On this pageWhat a buyer may do

Maru Commercial License

The licence for modules sold on Maru: buyers play and install them, the source stays closed, nobody remixes or redistributes them.

Draft, for review, not legal advice. 2026-10-25. This page states the intent of the Maru Commercial License in plain language. It is not legal text and will change after legal review. Until a final version is published, it does not replace the beta terms on Licensing.

The Maru Commercial License, version 1.0 (maru-commercial-1.0), is for modules that are sold. Maru uses it for its own commercial plug-ins, and any creator can choose it for a module they sell on Maru. The module page shows it with the price and the line Reuse: Play and install only.

What a buyer may do

  • Play and install the module on the computers its plug-in licence allows, in the Maru host plug-ins, in a DAW or on the site.
  • Make music with it. Audio, MIDI and presets you make with the module belong to you, including for commercial releases. The licence covers the module, not what you make with it.

What it does not allow

  • Remixing or forking. The module is published without its source, so there is nothing to open in Studio or start a project from, and Maru refuses a remix of it.
  • Importing it into another module, as source or as a linked program, unless the author grants that separately.
  • Redistributing the module, its built files or its presets, or sharing a licence with people who did not buy it.

How it is sold

  • The author sets a price on the module's listing. Buying it gives the buyer an entitlement to the module on their account.
  • A native plug-in checks that entitlement when it is activated, as described in Plug-in licensing. The author chooses how many computers one purchase may activate and whether there is a free trial.
  • The author keeps the copyright. The checkout names the seller and the refund terms of the sale.

For authors

Choose this licence when you want to sell a module and keep its source private. Publish it without its source (maru publish --no-source) and declare in its package.json that others may only play it:

json
{
  "maru": {
    "share": { "dsp": "product", "face": "product" },
    "listing": { "license": "maru-commercial-1.0" }
  }
}

To let other people remix your module instead, choose the Maru Remix License or an open licence.

Open questions before 1.0 is final

  • Whether a buyer may move a licence to another person.
  • What happens to an installed module after a refund.
  • Whether a subscription can grant the same rights as a one-time purchase.