SoundCloud Privacy Policy

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.

Who Controls Your Data

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:

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:

Personal Data We Collect

Any personal data we collect falls into one of three general categories:

Personal Data You Provide

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:

Personal Data We Collect Automatically

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:

Personal Data We Obtain From Third Parties

How We Use Your Personal Data

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:

How We Share Your Personal Data

This section describes how the personal data collected or generated through your use of the Platform may be shared by you or by us.

Cookies and Similar Technology

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.

Information Security

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.

International Data Transfers

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.

Children

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.

Our Activity On Social Networks

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:

Your Choices and Controls

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.

Exercising Your EU Privacy Rights

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.

Notice To California Users

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.

Collection, Disclosure and Sale of Personal Information

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

CCPA Rights and Requests

If you are a California resident, you may make the following requests:

Contact Information

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.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

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.