts and crew shares

• People: each person's card has a Crew account and shares box. It shows Claimed with the account's email, or Not claimed, what the person is owed, and how they are paid. To link a person to an existing shop account without an invite, type the account's email and press Link; Unlink removes the link (use it if the wrong person accepted). Unlinking also removes their payout details; their balance stays and keeps building up until the profile is claimed again, and any crew payout waiting for them cannot be approved until then. One account can be linked to one person. For a person paid by bank transfer, type the bank or transfer reference under Bank transfer reference and press Save changes once you have their details; a payout is only prepared once it is there. Each release the person is credited on has a Share of each sale (%) box, the same as the band's, with the same limit. Merging two people moves their shares, balance and payouts onto the person kept; two people who are both claimed cannot be merged until one is unlinked.
• Payouts: Prepare a payout run (and the monthly run) also prepares a crew payout for every claimed person whose balance has reached the threshold and who can be paid. They are listed under Crew, each marked Crew: approve, pay with Stripe (Japan-based people with a yen balance) or mark paid with the bank reference, or cancel, exactly as for a band. Open shows the crew statement. A person who is not claimed, or has no payout details, shows Waiting: not claimed or no payout details.
• Transactions: an order's split shows each crew line as Crew: name (share%) beside the vendor's and iOwnDigital's lines; refunds and chargebacks take the crew's money back the same way as the band's.

Every share change, invite, claim, link, unlink and crew payout is in the audit log.

The crew marketplace

Admin > Setup > Crew marketplace turns the whole marketplace on or off (the button asks once more; press it again within four seconds). It starts off. While it is off, every crew page and action outside the admin view answers "not found", and Crew is not in any menu. The change is in the audit log as setting.changed.

Admin > Crew list has the same switch at the top, then:

• Listings waiting for you: each listing sent for checking, with the person's email (shown only to you), what they do, where they are based, their bio and links (the links open in a new tab; check them before approving). Approve puts it on the shop, starts its bio's translation and emails the person. To send it back, type a reason of at least a few words in the box and press Send back: the person reads the reason by email and on their page.
• Reported reviews: each review someone reported, with every report and who sent it. Keep it up closes the reports. To hide it, type a reason (kept in the audit log) and press Hide review: it disappears from the listing and stops counting in its stars.
• On the crew list now: every approved listing. Type a reason and press Take down to send one back; it leaves the shop until the person changes it and it is approved again.

Every approval, send back, request, acceptance, review, reply, report, keep and hide is in the audit log. Requests are kept 2 years, then deleted by the worker's daily sweep (one with a review keeps its row so the review stands, but loses its brief and budget).

Trace a copy

Trace a copy (its own tab, next to Downloads) finds which sale a video came from when you meet a copy somewhere it should not be. Every personal copy carries an invisible reference in its picture and its sound, the same reference as the purchase (never a name or an email). Nobody can see it, and it survives being cut, re-compressed or shrunk.

1. Open Trace a copy.
2. Choose the Video it looks like, or Not sure to try each video that has marked copies.
3. Drop the file in the box, or choose it (MP4, MOV, MKV, M4V or WebM, or a sound-only WAV, M4A, MP3 or AAC, up to 20 GB). Wait for the upload to finish.
4. Press Check this file. Reading a video takes a few minutes; you can leave the page, the answer stays under Recent traces.
5. Read the answer: Found (green) names the order, the video, the buyer, the day and how many pieces matched, with Open the order; Found, weaker (amber) says only the sound matched, or picture and sound disagreed, or the answer was narrowed to a few sales; Not found (grey) names nobody. A sale is named only when the chance of it being luck is below one in a million, so the page never names a sale by guesswork.

You do not need the whole video and you never have to buy a pirated copy. Any piece works: a free preview, a trailer, a screen recording of a stream, or a part of a download. Every piece of the video is marked, but a short piece holds fewer marks, so it can only tell sales apart so far. The page tells you how long a clip to use, worked out from your longest video and your number of sales (about two minutes for a full concert: worked out from the measurements, not yet timed on a full length video). In our tests on a short video a clip of that kind named the right sale every time and never named a wrong one; a shorter piece may come back as Found, weaker (a lead, never proof: do not act on it alone) or Not found. The file you drop is kept on the server only until the check finishes and is then deleted (the hourly cleanup deletes a file that was dropped but never checked after 24 hours). Every trace is written to the audit log with your name. Two buyers who join pieces of their copies together can hide from it: it names nobody rather than a wrong person. The sound is a second line of defence: about 15 seconds of the sound alone names the sale, if the pirate left the sound in. A video filmed off a screen with a phone has not been tested, so treat Not found on such a copy as "could not read", not as proof it is not ours.

To check it works: with the watermark switched on (below), buy a video, download it, drop that file in Trace a copy with the video chosen, and it says Found with your order. Drop an unrelated MP4 and it says Not found.

Setup, Hidden watermark. The row on Setup (under Videos and files) says Ready, Not set up or "N Videos waiting". The mark is off until the server has been set up for it (the setting WM_PYTHON); while it is off, copies are made exactly as before. Mark every live Video now (press twice to confirm) queues the marking of each live video that has none and tries failed ones again. Marking a video is slow: between one and a half and two minutes of graphics card time for each minute of video on the test PC (not yet timed on the live server), so a two hour video takes hours, and it is done once per video after each new master is approved. It runs in its own lane, so it never holds up the other background jobs. The row also counts the copies that carry the mark against those that do not. When it is first switched on, every owner's existing copy is made again, with the mark, at their next visit. On Transactions, each purchase shows a Hidden mark line: Yes (the copy carries it), No (it was made without) or Not yet.

Setup, Automatic translation. The row on Setup (under The platform) says Connected with the service and model translating (for example Google Gemini, gemini-3.5-flash-lite or Claude (Anthropic), claude-sonnet-5-5) and what it has spent this month against its cap, Paused this month once the cap is reached, or Not set with the setting that switches it on (GEMINI_API_KEY). Google Gemini is used whenever its key is set; Claude only when it is the only key, or when the server is told to use it. To check it worked: set the key on the app and the worker, restart both, and the row says Connected and names the service.

Setup, the two storage savings. Two rows on Setup (under Videos and files) are switches that save storage space. Both are Off until Jason says yes, and while they are off nothing changes for buyers or bands. Each row says On or Off, and when it is off it names the setting that switches it on. They are set on the server (on the app and the worker), not on the page.

• Delete expired personal copies (PRUNE_EXPIRED_COPIES=1). Every buyer gets their own copy of a video to download, and each download link works for 72 hours. With this on, once every link a buyer was given has run out, and one more day has passed so a download still going can finish, their copy is deleted from storage. They keep all their downloads. The next time they ask for a download, a fresh copy is made, which does not use up a download, and they get an email when it is ready (usually a few minutes). A copy is never deleted while a link for it still works, while a copy is being made, or if it was never downloaded. Every deletion is in the audit log as purchase.copy_pruned. The row shows how many copies are deleted right now. In My Library the buyer sees "A fresh copy is made at your next download", and on Transactions the copy says "Deleted to save space, made again at the next download".
• Copy old site Videos for download (LEGACY_DOWNLOAD_COPY=1). Releases moved across from the old site arrive as finished video files. Normally the download file is made by encoding the video again, which for a file that is already finished only makes it bigger. With this on, the picture from the finished file is copied straight into the download instead. It only happens when the file is already in the format every download uses; any other file, or any problem, is encoded exactly as before. It applies the next time each old site video is encoded (when it is approved). The row shows how many videos came from the old site.

To check either one: set it to 1, restart the app and the worker, and the row on Setup says On.

Setup, Sales tax per country. The row Sales tax per country (Stripe Tax) on Setup (under Payments and money) is a switch, Off until iOwnDigital's accountant says the countries are registered. While it is off, nothing changes: every price includes Japan's 10% consumption tax, for every buyer. With it on, Stripe works out the sales tax of each buyer's country (VAT, GST or sales tax) inside the same price, so prices stay all in and never go up at the checkout; the band's and iOwnDigital's shares are then worked out from the price minus the tax Stripe actually charged. A buyer from a country iOwnDigital is not registered in is charged no tax. A refund takes back exactly what the sale gave each side. Stripe only charges tax in countries it has been told about, so the accountant must register iOwnDigital's countries in Stripe first: in the Stripe dashboard, open Tax, then Registrations, and add each country. Then:

1. Ask the accountant whether a product tax code should be set for videos; if so, set STRIPE_TAX_CODE to it.
2. Set STRIPE_TAX=1 on the server (the app and the worker) and restart them.
3. Open Setup: the row says On.
4. Buy a video as a test buyer from a registered country; on Transactions, the order says Tax worked out by: Stripe Tax, for the buyer's country and shows the tax Stripe charged.

Everyday admin jobs, step by step

Approving a release. Open Waiting for approval, then Open on the release. Approve only appears when every tab is complete, the newest master has passed its check and the vendor has been verified. A vendor still waiting for the video call shows a warning on the review page that names the vendor and links to Accounts, where Mark verified is; until then Approve is not offered and a stale press of it is refused and logged.

Deciding a video replacement. When a band uploads a new video for a release already on sale, the admins are emailed and it waits on the Replacements tab, with the band, how many buyers own the release and the fee it agreed to. Buyers keep the current video meanwhile.

1. Open Replacements and press Open on the video.
2. Watch The new video (the check copy made from the band's upload). While the file is still being checked the page says so, and Approve waits.
3. To approve, press Approve the new video, then press it again when it asks Approve and charge ...?. The fee is taken from the band's balance as a video replacement fee line (it can take the balance below zero; payouts wait until later sales bring it back over the threshold), the release is rebuilt from the new video, every buyer's copy is made again at their next download, and each buyer is emailed once the new version is ready. The band is emailed too.
4. To reject, type the reason (the band gets it) and press Reject. The upload is deleted, nothing is charged and the release keeps its current video.

While a replacement waits, an ordinary edit of the same video cannot be approved: its review page says so and links to the replacement. Every step (the band's tick with the figures, the upload, your decision, the fee, the buyers emailed) is in the audit log.

Refunds and downloads. The Terms of Sale say there is no refund once a download has started. On Transactions, an opened order shows Refund notice: the version of the notice the buyer acknowledged at checkout and when (an order from before 9 Oct 2026 says it was not shown). The Refund this order box says plainly whether a download has started: in red, with the date, when it has (refund only if the buyer could not receive it because of a technical problem); otherwise that a refund on request is allowed. You can still refund either way, and whether a download had started is kept with your reason in the audit log.

Sending a release back. Write the reason in Note to the vendor (at least 5 letters; an empty or very short note is said in red under the box and nothing is sent), then press Send back. The vendor gets the reason by email and sees it in the editor.

Removing a video from the shop. Open the release from Waiting for approval or Decided, find the card Remove from the shop on the right, type the reason (required) and press the red Remove from the shop. The video goes off sale at once and stays in the library of everyone who bought it; the removal is in the audit log with your name and the reason. Restore to the shop on the same page puts it back.

Running a payout. On the first day of each month (Tokyo time) the system prepares a draft payout run for every verified vendor at or over the threshold (the equal of US$300 in the vendor's currency, Jason's answer of 9 Oct 2026; a balance under it simply carries over to the next month) and emails the admins; it never approves or pays by itself, and it makes nothing when nobody is over the threshold or a draft is already waiting. You can also press Prepare a payout run yourself at any time. Then: (1) open Payments and payouts, (2) open the draft and read each statement (gross, tax, platform share, vendor share), (3) press Approve on the run, (4) press Pay with Stripe, or for a bank transfer vendor pay by bank and press Mark as paid with the bank reference. A refund after a payout is taken off the vendor's next payout, never clawed back.

Convenience store orders that are not paid. Stripe cancels a voucher after the number of days set in KONBINI_EXPIRES_AFTER_DAYS (3 by default). The worker also closes any order still waiting a day after that, so the buyer is not stopped from buying again. On Transactions it shows as failed; nothing is charged and no video is given. A voucher paid after that point is refunded automatically.

The delivery spend alarm. Setup has a Delivery spend line with an estimate of the last 24 hours and the month so far (Tokyo days) and the two limits. Set SPEND_LIMIT_DAILY_USD and SPEND_LIMIT_MONTHLY_USD to switch it on; with both at 0 it says Alarm off and never sends anything. When a limit is passed the admins get one email per day per limit and the audit log gets a spend.alarm line. The figure is an estimate (it counts download bytes, one full stream per start, storage and RunPod seconds at the prices in the settings), so check the rates against the real Cloudflare and RunPod bills. If the email cannot be sent at that moment, nothing is recorded as sent, so the next hourly check tries again instead of staying quiet for the rest of the day. To check it: set a very low daily limit, and an alarm email arrives within the hour and shows once as a spend.alarm line in the audit log.

Streams in the audit log. When a fan starts a video they own, the audit log gets one file.stream line per person, release and device per hour (not one per video piece), under Delivery. An admin watching or a vendor previewing their own release is not logged.

Adding another admin. List every admin address in ADMIN_EMAILS (comma separated), then use npm run admin:create -- --password-stdin name@iowndigital.com "Their name" with the password piped from a secure reader. Follow the hidden-input procedure in docs/GO-LIVE-ACCOUNTS.md; never put the password in the command or terminal history. Pass ADMIN_EMAILS in the environment, because the script does not read .env.local. This command can also reset an existing admin's password, so verify the target environment and address first. Each person then signs in as themselves with their own emailed code, and the audit log names them.

Who can see which videos (cohorts). Every account belongs to the one public cohort, and every video is visible to everyone, so nothing looks different today. The rule is built in for later (for example a school selling its own concert only to its own parents): a video in a private cohort is hidden from everyone outside it, from the shop, search and direct links, while anyone who bought it keeps it. There is no screen for private cohorts yet.

Getting help

Email support@iowndigital.com. For a fault with the website itself, use the line at the bottom right of the shop's browsing pages ("Built by Bots & Pieces"): it links to Bots & Pieces and carries their support email and phone number. It is left off the sign in, account, checkout, admin and vendor pages on purpose. It is plain text drawn by the site itself, so nothing on it comes from anywhere else: the email link opens a new message titled "Issue with iOwnDigital", and on a phone the line wraps onto two or three rows.

Motion controls, second round

On computers, language and currency pills open a dark list. Use arrow keys, Home, End or type a name; Escape closes. Phones keep native pickers. Confirmation notices stack, dismiss individually, and pause while pointed at or focused. Back to top appears on long pages.

The home sample opens a focused video dialog. Close or Escape returns to the sample link. The release player marks real chapters, lets owners seek to them, and confirms an isolated mix only when the media track changes. Level bars read playing audio and stop when paused.

Getting Started shows actual completed steps when signed in. Move Files starts with instructions matching your device; choose another pair or all instructions. Help, legal and commerce have an On this page list, collapsed on phones. Supplied help screenshots open in a zoom dialog and return to their source position and focus when closed.

TV sign-in shows remaining code time. Approval shows a tick and the authorized owner's name before opening that owner's shelf. Remote arrows move the focus outline. Vendor figures show actual last-30-day ledger history including payouts and reversals. Expand a payout to read its statement; open its standalone statement to print.

Reduced motion preserves content and controls with still states or short fades.

Sign-in codes react to each digit and a real failed verification. Desktop country search retains keyboard selection; phones use the native country list. Resending a code shows its real cooldown. Checkout keeps the consent checks and real payment hand-off. Paid confirmations and certificates alone show the ownership celebration, serial copying and name reveal.

Library rows arrive with a New tag only for purchases in the last seven days, and device pips show approved seats. Downloads keep native links and a brief icon motion. Account navigation follows the section being read. Device removal folds a row only after the server accepts it, and retains its native server form without JavaScript. Settings show Saved only after actual acceptance. The delete hold adds 1.5 seconds of deliberate action before the existing emailed-code confirmation. Passkeys keep the native credential ceremony and failure states. Support shows the thank-you card only after actual acceptance.

The Account page sends its complete contents even when JavaScript is disabled. Its sections and native forms remain visible; browser credential features and motion still require JavaScript.

The private preview outbox at /dev/outbox shows only locally held messages, including demo sign-in codes when real email is enabled. Sent real email is excluded; the outbox is unavailable in real production. About keeps the artist percentage and typical comparison in separate readable rows. People filters share the Browse chip padding.

For launch, Setup reports which services are configured. This is not proof that payments or delivery work. The maintainer runs the redacted launch configuration check and verifies payment, email, video delivery, refunds, backup recovery and payouts on the hosted build. Customer production uses live Stripe keys; isolated rehearsals explicitly use test mode.

Player controls stay visible while a button is hovered, a menu is open, or a control has keyboard focus. During playback they fade after 2.5 seconds of inactivity; moving the pointer brings them back. Pausing keeps the controls visible. The copyright panel leaves the playback controls clear below it. Details, the setlist and credits always describe the full release, including songs beyond the free sample.

Speed, quality, subtitles, keyboard shortcuts, copyright and More share one bottom playback bar. More only offers chapter looping; Download and Copy a link at this time are not offered. Owners use the release page's authorised Download flow instead.

Only the sample end screen uses Buy it now! Purchase and library buttons elsewhere keep their existing wording. A release marked Free still has no charge.

The sample end screen shows the full release price prominently above Buy it now!, including the selected currency.

At checkout, Continue to payment opens the same copyright agreement as account signup. Read and agree to it, then acknowledge the refund notice to continue. Closing either notice does not start payment. The server requires both acknowledgements.

October meeting updates: identity, uploads and playback

• A crew invitation requests identity verification. Accepting the invitation does not link the profile or unlock earnings. Staff review requests in Admin > People, independently verify the person and account email, and record the method and date before selecting Verify and link account. Reject a request if the person cannot be verified. Existing linked accounts are not silently removed.
• Every new master upload requires the uploader to confirm recording, performer, venue and other distribution permissions. They must answer whether the video contains cover songs. If it does, upload a PDF, DOC or DOCX licence (up to 20 MB) before starting the master upload. The server enforces this and records the declaration with the master. Evidence remains private to the vendor and staff; staff can inspect it on the release review page. Legacy masters are identified as lacking a recorded declaration. The questions, the answers to choose from and the error messages show in the vendor portal's language, English or Japanese.
• Streaming encodes preserve all embedded audio tracks from MOV/MP4 masters in their original order, followed by separate uploaded mixes (up to 64 tracks total). After the master check finishes, Video shows embedded tracks. Each track has an English label, a Japanese label and an Order in player number (1 shows first). Change any of them and press Save audio labels, at any time, without uploading or encoding again. The player lists the embedded tracks in that order, with separate mixes after them. The video still starts on the track that was first in the file, wherever it sits in the list. Separate mixes can also be renamed. Previously encoded releases must be encoded again to expose audio that the old encoder omitted.
• The player uses one bottom control bar for seeking, play/pause, volume, full screen, captions, speed, quality, shortcuts and copyright. No native duplicate menu or download entry is shown. Hovering over an interactive control or focusing it keeps controls available. During playback the bar hides after inactivity. The copyright notice appears after 120 seconds paused with no player interaction, or immediately from the copyright button. Playback dismisses it. Its text is larger than before (17 pixels, 14 on a phone) and shows in the viewer's language, in all nine site languages. On a small player the notice scrolls inside its panel and never covers the controls.