Cost

Players

NoChords will not use control of the system to strand a player or turn access into an escalating toll. The player-facing cost is the price of the guitar and the ordinary cost, if any, of the music or services the player chooses. The platform is being structured so a player who learns through NoChords can keep playing without being trapped by a later licensing change.

Guitar Builders & Manufacturers

Our planned NoChords system license for licensed guitars is 0.1% of sales. Builders and manufacturers will be able to sell licensed NoChords guitars no later than December 31, 2027.

The published licensing structure is intended to be a durable commitment: NoChords will not build adoption at a tiny rate and later weaponize control of the platform against the builders who helped make it useful.

Music & Lyrics Publishers

Publishers will have a free NoChords license to use the NoChords color specification. They remain responsible for the ordinary rights needed to publish the underlying music or lyrics; NoChords does not turn the color system itself into an additional toll booth.

After the Patent

When the patent expires, NoChords will abandon pursuit of patent-style exclusivity over the system rather than trying to recreate it through another control mechanism. The guitar model names are intended to be abandoned to the public domain as well.

NoChords, LLC will retain the continuing trademark rights in the NoChords wordmark and NoChords graphic logos. Those marks identify the source and governance of the NoChords brand; they are different from ownership of the underlying method after the patent term ends.

Why Any License Fee Exists

The small licensing fee supports fair access, administration, compatibility, and public-benefiting governance of the NoChords system so builders, publishers, and players can rely on a stable specification while the patent is in force and as the system transitions beyond it.