KAN Samples
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Guide

Glossary of terms

Every term we use on the platform, defined in one place. Skim it or use Cmd+F.

Ambassador
A producer who has self-attested to sharing at least one track or finish on social media. Earned by tapping "I shared it!" on any share kit page. Cosmetic flair only - no XP, no leaderboard impact. See Share kit.
Broken hardcore
State of a hardcore run after the user has missed at least one stage's deadline. They can still finish in normal mode (and still get the 2,000 XP finish reward + normal certificate + prizes), but the +5,000 hardcore XP and hardcore-only rewards are no longer reachable for this challenge.
Cadence (Daily / Weekly / Instant)
The pace at which stages unlock for an enrolled user. Daily = 24 hours between stages; Weekly = 7 days; Instant = all stages live immediately upon enrolment.
Certificate
A personalised, shareable artefact issued automatically when a producer finishes a challenge. Lives at /certificates/<id> as a public live page; also downloadable as a PDF. Snapshots the artist's name at issue time so later renames don't rewrite history.
Challenge
A multi-stage music-production run built around a specific KAN Samples sample pack. Submitting a track for every stage earns a finish.
Disqualified (DQ)
Admin-applied state on a song that violates the rules. DQ'd songs stay visible with a "DQ" badge, but can no longer be liked. All existing likes are wiped at the moment of disqualification.
Finish
The state a producer enters when they've submitted a track for every stage of a challenge. Recorded permanently and unlocks: a certificate, XP, prize eligibility, and a slot on the Hall of Fame.
Hall of Fame
A per-challenge leaderboard of every producer who has finished it. Default ranking is by total likes received across all stage submissions; sortable by recency or artist name. Each finisher card is expandable to show their per-stage tracks.
Hardcore mode
Optional commitment made before starting a challenge: submit every stage's track before that stage's own deadline (one stage interval after it unlocks). Reward: +5,000 XP, a hardcore badge, and possibly hardcore-only prizes. Miss a deadline and the hardcore status is permanently broken for that challenge. See Hardcore mode.
Leaderboard
The global all-time ranking of producers based on a weighted score of plays received, likes received, submissions, finishes, and hardcore finishes. Distinct from XP. See Leaderboard scoring.
Level
Cosmetic progression tier driven by total XP. Cubic curve, capped at L100. Cumulative XP for level n ≈ 6.5 × (n − 1)³.
Manual review
A flag on a challenge that holds finishes in pending until the KAN Samples team approves them. While pending: finish is not visible on the Hall of Fame, XP isn't granted, and prizes aren't claimable. The producer sees their own submissions normally and gets a notification when the review completes.
Replacement
Swapping out a submitted track for a different version. Allowed any time before the next stage unlocks. Once locked in, the submission can only be changed by admin. Hardcore finishers get a one-stage exception on the final stage (replaceable until that stage's deadline).
Share kit
A page with downloadable social-media assets for a track or a finished challenge: branded image cards in three aspect ratios, an on-demand waveform video, and a suggested caption.
Stage
A single milestone within a challenge. Each stage has its own prompt and unlocks on the producer's personal clock based on the challenge cadence.
Stage interval
The amount of time between stage unlocks (24h for Daily, 7 days for Weekly, 0 for Instant). Also defines a hardcore-mode stage deadline: submission must land before unlock + interval.
Submission
A single uploaded track tied to a specific stage of a specific challenge. Can be replaced before lock-in.
XP
Personal progression points. Earned for plays, likes given, likes received, submissions, finishes, and clean hardcore finishes. Immutable - never refunded. See Levels & XP.