Welcome to SoundCloud, a service provided by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG and its affiliates, including SoundCloud, Inc. and Repost Network Inc. (hereinafter “SoundCloud”). Capitalized terms used in this Privacy Policy that are not specifically defined shall have the meanings given to the applicable capitalized terms in the SoundCloud Terms of Use.
Your privacy is important to us. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, store, use, disclose and otherwise process your personal data when you use soundcloud.com and m.soundcloud.com (together, the “Website”), our mobile and desktop apps (the “Apps”) and all related sites, players, widgets, tools, data, software, APIs and other services provided by SoundCloud (the “Services”). This Privacy Policy applies to any Website, Apps, or Services by SoundCloud that refers to this Privacy Policy, i.e. by linking to it.
For employees with California residency, our privacy notice applicable to past, current, and prospective employees and similar individuals, as well as their beneficiaries and emergency contacts, can be accessed by clicking here.
This Privacy Policy explains the following, amongst other things:
Information relating to our use of cookies and similar technologies is set out in our Cookie Policy, which forms part of the Privacy Policy. When we refer to the Privacy Policy, we are referring to the Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.
Please take some time to read this Privacy Policy, along with our Terms of Use, in order to ensure you understand and are comfortable with our use and disclosure of your personal data.
Please note that this Privacy Policy only applies to the Website, Apps and Services (together, the “Platform”). When using the Platform, you may find links to other websites, apps and services, or tools that enable you to share information with other websites, apps and services. SoundCloud is not responsible for the privacy practices of these other websites, apps and services and we recommend that you review the privacy policies of each of these websites, apps or services before connecting your SoundCloud account or sharing any personal data.
If you do not agree to any of the provisions of this Privacy Policy, you should not use the Platform. If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, you can contact us through the Help Center or at dataprotection@soundcloud.com.
SoundCloud is committed to putting its users first and believes you should know what personal data we collect about you, why we collect it, and how we use and share it. That’s why we’ve designed this Privacy Policy to give you simple, clear, and actionable information about our privacy and data protection practices.
We believe users should also have meaningful choices over the personal data we collect, use and share as described in this Privacy Policy, your Settings and the Help Center. We encourage you to take full advantage of these tools.
With regard to data processing within the framework of SoundCloud’s internal administration and joint procedures through centralized systems, SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG, SoundCloud Inc. and Repost Network Inc. act as joint controllers. The joint processes particularly pertain to the operation and use of joint databases, platforms and IT systems. With respect to the joint processes, SoundCloud determines the purposes and means of processing. In a separate agreement on joint controllership pursuant to Article 26 GDPR, SoundCloud determines how the respective tasks and responsibilities of the processing of personal data are structured and who fulfils which data protection obligations. In particular, it is determined how an appropriate level of security and how your rights as a data subject can be ensured, how the information duties under data protection law can be jointly fulfilled and how potential data protection incidents can be monitored. This includes reporting and notification obligations.
In the event SoundCloud does not act as a joint controller, the sole controller, as given the meaning by data protection legislation, is either:
If you are located in the United States, SoundCloud Inc., 2 Gansevoort St, 6th Floor, New York, New York 10014, dataprotection@soundcloud.com,
or if you are located outside of the United States, SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG, Rheinsberger Str. 76/77, 10115 Berlin, Germany, dataprotection@soundcloud.com,
We may share your data within our corporate group of companies that are related by common ownership or control (“SoundCloud Group”) and the data of US users may be processed by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG on SoundCloud Inc.’s behalf. The personal data of users who have signed up for SoundCloud Direct may be processed by Repost Network Inc. doing business as SoundCloud Direct on behalf of the respective Data Controller.
SoundCloud provides statistics and insights about the performance of a particular sound recording and its underlying composition uploaded to the Platform (“Track”). These statistics and insights are provided to any person (including Creators) or entity owning or controlling a Track (“Rightsholders”) and include information about how fans interact with their Tracks on the Platform to make Rightsholders better understand their fanbase ("Rightsholder Insights"). Rightsholder Insights are processed in joint controllership between SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG and the respective Rightsholder, subject to the applicable agreement to be found here.
The collection and processing of your data is governed by the law applicable to your respective Data Controller, as outlined above.
With that being said, SoundCloud follows European law and the GDPR where applicable to ensure adequate protection of your personal data. Data collection and processing under GDPR may be based on your consent (see Art. 6 lit. a) GDPR), contractual purposes (see Art. 6 lit. b) GDPR) or, in exceptional cases, for legitimate purposes, which we weigh against your data protection interests (see Art. 6 lit. f) GDPR). We have specified the legal bases for individual data processing activities in more detail below.
We may also use our user’s personal data under GDPR if:
Processing is necessary to fulfil a legal obligation to which the person responsible is subject (see Art. 6 lit. c) GDPR);
Processing is necessary to protect the vital interests of the data subject or another natural person (Art. 6 lit. d) GDPR); or
Processing is necessary for the performance of a task that is in the public interest or takes place in the exercise of official authority that has been assigned to the person responsible (see Art. 6 lit. e) GDPR).
Any personal data we collect falls into one of three general categories:
Personal data you provide to us,
Personal data we collect automatically,
Personal data we obtain from third parties.
We ask for and collect the below personal data when you use the Platform. This personal data is necessary for the adequate performance of the platform, to meet the requirements of the contract present between you and us and to comply with our obligations thereunder.
You don’t need to register for a SoundCloud account in order to visit or use our Platform. However, certain Services require that you register for an account and, by doing so, you will need to provide us with certain personal data:
Account Information - When you register with any kind of SoundCloud account, you will need to provide your email address (except when you sign-up with Facebook, Google or Apple and don’t give your permission to share it with SoundCloud), your age, a username (which may be your real name or a pseudonym) and a password.
Profile Information - you may choose, at your discretion, to provide additional personal data for your public profile on SoundCloud – for example:
your real name
your gender
the city and country in which you live
a profile picture, profile header image or avatar
any content associated with your Track uploads (all audio (including podcasts), text, pictures, graphics, comments, and other content, data or information that you upload, including your compositions, metadata, song names, composer names, creators’ names, performers’ names, group names, producers’ names, album artworks and your name, image, likeness and biographical information) (“Materials”).
information about how you categorize yourself with respect to your Materials (for example, whether you are a musician, a label or some other category of creator)
details of your other websites and social media profiles, including links to those pages
any personally identifiable data from your Tracks or respective meta-data will be published on your profile page in accordance with our Terms of Use. This personal data will be publicly accessible and may be viewed by anyone accessing the Website, or using our API or other Services. Please be aware that a profile picture is mandatory when you request profile verification via your Settings in the “Account” tab.
Subscriptions - If you purchase a Subscription, you must provide your real name, billing address, and payment verification information. Please be aware that we only get payment verification information and no further details of your payment, as outlined in the respective section of this Privacy Policy. Any use of such personal data is for contractual purposes.
SoundCloud Direct - In the event you use the services of SoundCloud Direct, you must provide your real name, payment information and personal data necessary to operate and maintain your monetization and/or distribution with SoundCloud Direct (e.g. content identification information such ISRC codes).
Music Publishing - In the event you use the services of music publishing administration, you must provide your real name, payment information and personal data necessary to operate and maintain your music publishing administration (e.g. publisher, sub-publisher information as well as performance rights and or mechanical rights organization information and content identification data, such as interested party Information (IPI) numbers, ISWC numbers).
Communications - When you communicate with SoundCloud by email or through the Platform, or use the Platform to communicate with other users, we collect personal data about your communication and any personal data you choose to provide based on contractual purposes.
Survey Information - If you participate in any survey, you may provide certain personal data as part of your response, unless you respond anonymously. The personal data you provided is only processed based on your consent.
Information You Post - You may provide personal data when you upload Tracks to the Platform, when you post comments, or when you contribute to community discussions. This is based on your own choice, and in accordance with our Terms of Use, we may use such data for contractual purposes.
Information Provided For Tax or Financial Reasons
Tax ID/VAT - We also collect your tax ID or VAT number if applicable. If you join SoundCloud Direct as a business, this personal data is required to enable proper tax accounting purposes.
Other Tax Payee Information and W9 Certifications (US Only) - If you are located in the U.S., we will collect certain personal data and certifications from you, which enables us to report eligible payouts to the Internal Revenue Service.
PayPal Email Address - In order to be able to remit any revenue earned through your monetized tracks to your designated PayPal account, we ask you to provide us with the email address that is connected to the PayPal account in which you wish to receive your eligible payouts.
There is certain personal data that we collect automatically as the result of your use of the Platform, subject to the choices you make in your Settings, or through the use of cookies and other web analytics services as described in our Cookie Policy. This personal data generally includes:
Usage Information - We collect personal data about your interactions with the Platform, including the pages that you visit and links you click on, streaming, offline listening or downloading Tracks, uploading or recording Tracks, connecting your Facebook, Google or Apple account, sharing a Track with another user, following or unfollowing another user, posting a comment, performing a search, the time, frequency and duration of your visits to the Platform, and whether you interact with email messages, for example, if you opened, clicked on, or forwarded the email message. This use of your personal data is based solely on contractual purposes should you have accepted our Terms of Use. If you have not registered on SoundCloud, the use of this personal data is based on our legitimate interest. Please be aware that we need such usage data as we are under contractual obligation to track use of content by our content providers.
Log Data – We automatically collect log information when you use the Platform, even if you have not registered for an account or logged in. That personal data includes, among other things: details about how you’ve used the Platform (including links to third party sites or services), Internet Protocol (IP) address, access times, your browser type and operating system, device information, device event information (e.g., crashes, browser type), and the page you’ve viewed or engaged with before or after using the Platform. This personal data is essential for our service and is therefore either based on contractual purposes or on legitimate interest if no contract exists. Please be aware that we need log data as we are under contractual obligation to track use of content by our content providers.
Cookies – We use cookies and other similar technologies, such as pixels, local storage, and mobile device identifiers and may also allow our business partners to use these tracking technologies on the Platform, or engage others to track your behavior on our behalf. Type, number and function of cookies can vary depending on your individual selection. For more information on our use of these technologies, see our Cookie Policy.
Location Data – When you use certain features of the Platform, we may collect personal data about your general location. Physical locations collected through our Platform are associated with non-personally identifiable data including but not limited to device type, browser type, operating system. We use such personal data to deliver personalized location-based services or content. In some instances, you may be permitted to allow or deny such use of your device’s location, but if you choose to deny such use, we may not be able to provide you with the applicable personalized services or content. We use this personal data to provide you with location-based services (such as advertising and personalized content). Most mobile devices allow you to control or disable the use of location services for applications in the device’s settings. Such use of personal data is based on your consent, either within our Platform or within your device where you provided your consent when prompted.
Device Information – We collect personal data from and about the devices you use, including how you interact with the Platform and information about the device itself, such as the hardware model, operating system, IP addresses, cookie information, device settings, mobile carrier information, mobile device and advertising identifiers, apps installed, browser type, language, battery level and time zone. This information allows us to recognize and associate your activity, and provide personalized content and advertising, consistently across all of your devices. Such use of personal data is based on your consent given either within our Platform or within your device.
Software Development Kits (“SDK”) - We may use third parties including our business partners and service providers who use mobile SDKs to collect personal data and information related to how mobile devices interact with the Platform. An SDK is computer code that app developers can include in their apps to enable ads to be shown, personal data to be collected and related services and functionality to be implemented. We may use this technology, for instance, to analyze how you interact with Materials and advertisements and to enable analytics or other features through mobile devices. However, such use will be based on your consent.
SoundCloud Widget - Other websites may integrate SoundCloud widgets; when you visit a website with a SoundCloud widget embedded, we may receive certain personal data, including personal data about the website you visited. SoundCloud and the widget may be able to recognize you in order to retrieve your library of content, and in some cases the widget may be used to show personalized content. We know when you interact with a widget, and websites containing the widgets may receive this information as well. Such use is subject to the privacy policy of the third party website or app that has integrated a SoundCloud widget.
Single-Sign Ons – If you sign up for SoundCloud through a third party application such as Facebook, Google or Apple, you authorize us to collect your authentication information, such as your username and encrypted access credentials, and other personal data available through the third party application account, including the following personal data:
Facebook Connect – If you have a Facebook profile, you can register on our website to create a user account or to register using the "Facebook Connect" social plugin run by the Facebook social network, which is operated by Facebook, Inc., 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA ("Facebook"), using what is known as Single Sign-On technology. You can recognize the "Facebook Connect" social plugins on our website by the blue button with the Facebook logo and the inscription "Register with Facebook" or "Connect with Facebook" or "Log in with Facebook" or "Sign in with Facebook". When you visit a page of our website that contains a social plugin, your browser makes a direct connection to the Facebook servers. The content of the plugin is transferred from Facebook directly to your browser, which then embeds it into the website. Through the integrated plugin, Facebook receives the information that your browser has accessed the corresponding page of our website, even if you do not have a Facebook profile or are not currently logged in to Facebook. This information (including your IP address) is transmitted by your browser directly to a Facebook server in the US and stored there. These data processing operations are carried out on the basis of Facebook's legitimate interest in the displaying of personalized advertising on the basis of browsing behavior. By using the "Facebook Connect" button on our website, you can also log in or register on our website using your Facebook user data. Depending on your personal data protection settings on Facebook, we will only receive general information that is publicly accessible and stored in your profile when you use Facebook’s "Facebook Connect" button if you give your express consent prior to the registration process on the basis of a corresponding notification on the exchange of data with Facebook. This information includes your user ID, name, profile picture, age and gender. We would like to point out that with your consent or in case of changes to Facebook's privacy policy and terms of use, your profile pictures, your friends' user IDs and friends list may be transferred if these have been marked as "public" in your Facebook privacy settings. Apart from connecting your Facebook account with your SoundCloud account for the purposes of registration and signing in, you may provide, based on your free choice (i.e. with your expressed consent) further personal data from your Facebook profile with Facebook Connect to enrich your use and enjoyment of our Platform. This especially applies to your likes and/or usage, listening and viewing behavior as well as your friends within Facebook. In case you decide to share this information with us, we will display relevant artists, playlists and such to you for your liking. We will store and process the personal data transmitted by Facebook to create a user account with the necessary personal data, provided you have approved this on Facebook. Conversely, based on your consent, personal data (e.g. on your surfing or purchasing behavior) may be transferred from us to your Facebook profile. Please see Facebook's privacy policies for the purpose and scope of data collection and the further processing and use of data by Facebook, as well as your rights and settings options for protecting your privacy. If you do not wish Facebook to associate any data collected via our website with your Facebook profile, you should log out of Facebook before you visit our website. You can also completely avoid loading the Facebook plugin with add-ons for your browser.
Google – You can sign up and log in to SoundCloud using your Google account. When you sign up using Google, Google will ask your permission to share certain information from your Google account with SoundCloud. This includes your Google email address, birthdate (optional), gender (optional), and avatar (optional). This information is collected by Google and is provided to us under the terms of Google’s privacy policy. You can regulate the information that we receive from Google using your Google activity controls. If you signed up using Google by mistake, you can delete your account from the Account page within your Settings at any time, or you can contact us via the Help Center.
Apple - You may also sign up and log in to SoundCloud using your Apple-ID. When you sign up using your Apple-ID, Apple will ask your permission to share certain information from your Apple account with SoundCloud. This includes your Apple email address, birthdate (optional), gender (optional), and avatar (optional). This information is collected by Apple and is provided to us under the terms of Apple’s privacy policy. You can regulate the information that we receive from Apple using your Apple-ID settings. If you signed up using Apple by mistake, you can delete your account from the Account page within your Settings at any time, or you can contact us via the Help Center.
Service Providers and Business Partners – We may also receive personal data about you from our service providers and business partners, including companies that assist with payment processing, analytics, advertising, marketing, data processing and management (e.g. to measure ad quality and responses to ads, and to display ads that are more likely to be relevant to you, including for SoundCloud products) account management, hosting, customer and technical support, content moderation, and other services which we use to personalize your SoundCloud experience. We explain in more detail why and how we use this personal data below.
Android IDs - We collect your Google Android’s Advertising ID (“AAID”). You can reset these numbers through the settings of your device’s operating system (we do not control this). Such identifiers will only be used for further analysis subject to your consent.
Apple IDs - We collect your Apple Identifier for Advertising (“IDFA”). You can reset these numbers through the settings of your device’s operating system (we do not control this). Such identifiers will only be used for further analysis subject to your consent.
Cross App Tracking on Apple Devices - Starting with iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5, and tvOS 14.5, we will need to receive your permission through the AppTrackingTransparency framework to access and track you through your device’s advertising identifier (see above “IDFA”). Tracking refers to the act of linking user or device data collected from our app with user or device data collected from other companies’ apps, websites, or offline properties for targeted advertising or advertising measurement purposes. Tracking also refers to sharing user or device data with data brokers. The use of such tracking is subject to your consent and therefore may only be exercised by us with such consent. Apple allows the ID for Vendors (IDFV) to be used for analytics across apps from the same content provider (us). The IDFV may not be combined with other data to track a user across apps and websites owned by other companies unless we have been granted permission to track by you. For further information on how we use the SKAdNetwork for attribution tracking please refer to the documentation that Apple provides here.
Payment Verification Information - We use the services of Adyen (Adyen N.V., Simon Carmiggeltstraat 6-50, 1011 DJ, Netherlands, click here for privacy policy), Recurly (Recurly, Inc., San Francisco, CA (HQ), 400 Alabama Street, Suite 202 San Francisco, CA 94110, United States, click here for privacy policy) and Apple Pay (only via in app purchase and subject to the privacy policy of Apple, Inc., and the terms and conditions of the payment provider you are using Apple Pay with) for processing your payments. We will get a verification including information on the respective payment method and your name as well as other non-personally identifiable payment information (for example the expiry date of a credit card) as well as information hashed by the respective payment provider (for example a hashed credit card number).
Payment Processing In the Apple App and Google Play Store - Payment processing services within the relevant Apps and App Stores enable SoundCloud to process payments. SoundCloud does not process or store credit card details, and uses only the information necessary to execute the transaction with the financial intermediaries handling the transaction. Even though we never have access to raw unencrypted card details of a card holder, some of these services may also enable the sending of timed messages to you, such as emails containing invoices or notifications concerning your payment.
External Payment Providers - The payment provider you use for your payment is solely responsible for the payment. Please refer to the terms of service and privacy policy of your payment provider for further information.
We use the personal data we collect from you for a range of different business purposes according to different legal bases of processing and subject to the choices you make in your Settings. We do this with the help of automated systems and decision making. Please be aware that when we refer to automated decision making, we will not use any profiling that produces legal effects concerning you or, similarly, significantly affects you. Automated decisions are concerned with content that may be more relevant for you than other content. We use your personal data to:
Provide, Improve, and Develop the Platform - We process your personal data primarily for the adequate performance of our contract with you (e.g. Terms of Use). We may also process your personal data in light of our legitimate interest in improving the Platform and giving our users the best experience. We do this to:
Operate and maintain your SoundCloud account, and to provide you with access to and use of the Platform. Your email address and password are used to identify you when you log into the Platform. Your device-IDs are used to ensure that you are in control of the devices that have access to your Subscription.
Identify you as the creator of the Tracks that you upload, the comments that you post and/or the other contributions that you make to the Platform.
Provide creators with stats and insights about users’ listening behavior of their Tracks, (i.e. streaming and downloading their Tracks or following their profiles).
Conduct surveys and research, test features in development, and analyze the information we have to evaluate and improve products and services, develop new features, and conduct audits and troubleshooting activities.
If purchasing a Subscription, to process your account subscription and renewals and to collect your payment with the use of payment verification information.
Send you service updates and notifications about your account, unless you opt out from such notifications.
Respond to you about any comment or enquiry you have submitted.
Enable age restrictions.
Maintain a Safe and Secure Environment - We also process your personal data in light of our legitimate interest in improving the security of the Platform (including the security of your personal data) in order to give our users the best experience, and where it is necessary for the adequate performance of our contract with you (e.g. Terms of Use). This includes:
The detection and prevention of fraud, spam, abuse, security incidents, and other suspicious activity.
The verification and authentication of your identity to prevent unauthorized or illegal activity.
The enhancement of the safety and security of our products and services.
The conducting of security investigations and risk assessments.
The prevention or action against activities that are, or may be, in breach of our Terms of Use, Community Guidelines or applicable law.
The ability to provide you with customer and technical support.
Personalize Content, Advertising and Marketing - We process your personal data in this case based on your consent. You can revisit your choices in your settings or in our cookie consent tool. This includes:
To improve your experience on the Platform by providing personalized content, recommendations, and features.
To customize the content and measure performance of any email, push notification, or in-app message we may send to you.
To administer sweepstakes, contests, or other promotional activities or events sponsored or managed by SoundCloud or its partners.
To deliver targeted marketing for SoundCloud products on and off the Platform and measure the success of those campaigns. When seeing our ads on third party websites or apps, we or third party services we engage with for this purpose may collect personal data. This personal data includes the information that your browser or mobile app makes available when seeing the ad (e.g IP address, referral URL, browser details, timestamp of request). For example, if a click on our ad converted to an actual purchase of a subscription.
To help us select which ads to show you on behalf of advertisers, as ads are more effective when they are shown to people who are likely to be interested in the product or service advertised. This includes personal data you choose to provide to us (e.g. age and gender) and make available to us when you interact with the Platform (e.g. by listening, liking or creating playlists), as well as device information and general location data. We may also display ads based on the page you’re on or Materials you have recently viewed, searched, or listened to. This allows us to show you ads that will likely be more relevant and interesting to you.
To collect certain personal data such as cookie data and device information, if we engage with third party services such as ad-networks and exchanges that enable us to show you targeted ads. That personal data is used to sync or match users to segments and serve targeted advertising, based on device activity, inferred interests, and general location information.
To combine personal data that we collect about you with personal data from business partners and use it to serve more relevant advertising.
Combine information we collect about you with information from business partners and use it to serve more relevant advertising.
Newsletters - If you register on our website to receive our newsletter, we collect your email address and your name and save this information together with the date of registration and your IP address. You will then receive an email in which you must confirm your decision to subscribe to the newsletter (double opt-in). If you do not confirm your newsletter subscription within 72 hours, it will automatically expire and the personal data will not be processed for sending the newsletter. We will send the newsletter directly using our own system (Braze).Your personal data will not be passed on to third parties or processors. In the case that you do not confirm your subscription within 72 hours, we will delete the personal data that you provided. After successful confirmation, we will save your personal data until you withdraw your consent (unsubscribe from the newsletter) and for technical reasons beyond this for a maximum of 21 days. This processing is based on your consent. By unsubscribing from the newsletter, you can withdraw your consent at any time with future effect.
Market Research Studies - Based on our legitimate interest, from time to time we will ask you to participate in market research studies and surveys or to do research studies based on anonymized and/or pseudonymized data. There is no obligation to participate in our studies. In the case that you do participate, it will be based on the consent you provide when answering the survey. We deem that the use of anonymized and/or pseudonymized data is covered by our legitimate interest as we will only use such analysis to further improve our research and Platform for the benefit of understanding your needs and enhancing your experience. We will only use the data you provide when answering the market study for other reasons, such as customized product recommendations or notifications based on your consent which you provide ahead of your participation in the market study.
Operate and Maintain SoundCloud Direct Monetization - In the event you use the services of SoundCloud Direct, we use the personal data provided by you to operate and maintain your monetization and/or distribution with SoundCloud Direct. The personal data will be used to calculate the eligible revenue to be paid out to you and affect the payments into your PayPal account or any other accepted payment provider.
This section describes how the personal data collected or generated through your use of the Platform may be shared by you or by us.
Through Your Profile – Any personal data in your public profile (other than your email address) will be accessible by other users of the Platform, who may view your profile information, listen to and comment on any of your public Tracks, add themselves to your list of followers, and send you messages. Artist profile owners will be able to see in their statistics that you have listened to the Tracks they uploaded along with a ranking of who listened to their Tracks the most. They will also be able to see how many times you have listened to any of their Tracks, and that you are following them. This is to allow creators to track the popularity of their Tracks. Similarly, if you comment on any Tracks on the Platform, your comments will be available to all users of the Platform together with your profile name and picture. More information is available in the SoundCloud Fan Insights document here.
Service Providers – We use a variety of service providers, some of who may be located outside of the European Economic Area (“EEA”), to provide services to us or to our users on our behalf. These service providers have access to your personal data solely to perform these tasks on our behalf, and are contractually bound to implement appropriate organizational and technical security measures to protect against unauthorized disclosure of personal data, and only to process personal data in accordance with our instructions and to the extent necessary to provide their services to us. We need to share your personal data in order to ensure the adequate performance of our contract with you. For instance, we work closely with service providers in the area of customer service (i.e. help center, content moderation), with technical service providers (e.g. running computer centers) or music service providers (i.e. rights administration) and payment service providers. These service providers may generally only process your personal data on our behalf under special conditions. When using such service providers, we guarantee an adequate level of data protection and will use any contractual and actual safeguards to comply with respective regulations (like the GDPR, Standard Contractual Clauses or the CCPA).
Rightsholders - The Platform allows you to listen to a variety of Tracks, including licensed streaming content. We share personal data with rightsholders that license Tracks to us to help them understand how the Tracks that they provide are performing, including insights about general or individual user listening trends and preferences; this can possibly include your public profile details as well as basic usage data (for example interactions with Tracks). We share this personal data based on our legitimate interest, as our contracts with these rightsholders state that they will be granted these insights. Their interest prevails over your legitimate interest in the safekeeping of your public profile information and basic usage data.
Collecting Societies - Due to legal obligations, we are obliged in many countries around the world to transmit pseudonymized or anonymized usage data to collecting societies.
Advertising – We share the personal data collected about you, in hashed, aggregated, or de-identified forms with advertisers and advertising service providers and business partners in order to serve ads based on interests of respective segments and to measure the reach and effectiveness of those ads, including whether a user took an action(e.g. purchased a product). We may also share cookie data and device identifiers with service providers for data matching purposes, in order to improve ad targeting. You can find a detailed overview of our advertisers here.Please be aware that where such personal data of yours is identifiable, we will only use it with your consent.
Social Media – For users outside of the EU/EEA and where permissible under applicable law we may share your email address (in hashed form, so that it does not identify you) with Facebook in order to target you with ads for SoundCloud products on Facebook and on third party websites and applications in the Meta Audience Network. For users within the EU/EEA this is only permissible with your explicit consent. We also allow Facebook and other social media platforms to collect personal data through cookies and similar technologies like pixels in order to serve ads for SoundCloud on those third party websites and apps and drive users to our Platform. In order to measure the effectiveness of and optimize these marketing campaigns, these technologies track activity taken across devices after a user sees a SoundCloud ad, in order to determine performance metrics like sign ups, visits to the Platform, and purchases. Any questions regarding how these social media platform service providers process your personal data should be directed to them.
Aggregated Data – We may also share aggregated and anonymized personal data (personal data about our users that we render in such a way that it no longer identifies or references an individual user) and other pseudonymized personal data for regulatory compliance, industry and market analysis, demographic profiling, marketing and advertising, and other business purposes.
API Integrations – SoundCloud has an open application-programming interface (API), which enables application developers to integrate elements of the Platform into other apps. Some of these developers may be located outside of the EEA but will always, if user data is concerned, sign a Data Processing Addendum and accordingly (where applicable) EU-US Standard Contract Clauses. Any personal data you choose to make public on the Platform, including your public profile information and any public Tracks, may be accessible to these developers, subject to our API Terms of Use. Please bear this in mind when deciding what information to publish on your profile. For information on how to limit the information that is available through the API, please see the Your Choices and Controls section below.
Third Party Applications – If you choose to connect your SoundCloud account to other apps or social networks such as Facebook, you may be sharing certain personal data with these apps or networks. Materials that you share with social media networks will appear on your timeline (or similar functions) as well as in news feeds that may be viewed by the public or by certain followers, subject to the terms and conditions of such social media networks. In the case of connected apps, you will need to provide the app developer with full access to your SoundCloud account in order to upload and download Tracks, or comment on, favorite, or repost Tracks from within the app. This means sharing your public information, plus access to your private Tracks. SoundCloud is not responsible for these other apps or networks, so please make sure you only connect your account with apps or services that you trust. For information on how to control the personal data that you share, and how to disconnect your account from these apps, please see the Your Choices and Controls section below. If you do not want this information shared with such social media networks or other Third Party Applications, please change your SoundCloud Settings on our Platform or in those networks.
Use of Your Name and Other User Identifiers in Sharing Links - When sharing personal data from our platform on other platforms, especially social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram, we may use your pseudonymized data. If a user clicks on your shared link and is lead to our platform, the user will be presented with a banner telling the user that you (in this context, your profile name will be displayed) are using SoundCloud and/or that you shared this link, and the user will then be asked if they want to follow you. Such use by us is considered a legitimate interest as it enriches our user experience and the way our users connect with each other. As we assume that you share links responsibly with people whom you want to interact with, we also assume that your interest in the safekeeping of your personal data is not affected, especially since we only use pseudonymized data within the link itself. Please be aware that your shared link may be shared further by other parties.
Compliance with Laws – We may disclose your personal data to courts, law enforcement agencies, and governmental authorities (i) to comply with our legal obligations, (ii) to comply with legal process and to respond to claims asserted against SoundCloud, (iii) to respond to verified requests relating to a criminal investigation or alleged or suspected illegal activity or any other activity that may expose us, you, or any other of our users to legal liability, (iv) to enforce and administer our Terms of Use and other agreements with users, or (v) to protect the rights, property or personal safety of SoundCloud, its employees, and members of the public.
Protecting our Rights – We may disclose your personal data if we feel it is necessary in order to protect or defend our legitimate rights and interests, or those of our users, employees, directors, officers, or shareholders, and/or to ensure the safety and security of the Platform and/or the SoundCloud community.
Change of Control – We may also share your personal data as part of a sale, merger or change in control of SoundCloud, or in preparation for any of these events. Any other entity that buys us or part of our business will have the right to continue to use your personal data, but only in the manner set out in this Privacy Policy.
Targeted Communications & Advertising - Here you will find a list of external advertising partners with whom we cooperate and share personal data (often in aggregated or de-identified forms) for analytics, targeted communications and targeted advertising purposes, should you have consented and not turned these toggles off in your settings. Any such consent will be gained through our cookie consent tool or via your settings in your account.
SoundCloud Direct - In the event you choose to grant other users access to your SoundCloud Direct account, or in the event you set up our Split Pay feature, some personal data, such as your name and email address, will be available to those users. Additionally, if you use SC Planner, your SC Planner profile will be visible to other users in the “Leaderboard” section of the App, unless you elect to make your profile invisible in your settings.
As further described in our Cookie Policy we use cookies and similar technologies (e.g. pixels, local storage, and device identifiers) to recognize you and/or your device(s) on and off the Platform, and across devices. To the extent allowed by your settings or your device, we also allow third parties to use cookies as described in our Cookie Policy in order to track user behavior on and off the Platform in order to show you ads based on your interests and preferences. You can control cookies through your browser and other tools as described in the Cookie Policy.
Please be aware any use of cookies is subject to your consent, except for technical storage or access for transmitting communication, or as strictly necessary to provide a service which was explicitly requested by a user.
You will find information regarding the use of cookies from specific third parties when making the choice of cookies you want to allow within our cookie consent tool. Further information is provided in your account settings under “advertising”, where you may as well toggle your choices after your first decision.
SoundCloud maintains appropriate technical, administrative, and physical safeguards that are designed to prevent unauthorized access, use or disclosure of personal data we collect or store and to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk of varying likelihood and severity for the rights and freedoms of natural persons that may be involved with our processing operations. We regularly monitor our systems for possible vulnerabilities and attacks. However, it is not possible to guarantee the security of personal data transmitted over the Internet. You use the Platform and provide us with personal data at your own discretion and risk.
SoundCloud operates globally and may share your personal data internally within the SoundCloud Group and third parties for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. Personal data collected within the EEA may, for example, be transferred to countries outside of the EEA for the purposes as described in this Privacy Policy. We utilize appropriate safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission, or another legally approved mechanism, to ensure the lawful transfer of your personal data outside of the EEA. The Standard Contractual Clauses can be accessed at any time here. Alternatively, you can request these documents from us using the contact details given below.
SoundCloud is not intended for use by children. Anyone under the age of 16 in the EEA and UK, or 13 in the United States and the rest of the world, is not permitted to use the Platform and must not attempt to register an account or submit any personal data to us. We do not knowingly collect any personal data from any person who is under the age of 16 or 13, as the case may be, or allow them to register an account. If it comes to our attention that we have collected personal data from a person under the age of 16 or 13, as applicable, we will delete this personal data as quickly as possible. If you have reason to believe that we may have collected any such personal data, please notify us immediately at dataprotection@soundcloud.com.
To allow us to communicate with you on third party social networks and inform you about our services, we run pages on third party social networks. If you visit our pages on any of these third party social media pages, we and the provider of the third party social media network are joint controllers regarding the processing operations thereby triggered, which concern personal data. We are not the original provider of these pages, but only use them within the scope of the options offered to us by the respective providers.
For our EU/EEA based users, we would like to point out that your personal data may also be processed outside of the EU or the EEA. Use of these networks may therefore involve data protection risks for you since the protection of your rights may be difficult, e.g. your right to information, erasure, objection, etc. Processing on social networks frequently takes place directly for advertising purposes or for the analysis of user behavior by network providers, and we have no control over this. If the provider creates user profiles, cookies are often used or user behavior may be assigned directly to your own member profile on the respective social network (if you are logged in).
The processing operations of personal data described are carried out on the basis of our legitimate interests and the legitimate interests of the respective provider in order to communicate with you in a timely manner or to inform you about our services. If you get asked to grant your consent to the respective providers to process your personal data as a user, your consent is the legal basis for this processing.
Since we have no access to these providers’ databases, we would like to point out that you would be best situated to exercise your rights (e.g. to information, rectification, erasure, etc.) directly with the respective provider. More information on the processing of your personal data on social networks and your options for exercising your right to object or your right of revocation (opt out) is listed below for each of the social network providers we use:
Facebook - (Jointly) For Europe: Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd, 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland
Instagram - (Jointly) For Europe: Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd, 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland
Twitter - (Jointly) For Europe: Twitter International Company, One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2, D02 AX07, Ireland
LinkedIn - (Jointly) For Europe: LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland
TikTok - (Jointly) For Europe: TikTok Technology Limited, 10 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin, D02 T380, Ireland. For Great Britain: TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited, WeWork, 125 Kingsway, London, WC2B 6NH, England
Snapchat - (Jointly) Snap Inc., 2772 Donald Douglas Loop North Santa Monica, CA 90405, USA. For Europe: Snap Group Limited, 77 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 5DU, United Kingdom
Twitch - (Jointly) Twitch Interactive, Inc., 225 Bush Street, 6th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94104, USA
We do our best to give you as much choice as possible regarding the amount of personal data you provide to us, and the control you have over that personal data.
Managing SoundCloud Settings - If you register an account, you may manage the content and personal data you share when you use SoundCloud through your account Settings, including for the features explained below. You are solely responsible for keeping your Settings up-to-date.
Email & Device Notifications – You can adjust your Settings in the “Notification” tab to disable email and device notifications (other than important service updates and essential notifications about the Platform or your account). All commercial emails and newsletters also allow you to unsubscribe at any time.
Analytics – To control whether we collect analytics and usage information, including through cookies and similar technologies, you can adjust your Settings in the “Privacy” tab (“Cookie Manager”).
Marketing – If you do not want to receive personalized ads, offers or other marketing messages for SoundCloud products or services, you can adjust your Settings in the “Privacy” tab (choose Communications in Your “Cookie Manager”).
Advertising – If you do not want SoundCloud to deliver “interest based” or personalized ads for third party products, you can adjust your Settings in the “Advertising” tab. Please note, however, that even if you opt out of personalized ads, you may still see ads, but they will likely not be as relevant or useful to you.
Material Sharing – It’s not possible to make your account entirely private. However, you do have the option to make all of your Tracks, playlists and other uploads private. This means that no one will be able to access and listen to your Tracks without your explicit permission. You can learn more about these settings here.
Third Party Apps – If you have chosen to connect your account to a third-party application, like Facebook or Google, you can disable permission for the app by adjusting your Settings in the “Account” tab.
Third Party Developers – SoundCloud has an open API, which allows third party developers to build some really cool apps as an extension of the Platform. If you would prefer that your Tracks are not made available to third party app developers, you can disable API access within the sound page for each of the Tracks that you upload. Click on the pencil icon below the waveform player, and navigate to the “Permissions” tab and uncheck the “enable app playback” box. Please note that your public profile information will still be accessible, but this does not include anything that is not publicly available on the Platform.
Deleting Your SoundCloud Account – If you have an account and would like to delete it, you may do so by adjusting your Settings in the account tab. If you delete your account, all personal data associated with your account (except for backup copies), including the Tracks that you have uploaded and the usage data associated with those Tracks, will be deleted and may not be recoverable. We therefore advise you to copy or backup all Materials uploaded to your account before deletion. Even if you delete your account, it is possible that your personal data may still show up in some internet search results for a short while afterwards, if the search engine maintains a temporary cache of web pages. Search engines’ caching processes are outside of SoundCloud’s control and therefore we cannot be responsible for any personal data that remains cached by search engines after that personal data has been removed from the Platform. Please note that deleting any SoundCloud Apps, or any third party apps to which your account is connected, will not delete your account. Similarly, if you delete a third party app that is connected to your account over our API, this will not necessarily delete all personal data about your activity on the Platform from within that third party app. You will need to refer to the app provider’s terms of use and privacy policy to find out how to delete personal data about your activity on the Platform from that third party app.
Messages From Other Users - If you do not want to receive messages from users you don’t follow, you can adjust your settings in the “Privacy” tab. If you want to block users, you will have to do so on their respective profiles. Any blocked user will be shown in your settings in the “Privacy” tab.
Managing Device Settings
Managing Browser Settings
If you are a user residing in the EU/EEA, you may exercise any of the rights described in this section through the Help Center or by contacting us at dataprotection@soundcloud.com. Please note that we may ask you to verify your identity before taking further action on your request.
Data Access and Portability - You may be entitled to request copies of your personal data held by us. While a lot of the personal data you provide to us can be accessed in your account settings, you may also be entitled to request copies of personal data you have provided to us in machine-readable format.
Change or Correct Data - Where you cannot update personal data yourself through an account, you have the right to ask us to correct, change, update or rectify your personal data.
Data Retention and Deletion - We generally retain personal data for as long as is necessary to provide services to you under your account, i.e. as long as your contract is ongoing and for the sake of legal obligations, for 3 years following the end of the year in which your contract was canceled - or, for as long as is necessary to provide the Platform to you as a unregistered user. You have the right to ask us to delete all or some of the personal data we hold about you. If you have an account, you can also delete your account through the Settings at any time as described below. We may need to retain some of your personal data even after you have closed your account if reasonably necessary to comply with our legal obligations (e.g. under applicable tax or commercial law or to prevent fraud and abuse and maintain and enhance security). Afterwards, we delete the personal data immediately, unless we need the personal data until the expiry of the statutory period of limitation for the purpose of providing evidence for civil law claims or because of statutory storage obligations (e.g. for accounting reasons).
Objection to Processing - You have the right to object to processing your personal data on grounds relating to your particular situation at any time (in particular, where we don’t have to process the personal data to meet a contractual or other legal requirement, or where we are using the personal data on the basis of our legitimate interests). If you object to such processing, SoundCloud will no longer process your personal data for these purposes unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for such processing or such processing is required for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims or obligations. Where your personal data is processed for direct marketing purposes, you have the right to object to such processing of your personal data at any time and ask SoundCloud to cease processing your data for these direct marketing purposes. However, please be aware that any objection to processing will not necessarily have an impact on the personal data processing before such objection was made, thus such processing will generally be deemed as permissible and will be subject to the usual retention and deletion periods.
Restriction of Processing - You have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data where one of the following applies: your personal data is not accurate anymore; the processing is unlawful and instead of erasing the personal data you request the restriction of use; the personal data is no longer needed by us but required by you for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims; you have objected to the use and the decision on the legitimate grounds for objection is pending.
Withdrawing Consent - Where you provide consent to the processing of your personal data by SoundCloud, you may withdraw your consent at any time by changing your account Settings or by sending a communication to SoundCloud specifying the specific consent you are withdrawing. Please note that the withdrawal of your consent does not affect the lawfulness of any processing activities based on such consent before its withdrawal.
Lodging Complaints - You have the right to lodge complaints about the data processing activities carried out by SoundCloud before a competent data protection authority. A list of EU data protection authorities is available here.
Pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) and other California laws, we are providing the following additional details regarding the categories of personal data about California residents we have collected or disclosed within the preceding 12 months.
The following chart includes: (1) the categories of personal data, as listed in the CCPA, that we plan to collect and have collected and disclosed within the preceding 12 months; and (2) the categories of third parties to which we disclosed personal data for our operational business purposes or to which we sold personal data within the preceding 12 months.
| Categories of Personal Data | Disclosed to Which Categories of Third Parties for Operational Business Purposes | Sold to Which Categories of Third Parties |
|---|---|---|
| Identifiers, such as your name, email address, residential address, date of birth, profile picture, social security number, as well as IP addresses, device IDs, anonymous Repost user IDs, and other similar identifiers | Affiliates; service providers; business partners; joint marketing partners; content partners; social networks; contest sponsors; legal authorities | Advertising partners |
| Personal data as defined in the California customer records law, such as name, contact information, financial information, and tax identification number | Affiliates; service providers; business partners; joint marketing partners; contest sponsors; legal authorities | None |
| Characteristics about you that you choose to provide when you register an account on the Platform, which may include characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law, such as (sex, age, gender, and race, and marital status) like any gender information | Affiliates; service providers; business partners; joint marketing partners; social networks; contest sponsors | Advertising partners |
| Commercial information, such as revenue and/or transaction information related to your content and use of the Platform and SoundCloud Direct Monetization | Affiliates; service providers; business partners; joint marketing partners; contest sponsors | None |
| Financial, tax, and payment information you provide when you create an account or use certain features of the Platform | Affiliates; service providers; business partners; legal authorities | None |
| Internet or network activity information, such as (browsing history, search history and interactions with our online properties or ads) | Affiliates; service providers | None |
| General geolocation data, such as approximate location derived from IP address | Affiliates; service providers; contest sponsors | Advertising partners |
| Audio, images, text, and other electronic information, such as the content you distribute through the Platform | Affiliates; service providers; operating systems and platforms | None |
| Inferences drawn from any of the personal data listed above to create a profile or summary about, for example, an individual’s preferences and characteristics | Affiliates; service providers; ad networks | Advertising partners |
Sales of Personal Data - For purposes of the CCPA, the disclosure of personal data to our advertising partners to provide you with personalized ads may constitute a “sale” in some instances. We do not knowingly sell the personal data of individuals under the age of 16.
Sources of Personal Data - As described above, we collect this personal data from you, from affiliates (e.g., SoundCloud) via single-sign ons, and from our trusted third-party service providers and business partners.
Use of Personal Data - We may use this personal data to operate, manage, and maintain our business, to provide our products and services, and to accomplish our business purposes and objectives, including, for example, to:
To operate and maintain the Platform and your SoundCloud account and to provide you with access to and use of the Platform;
To identify you as the creator of the Tracks that you upload and the comments that you post;
To provide our newsletter to subscribers;
To market and sell our products and services;
To provide personalized content and ads;
To perform market research studies and development;
To perform data and business analytics;
To detect and prevent fraud, spam, abuse, security incidents, or other suspicious activity;
To perform identity verification and authentication and prevent unauthorized or illegal activity;
To process Subscription payments;
To operate and maintain SoundCloud Direct Monetization
To process user inquiries and requests;
To perform security investigations and other risk assessments;
To undertake quality assurance measures;
To maintain our systems and infrastructure;
To comply with law or exercise or defend legal claims;
To prevent or take action against activities that are, or may be, in breach of our Terms of Use, Community Guidelines or applicable law;
To perform accounting, conduct audits and other internal functions; and
To otherwise operate our business and achieve our business objectives
If you are a California resident, you may make the following requests:
Request to Know - You may request that we disclose to you the following information covering the 12 months preceding your request:
The categories of personal data we’ve collected about you; and he categories of sources from which we collected such personal data;
The specific pieces of personal data we collected about you;
The business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling personal data about you;
The categories of personal data about you that we sold and the categories of third parties to whom we sold such personal data; and
The categories of personal data about you that we otherwise shared or disclosed; he categories of third parties with whom we shared or to whom we disclosed such personal data;
Request to Delete - You may request that we delete personal data we have collected from you. To make a Request to Know or a Request to Delete, please use the Help Center or contact us at dataprotection@soundcloud.com or +1 833 993 2002. We will verify and respond to your request consistent with applicable law, taking into account the type and sensitivity of the personal data subject to the request. We may request additional personal data from you in order to verify your identity and protect against fraudulent requests, such as your email address or a picture and then use that information to match it with information we already have. If you maintain a password-protected account with us, we may verify your identity through our existing authentication practices for your account and require you to re-authenticate yourself before disclosing or deleting your personal data. If you make a Request to Delete, we may ask you to confirm your request before we delete your personal data. If you want to make a Request to Know or Request to Delete as an authorized agent on behalf of a California resident, you may use the submission methods noted above. As part of our verification process, we may request that you provide, as applicable, proof concerning your status as an authorized agent, which also may include:
Proof of your registration with the California Secretary of State to conduct business in California;
Proof of a power of attorney from the resident pursuant to Probate Code sections 4121-4130.
If you are an authorized agent and have not provided us with a power of attorney from the resident pursuant to Probate Code sections 4121-4130, we may also require the resident to:
Verify the resident’s own identity directly with us; or
Directly confirm with us that the resident provided you permission to make the request.
Request to Opt Out - You may request to opt-out of any future “sale” of personal data about you by clicking here, by adjusting your Settings in the “Privacy” tab or by contacting us at dataprotection@soundcloud.com or +1 833 993 2002. If you want to make a Request to Opt Out as an authorized agent on behalf of a California resident, you may use the submission methods noted above. As part of our verification process, we may request, as applicable:
Proof of your registration with the California Secretary of State to conduct business in California;
Signed permission that the resident has authorized you to make a Request to Opt-Out on the resident’s behalf. “Signed” means that the permission has either been physically signed or provided electronically in accordance with the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, Civil Code 1633.7 et seq.
Right to None-Discrimination - You also the right to be free from unlawful discriminatory treatment for exercising your rights under the CCPA.
Your Right to Request Removal of Content - Pursuant to California Business & Professions Code section 22581, if you are a resident of California, under 18, and a registered user of the Platform, you may ask us to remove content or information that you have posted to the Platform by writing to dataprotection@soundcloud.com. Please note that your request does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information, as, for example, some of your content may have been reposted by another user.
Other Rights - You can request certain information about our disclosure of personal data to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year. This request may be made once a year.
Do-Not-Track Signals - We do not currently respond to browser do-not-track signals.
If you have questions or complaints about this Privacy Policy or our practices, please contact our Data Protection Officer by email at dataprotection@soundcloud.com or write to our Data Protection Officer at SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG, Rheinsberger Str. 76/77 10115 Berlin, Germany Attention: Data Protection Officer.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time at our sole discretion. If we make changes to this Privacy Policy, we will post the revised Privacy Policy on the Platform and update the “Last Amended” date below. Please be sure to periodically check this page to ensure that you are aware of any changes to this Privacy Policy. Any material changes to this Privacy Policy will be communicated to registered users by a notification to their account and/or by posting a notice of the change on the Website. Your continued access to or use of the Platform after the effective date of such changes will be subject to the revised Privacy Policy.
Last Amended: April 27th, 2022
You will find a link to prior versions of our Privacy Policy and a summary of the change(s) below.
January 2016 - Email-less sign-up and interest based advertising.
June 2015 - Change in Analytics Services.
August 2014 - Data available to OnSoundCloud users.
July 2014 - Collecting gender information.
March 2014 - Collecting month and year of birth.