Privacy Policy

1. Overview

SoundSzene LLC (“SoundSzene,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy describes what data we collect through soundszene.com and associated services (the “Platform”), how we use it, and the choices you have. By using SoundSzene you agree to the practices described here.

The Platform is intended for use in the United States and is not directed at individuals in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Account Information

When you create an account we collect your email address and password (stored and managed by Supabase Auth — see Section 5). When you complete your profile we collect your display name and ZIP code / city and state.

2.2 Profile, Band, and Media Content

We store content you voluntarily provide, including profile pictures, band information, venue details, booking inquiry messages, event listings, event flyer images, and audio tracks uploaded to a band profile. Media for private venues and private events is access-controlled and only served to authorized viewers, rather than being publicly reachable by anyone with the file’s address.

2.3 Location Data

We derive approximate geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) from the ZIP code you provide. This is used to power local discovery features.

Show Up (formerly called check-in) works differently: when you tap Show Up at an event, we request your device’s precise GPS location (latitude, longitude, and accuracy) at that moment, to confirm you’re near the venue. This location is sent to us only when you tap Show Up — we do not access your location in the background or at any other time. We also generate a random device identifier, stored in your browser, to prevent the same device from being counted at an event more than once.

2.4 Usage Data

We collect standard server log data including IP addresses, browser type, pages visited, and timestamps. We use this data to operate and improve the Platform. We do not sell this data to third parties.

2.5 Cookies

SoundSzene uses cookies that are strictly necessary to operate the Platform — to keep you signed in via Supabase Auth session tokens, and, for band and venue operators, to remember a short-lived (1-hour) preference for viewing your own band or venue page as the public sees it. We do not use cookies for advertising or cross-site tracking. Because these cookies are strictly necessary, they are not subject to opt-out; disabling them will prevent you from staying signed in and from using the public-view toggle.

2.6 Reports

If you submit a report about content or an account, we store the report — including your account identifier, the reported content or account, the reason and any details you provide, and the date submitted — to review and act on it. This record is retained as described in Section 6.

2.7 Contact Information You Provide About Others

Some features let another SoundSzene user submit your email address to us on your behalf — for example, inviting you to join or help manage a band or venue, or introducing their band or venue to you by email before you’re on SoundSzene. Private events aren’t shared this way: we never email anyone about a private event because another user entered their address — people share the event’s link themselves. We use that email address only to deliver the specific invitation or notification associated with that feature. Submitting another person’s contact information through these features is subject to the consent obligations described in our Terms of Service, Section 7.1.

2.8 Event Share Links

When you share an event from SoundSzene, the link carries a share code tied to you, or to the band or venue you chose to share as. When a signed-in user opens an event through a share link, we record that their account arrived through that link and when — only their first arrival for that event, and never for the person who shared it, the venue’s owners and admins, or the event’s performers. Visits by people who aren’t signed in are not recorded. A share code is used only to count how an event spreads; it never changes who can see the event.

From these records we show counts only — how many people arrived, how many were new to SoundSzene, and how many showed up. You see the counts for your own links; a band’s members see them for links shared as that band; and a venue’s owners and admins see them for every link to their event, listed by who shared it (including your name if you shared personally). No one is shown which accounts arrived. Someone opening a link you shared never sees your name on SoundSzene; a link shared as a band or venue shows that band’s or venue’s name.

3. How We Use Your Information

• To create and manage your account and authenticate your identity
• To power local band and venue discovery based on your location
• To facilitate booking inquiries, offers, and event coordination between artists and venues
• To send transactional emails (invitation notifications, booking updates, account confirmations)
• To generate aggregated, anonymized analytics about platform usage
• To detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and violations of our Terms of Service
• To maintain reliable email delivery and protect our sending reputation, including by not re-sending to addresses that have bounced or been reported as spam
• To improve the Platform and develop new features

4. Information We Share

We do not sell or share your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. We share data only in the following circumstances:

• With other users: Your display name, band affiliations, and profile picture are visible to other Platform users as part of normal Platform operation. Contact information you provide in booking inquiries is shared with the relevant venue or band.
• With service providers: We share data with third-party processors that help us operate the Platform (see Section 5).
• For legal reasons: We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or to protect the rights and safety of SoundSzene and its users.
• In a business transfer: If SoundSzene is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this Policy.

5. Third-Party Services

5.1 Supabase Auth

Account authentication is handled by Supabase, Inc. Your email address and hashed password are stored in Supabase’s infrastructure. Supabase’s privacy practices are governed by their own privacy policy.

5.2 Email Delivery

Transactional and account-related emails are delivered through a third-party email service provider. Email addresses are shared with this provider solely for the purpose of message delivery. That provider also reports delivery failures (such as an invalid or full mailbox) and spam complaints back to us, which we use as described in Section 6 (Data Retention).

5.3 Other Service Providers

We use other third-party providers to host and operate the Platform and to provide specific features, including cloud hosting, database and file-storage services, error monitoring, bot and abuse protection, and address and ZIP code lookup. When you enter a ZIP code, your browser sends it directly to a third-party lookup service, which receives that ZIP code along with the technical information your browser sends with any request, such as your IP address. When a venue’s street address is provided, it is sent to a geocoding provider to determine its location. When you sign up, log in, or reset your password, our bot-protection provider analyzes technical signals from your browser and device to verify you’re a real person rather than an automated script; it is not used to build an advertising profile of you. Each provider’s handling of information is governed by its own privacy practices.

6. Data Retention

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. When you delete your account, your profile, band memberships, follows, and associated data are permanently removed from our systems. Some records may be retained in backup storage for a limited period before being purged.

Deleting a band or venue profile that has a history of completed shows works differently: to preserve the accuracy of other artists’ and venues’ historical show records and local-scene rankings, the band or venue name and its completed-show history are retained and may continue to appear (marked as no longer active) in other users’ event and show histories. Non-public details such as the physical street address are cleared at that point. Bands or venues with no completed-show history are removed in full, with no retained record.

Event share links are deleted together with their event. When you delete your account, the share links you created for yourself and the record of events you arrived at through someone’s link are deleted; links you shared as a band or venue stay with that band or venue, and other people’s arrivals through them remain counted.

Show Up records, including the precise location captured at the moment you tapped Show Up, are tied to the event rather than to your account, and are retained for as long as that event’s historical record exists — the same as the completed-show history described above. If you delete your account, your Show Up records are no longer linked to your identity, but the event’s attendance record is not separately deleted.

We also retain a record that you accepted these Terms of Service and this Privacy Policy — your account identifier, email address, the version accepted, and the date accepted — even after you delete your account. This record is the evidence that establishes the terms you agreed to, including the dispute-resolution provisions in our Terms of Service, and is kept indefinitely for that purpose. It contains no other profile, band, venue, or activity data.

We also retain a record of reports submitted through the Platform — including the reporting user’s account identifier, the reported content or account, and the reason and details provided — indefinitely, even after the reporting user’s or the reported user’s account is deleted. This record supports content-moderation decisions and serves as evidence of the basis for any resulting action, such as an account suspension.

We also retain a record of email delivery failures and spam complaints associated with an email address — including the reason and date — indefinitely, regardless of whether that address is associated with a deleted or existing account, as a permanent audit trail of delivery history. Separately, an address that has bounced or been reported as spam is prevented from receiving further email from us; this suppression is generally retained, but may be reviewed and removed — either by you, where you unsubscribed voluntarily, or by us upon administrative review, such as where suppression resulted from an error. We reserve the right to delete or modify any of the data described in this Section as part of routine data management, to respond to a legal request, or for other operational reasons.

7. Your Rights and Choices

• Access and correction: You can view and update your profile information at any time from your profile page.
• Account deletion: You can permanently delete your account from your profile page. This action is irreversible.
• Marketing communications: SoundSzene sends transactional emails only. We do not send marketing emails without your explicit consent.
• Email preferences: You can turn off notification emails at any time using the Email notifications setting on your profile page, or by using the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of our notification and invitation emails. The link works even if you do not have an account. If you turn off notification emails, you will still see the same notifications inside your account. We will still send emails that are necessary for the security and operation of your account or that relate to enforcement of our Terms, such as account confirmation and password reset emails and notices about account suspension or content removal.
• Account emails: Sign-up confirmation and password reset emails are sent by our authentication provider only when an account is created or a reset is requested for your email address, and they cannot be unsubscribed from. If you receive one you did not request, you can ignore it. The sign-up stays unconfirmed, and no password changes unless the link is used. You can also contact us at the address in Section 11.

You may exercise any of these rights, or ask us a question about your data, by contacting us at the address in Section 11.

8. Children’s Privacy

The Platform is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us at the address in Section 11 and we will take steps to delete it.

9. Security

We implement industry-standard technical and organizational measures to protect your data, including encrypted connections (HTTPS), hashed passwords, and access controls. No system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee the absolute security of your information.

10. California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act) gives you the right to: know what personal information we collect, use, and disclose about you; request deletion of your personal information; correct inaccurate personal information; and opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information. SoundSzene does not sell personal information and does not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, so there is nothing to opt out of today. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights.

These rights are subject to certain exceptions recognized under the CCPA. In particular, we do not delete four categories of data described in Section 6 (Data Retention): a band’s or venue’s retained historical show data (name and completed-show history, preserved to maintain the accuracy of other users’ show histories and local-scene rankings), our record that you accepted our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (retained to establish the terms you agreed to), reports submitted through the Platform (retained to support content-moderation decisions), and the permanent audit trail of email delivery failures and spam complaints (retained to protect email deliverability and sender reputation). All four serve the legitimate, disclosed business purposes described there.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at the address in Section 11. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request.

11. Contact

Questions about this Privacy Policy or your data? Contact us at info@soundszene.com.