This Cookie Policy forms part of our Privacy Policy and should be read together with our Terms of Use.
Like most companies, when you visit or interact with the Platform, we and our service providers may use cookies and other tracking technologies for storing information, including pixels (also known as a “web beacon” or “clear GIFs”), local storage, and device indetifiers, to help provide, protect and improve the Platform. For example, to save your preferences, personalize content, target ads based on your interests, combat fraud and abuse, and streamline the functioning of and your access to the Platform.
This policy explains how and why we use these technologies and the choices you have. We use “cookies” and “similar technologies” interchangeably to refer to all of these technologies.
Cookies are small text files placed on your computer, phone, or other device when you visit websites and are used to record information about your activity, including the pages you view, the content you listen to, ads you click on, your settings, and other actions you take on the Platform.
Cookies can be “persistent” or “session” cookies. Persistent cookies stay on your device for a set period of time or until you delete them, while session cookies are deleted once you close your web browser.
We use other data collecting technologies with similar functionality as cookies, including pixels, local storage, and device identifiers. While the specific names and types of cookies we use may change from time to time as we improve and update the Platform, we have provided some basic definitions in order to help you better understand this policy.
Pixels – A pixel is a small amount of code on a web page or in an email notification that typically work in conjunction with cookies to identify our users and record user behavior. As many services do, we use pixels to learn whether you’ve interacted with certain web or email content. This helps us measure and improve our services and personalize your experience.
Local Storage – Local storage is an industry-standard technology that allows a website or application to store information locally on your computer or mobile device. We use local storage, including HTML5, to customize what we show you based on your content consumption and other past interactions with the Platform.
Device Identifiers – We also use mobile device and advertsing identifiers for the same purposes articulated in this policy, for example to recognise your device when you return to the Platform or otherwise use the Platform.
Software Development Kits – We may use third parties including our service providers and business partners who use mobile SDKs to collect information to recognize your device when you return to the Platform. We may use this technology, for instance, to analyze how you interact with the Platform, including content and advertisements, and to enable analytics or other features through mobile devices.
While we use cookies to deliver, measure, and improve the Platform in various ways, the cookies we use generally fall into one of the following categories:
Operational – These cookies are necessary to allow us to operate the Platform as you have requested. For example, they let us authenticate your account and recognize what type of subscriber you are, so we can provide you with the Platform accordingly.
Security/Abuse – These cookies enable and support our security features, and help us detect malicious or unauthorized activity. We also use cookies to combat fraud and other activity that violates our policies or otherwise degrades our ability to provide the Platform. Cookies also help us fight spam and phishing attacks by enabling us to identify computers or devices that are used to create large numbers of fake SoundCloud accounts.
Functional/Preferences – These cookies let us operate certain functions of the Platform in line with the choices you make. These cookies enables us to remember you in-between visits. For example, when you continue to use or come back to the Platform, we will recognize your user name and remember your settings and content preferences. Deletion of these types of cookies will result in limited functionality of the Platform.
Performance/Analytics – We use these cookies to monitor and assess how the Platform is performing and where it can be improved. For example, we use these cookies to test different versions of our Platform to learn which features or content users prefer. We also use these cookies to analyse how people access and use our Platform. For instance, we may obtain information about your device and how users engage with the Platform or from email newsletters, including whether you opened or forwarded a newsletter or clicked on any of its content. This information tells us about our newsletters’ effectiveness and helps us ensure that we’re delivering information you find interesting.
Personalization/Advertising – These cookies use information about your use of the Platform, such as the pages you visit, the content you listen to, or your response to ads and emails, so we can reccomend content and deliver ads that are more relevant and interesting to you based on criteria like your profile and activity on SoundCloud. We may also use these cookies to improve reporting on campaign performance, determine how many times people who click on their ads end up taking an action (such as purchasing products), and avoid repeteadly showing ads the user has already seen.
SoundCloud Marketing – We also work with third party business partners, such as Google and Facebook to track user activity and market the Platform by showing you personazlied ads for SoundCloud products and services on the Platform and third party websites and applications. We also use cookies to prevent subscribers from seeing ads for any SoundCloud products they have already purchased.
We allow certain service providers to place cookies and similar technologies on the Platform for the same purposes listed above, including collecting information about your online activities over time and across different websites and devices in order to provide you with more relevant advertising.
For instance, to help us better understand how people engage with the Platform, we work with third party analytics partners, including Google Analytics. To opt out of Google Analytics, you may install the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser here. To opt out of Google Analytics for display advertising or customize Google display network ads, you can visit the Google Ads Settings page.
You may also encounter cookies and tracking technologies from our third-party marketing service providers, including (1) Facebook to provide advertising services through Facebook’s advertising and marketing platforms (e.g., Audience Network, Custom Audiences, and Faceook Pixel) and other social networks, and (2) Google to provide advertising services through Google’s advertising and marketing platforms (e.g., DoubleClick for Publishers, Google AdX, and Adwords). Please refer to the Privacy Policy for how to opt out of cookies from these service providers.
Additionally, we may work with advertising networks and programmatic exchanges to allow us to serve you ads. These third-party ad networks and exchange providers may use third-party cookies, pixels, or similar technologies to collect information, including your device identifier, IP address, or identifier for advertising. The information these third parties collect may be used to help us in providing you with more relevant advertising that we serve on or off the Platform, and as described above.
Third-party cookies are covered by the third parties’ privacy policy.
SoundCloud is committed to offering you meaningful privacy choices. You have a number of options to control or limit how we, our partners, and other third parties use cookies. However, note that cookies are important to many aspects for the Platform – if you disable cookies, you may not be able to enjoy all of the features of the Platform. To the extent you opt out of personalized advertising using the mechanisms below, you may still receive advertisements when using the Platform, but they will not be tailored to your interests.
To control cookies, you can modify your settings in most web browsers to accept or deny cookies or to request your permission each time a site attempts to set a cookie. You can also manually delete previously stored cookies at any time. Please note that if you choose to block cookies, doing so may impair the Platform or prevent certain elements of it from functioning.
On your mobile device, enable the “Limit Ad Tracking” setting in your iOS phone’s settings, or the setting to “Opt out of Ads Personalization” in your Android phone’s settings. To opt-out of location tracking when using our Apps, you can use the settings of your device. You can disable mobile analytics and bug reporting through these same settings as well.
If you have a SoundCloud account, you can adjust the following settings to reflect your choices:
For more information about analytics and advertising cookies and how you can opt out, you can visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s opt-out page, the Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out page, or http://youronlinechoices.eu.
Your browser settings may allow you to automatically transmit a “Do Not Track” signal. Because there currently isn’t an industry or legal standard for recognizing or honoring DNT signals, we are not configured to respond to them at this time. We await the result of work by the privacy community and industry to determine when such a response is appropriate and what form it should take.
If you have any questions about our use of cookies, please contact us through the Help Center or at dataprotection@soundcloud.com.
Last amended: 25 May 2018