Privacy Policy (BETA)

Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how Songcry, Inc. ("Songcry," "we," "us," "our") collects, uses, discloses, and protects information when you access or use our mobile application and related services, which we refer to as the "Services."

If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, do not use the Services.

Geographic Availability

The Services are controlled and operated from California, United States and are intended for use by residents of the United States. If you access the Services from outside the U.S., your information may be processed in the U.S. and other jurisdictions as described below.

Notice at Collection (California)

At or before the point of collection, we collect the categories of personal information described under "Information We Collect" and use them for the business and commercial purposes described under "How We Use Information."

We do not sell personal information. We do share a limited set of identifiers with our advertising partners, Meta and Google, to measure our advertising and to build audiences, which California law treats as sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising. What we share, from where, and how to limit it are described under "Advertising and Measurement" below.

If you are an artist we contacted about Songcry before you used the Services, what we collected about you and where it came from are described under "Artists We Contact" below.

Information We Collect

We collect information in three ways: information you provide, information collected automatically, and information from third parties.

Information You Provide

• Account and profile information: email address, username or handle, profile photo, bio, and other details you choose to provide.
• Gender: we collect a gender selection at account creation.
• Contact and address information: a phone number and address associated with your account, where you provide them.
• Sign-up form information: when you sign up as an artist on our website, your artist name, email address, and, if you choose to provide them, your Instagram handle and mobile phone number.
• Date of birth: we collect your date of birth at account creation to confirm that you are 18 or older, and we retain it on your account record.
• Name information: artists provide a public artist name and, for verification purposes, a real legal name. The real legal name is used for verification and is not displayed publicly.
• Authentication information: password stored as a hash and other account settings.
• Account type information: artist or fan. Features may vary by account type.
• User Content: content you upload, post, or otherwise submit, such as audio, video, cover art, and related metadata such as title, tags, credits, and descriptions, and any submissions such as comments, reports, or feedback.
• Verification materials: documents you choose to upload to support an artist verification request, and information from social or streaming accounts you connect for verification (see "Connected Accounts for Artist Verification" below).
• Reports and complaints: information you submit when you report content or user conduct, including the details you provide, and related context needed to review the report.
• Support communications: the information you provide when you contact us or participate in surveys or user research.

The Services do not currently include a working messaging feature. No user-to-user messages are sent, delivered, or stored. If we launch messaging, we will update this Policy before it becomes available.

Information Collected Automatically

• Device and usage information: device type, operating system, app version, language settings, IP address, device identifiers, log data, and in-app activity.
• Activity information: the songs you play, like, host, comment on, share, or otherwise interact with, the profiles you view, the searches you run, and the timing and precise location of that activity, as described under "Location Information" below. We use this activity to operate the discovery feed and to determine how music travels between areas.
• Push notification tokens: if you enable notifications, we store a device token so we can deliver notifications to your device. You can turn notifications off at any time in your device settings.
• Diagnostics and performance data during beta: crash reports, diagnostics, and performance information used to improve stability and troubleshoot issues.
• Location information: the Services are location-based. See "Location Information" below for a full description of what we collect, how it is stored, and how it is used.

Information From Third Parties

• Single Sign-On (SSO): if you sign in using Apple or Google, we receive information needed to authenticate you and create or link your account, such as a provider identifier and basic profile information depending on your settings.
• Connected accounts for artist verification: if you connect a YouTube, TikTok, or X account to verify an artist profile, we receive limited public account identity information from that service. See "Connected Accounts for Artist Verification" below.
• Public sources, for artists we contact: if you are an artist we have contacted about Songcry, we collected your public contact details and profile information as described under "Artists We Contact" below.
• App Store or Google Play: if you download the App through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, those platforms may collect information about you and your device in connection with their services. Their collection and use of information is governed by their own privacy policies.

Location Information

Location is central to how Songcry works, so we describe our practices here in detail.

What we collect. With your permission, the App collects precise location (latitude and longitude) from your device, including when you open the App. Location permission is required for the location-based parts of the Services to function.

How it is stored. We store your most recent location reading on your account record, and we use it to assign you to an approximate geographic zone for content discovery. Each new reading replaces the previous one on your account record. Separately, we record your precise coordinates together with in-app activity events, such as plays, likes, and hosting actions, and when you begin hosting a song we record the position where you started hosting. Over time these activity records form a history of the places where you used Songcry. We use them to operate and audit the discovery algorithm and to measure how music travels between areas. We do not use them to build movement profiles, we do not sell them, and we do not make this history available to you or to other users.

How we use it. We use location to: deliver the discovery feed, which surfaces content based on your geographic zone; operate the distribution radius through which songs travel between listeners; resolve your area to a city for discovery purposes; produce approximate city- or region-level listener analytics for artists; and protect platform integrity, including detecting fraud, artificial engagement, and location spoofing.

What is shown to others. Your precise location is never displayed to other users. Profiles display only the hometown or base city you select. Songs surfacing in an area do not identify which user played, liked, or hosted them.

Internal access. Precise location associated with an account can be accessed internally by authorized Songcry personnel through our administrative tools for support, moderation, and integrity purposes. We restrict this access to personnel with a business need.

Third parties. Coordinates are sent to Google's geocoding service to convert them into a city or region for discovery purposes. Your device's own operating system (Apple on iOS, Google on Android) also processes your coordinates when the App converts a location into a place name, under that platform's privacy policy. Where the App displays a map, our mapping provider receives your IP address and the map area being viewed, but not your account's stored coordinates.

Your control. You can enable or disable location access at any time in your device settings. On recent versions of iOS and Android you can also turn off precise location for Songcry while keeping general location on; the App then receives only your approximate position. Without location access, location-dependent features are limited, and you can still browse and play music by selecting a city.

Connected Accounts for Artist Verification

Artists applying for a verified Songcry profile may choose to connect accounts they own so our review team can confirm their identity. Connecting an account is optional and is used only for verification.

YouTube. If you connect a YouTube channel, Songcry uses Google's YouTube API Services to access, on a one-time basis at the moment you connect, the following information about the channel associated with your signed-in Google account: channel ID, channel name, channel handle (custom URL), and channel thumbnail image.

We use this information solely to verify that you own or control the YouTube channel you claim and to allow our review team to view the correct public channel page. We do not access your subscriptions, watch history, playlists, private videos, or any other YouTube data; we do not make ongoing or background requests to your account; and we do not store your Google or YouTube passwords or OAuth tokens on our servers.

Channel identity information is retained until you disconnect the channel in the App or delete your Songcry account, whichever comes first, and is never sold or shared with third parties. You can disconnect your YouTube channel at any time in the App, and you can also revoke Songcry's access at any time through the Google security settings page.

Songcry's YouTube integration is provided using YouTube API Services. By connecting a YouTube channel you agree to the YouTube Terms of Service, and information Google receives is handled in accordance with the Google Privacy Policy.

Songcry's use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

TikTok and X. If you connect a TikTok or X account, we receive basic public profile identity information from that service (such as a display name, handle, account identifier, and avatar) for the same verification purpose, on the same terms described above.

Verification documents. If you upload a document to support artist verification, we use it only to assess that verification request. Access is restricted to personnel reviewing the request.

Sensitive Personal Information

Some of what we process is treated as sensitive personal information under U.S. state privacy laws.

• Precise location. The App collects precise location only after you allow it through your device's location permission prompt. We use it only as described under "Location Information", we never sell it, and we do not share it with our advertising partners. You can withdraw permission at any time in your device settings, or switch to approximate location.
• Information you choose to share. We do not ask for other sensitive personal information, such as health information, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or government identification numbers. If you choose to include sensitive personal information in User Content, it will be processed as part of providing the Services and may become public depending on your settings.

We use sensitive personal information only to provide the Services you request and to keep them secure and free of fraud and misuse.

Text Messages

If you give us your mobile phone number on our artist sign-up form and tick the box agreeing to receive texts, we may send you text messages from Songcry, including news and updates about Songcry, reminders to finish setting up your artist profile, and updates about your review. Some of these messages may be sent using automated technology. Agreeing to receive texts is not required to sign up or to use the Services.

Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. You can opt out at any time by replying STOP to any message, and reply HELP for help. We record when and how you agreed, including the wording you were shown.

We do not sell your mobile phone number or your consent to receive texts, and we do not share them with third parties or affiliates for their own marketing. We share them only with the service providers that deliver our messages for us.

Artists We Contact

Songcry looks for independent artists who may want to use the Services and contacts some of them to tell them about Songcry. If we contacted you this way, this section explains what we collected about you, where it came from, and how to stop hearing from us.

What we collect. Your artist name; contact details that you or your team have made public, such as an email address listed on your website or a social profile, or a booking or management contact; links to your website and your public social and streaming profiles; your city, region, and country; your genres; public statistics such as follower and listener counts; your recent public releases and posts; and a record of our contact with you, including the messages we sent, your replies, and any request to stop.

Where it comes from. Publicly available sources: artists' own websites and link-in-bio pages; public profiles and pages on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X, YouTube, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Audius, and Reddit; public web search results; music databases and music data services; and public comments on our own posts and advertisements. Some artists are also suggested to us by people we know in music.

How we use it. We use it to decide which artists may be a good fit for Songcry; to contact you about joining Songcry by email or by direct message on Instagram, and to follow up by email if you do not reply; to make our message relevant to you, for example by mentioning a recent release; and to recognize you if you later apply or sign up. When we send a direct message about one of your posts, we may also leave a short public comment on that post. Our outreach emails come from Songcry team members' addresses on domains we use for outreach, which are separate from songcry.app.

Who helps us. Service providers help us with this work: database hosting, web search and data collection services, an email verification service that checks whether an address can receive mail, an email sending service, and AI tools that help us organize information and review and draft messages. We do not sell this information, and we do not share it with our advertising partners.

How to stop hearing from us. Every outreach email includes our mailing address and tells you how to opt out: reply STOP, or use the unsubscribe option your email app shows, where it shows one. On Instagram, reply to tell us you would rather not hear from us. We add an opt-out to our do-not-contact list, which we check before we send an email or a direct message, so an opt-out on one channel stops both. You can also email support@songcry.app to ask what information we hold about you or to ask us to delete it. If you ask us to delete it, we keep only what we need to continue honoring a request not to be contacted, such as your email address on our do-not-contact list.

How long we keep it. We keep this information while we may still contact you about Songcry, and we update it when we find newer public information. We keep opt-out records for as long as we do outreach, so that finding you again in a public source does not lead us to contact you again.

How We Use Information

We use information to:

• Provide and operate the Services, including account creation, authentication, streaming, and feature delivery.
• Confirm eligibility, including confirming that account holders are 18 or older.
• Enable location-based functionality and prevent misuse of location-dependent features.
• Review artist profiles and uploaded content before publication, including identity verification and copyright screening.
• Communicate with you, including service, security, and administrative messages, transactional emails, push notifications, and in-App notices related to your use of the Services, and reminders if you start applying or setting up an artist profile and do not finish.
• Improve and develop the Services, including diagnostics, crash reporting, analytics, and performance measurement.
• Conduct testing and research during beta, including A/B testing, to evaluate and improve features, user experience, and performance.
• Moderate content and handle reports to help keep the Services safe and enforce our Terms and Community Guidelines, including investigating suspected violations, responding to user reports, and detecting fraud, spam, or abuse. This may include manual review and automated tools.
• Protect platform integrity and security, including detecting, preventing, and investigating spam, fraud, botting, artificial engagement, and VPN or location spoofing.
• Comply with law and enforce agreements, including responding to valid legal requests and handling copyright and DMCA notices.

We may create de-identified or aggregated information for analytics and reporting and do not attempt to re-identify such information except as permitted by law.

We collect date of birth to confirm that you are 18 or older. We do not use it for advertising targeting, and we do not sell it.

How We Share Information

We may disclose information:

• To service providers that help us operate the Services, such as hosting, storage and content delivery, authentication, geocoding and mapping, abuse prevention, diagnostics or crash reporting, security monitoring, copyright screening, image moderation, email delivery, text message delivery, and customer support tools.
• To advertising and measurement partners, so that we can tell which of our advertisements led someone to apply for access, join the waitlist, or create an account, and so that those partners can show our advertisements to people likely to be interested. This is described in full under "Advertising and Measurement".
• For legal and safety reasons, to comply with law, respond to valid legal process, enforce our Terms, and protect the rights, safety, and security of Songcry, our users, and the public.
• In connection with a business transaction, such as financing, merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets, subject to appropriate protections.
• With your direction, for example when you choose to connect a third-party integration or choose to share content publicly.

Public Content

If you choose to make content or profile information public, others may view, stream, download, or share that content consistent with your settings and the functionality of the Services.

Advertising and Measurement

We do not sell personal information.

We advertise Songcry on Meta, which operates Facebook and Instagram, and on Google. We measure which of those advertisements lead people to apply for artist access, join the fan waitlist, tap through to the App Store or Google Play, or go on to create a Songcry account and have an artist profile published.

Meta. To measure our Meta advertising, we share a limited set of identifiers with Meta:

• The email address you enter on our access request or waitlist form, converted to an irreversible SHA-256 hash before it leaves our servers. Meta does not receive the address itself.
• Advertising click and browser identifiers, such as the Meta click identifier carried in an advertisement link and the identifier stored by Meta's pixel cookie.
• Your IP address and browser user agent.

We send these two ways. Meta's pixel runs on our web pages, and our own servers send the matching event directly to Meta through its Conversions API. Both carry the same event identifier so that one action is not counted as two. If you arrived from a Meta advertisement and later create a Songcry account or have an artist profile published, our servers also report that step to Meta through its Conversions API, with your hashed email address and the Meta click identifier from your visit.

Google. Google's advertising tag runs on our web pages. It tells Google when someone who arrived from one of our Google advertisements applies for artist access or taps through to the App Store or Google Play. Like Meta's pixel, the tag gives Google your IP address, browser information, the identifiers stored in Google's cookies, and the Google click identifier carried in an advertisement link. On artists.songcry.app we also use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the page, such as page views, taps through to the App Store or Google Play, and when someone starts or submits the sign-up form.

If you arrived from a Google advertisement and later create a Songcry account or have an artist profile published, our servers report that step to Google with the Google click identifier recorded when you applied, the time of the step, and an internal Songcry reference for it. We do not send your email address to Google.

We share this information with Meta and Google for two purposes: measuring which advertisements produce applications and signups, and building audiences so that these partners can show our advertisements to people likely to be interested, such as people who resemble those who already applied or who have visited our pages. Under California law, the second of those is sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising.

This applies to our web pages at songcry.app and artists.songcry.app. The account and profile steps described above are reported by our servers, not by code in the App. We do not use third-party advertising networks inside the mobile App.

To limit this, you can use your browser's cookie and tracking controls, your device's advertising controls, Meta's own advertising preferences at facebook.com/adpreferences, or Google's My Ad Center at myadcenter.google.com. You may also contact us at support@songcry.app and we will stop sharing identifiers associated with you.

Cookies and Similar Technologies

We and our service providers may use cookies and similar technologies on our web properties and SDKs or similar tools within the mobile App to keep you signed in, remember preferences, understand usage, improve the Services, and help protect the Services.

Third-Party SDKs: service providers that support analytics, crash reporting, performance monitoring, authentication, messaging, hosting, and customer support may collect device and usage information such as device identifiers, IP address, App events, and crash logs to provide services to us. We do not permit these providers to use your information for their own marketing purposes, and we do not use third-party advertising networks for cross-app targeted advertising inside the App. Advertising measurement on our web pages is described under "Advertising and Measurement".

Do Not Track: some browsers transmit "Do Not Track" signals. Because there is no consistent industry standard for how to respond, we do not respond to such signals.

Your Choices

• Location permissions: you can enable or disable location access in device settings. Certain features may not function without location access.
• Push notifications: you can control push notifications through your device settings and in the App's notification settings.
• Marketing communications: you can opt out of promotional emails, including reminders to finish applying or setting up your profile, using the unsubscribe link or, where the email says so, by replying STOP. Service and security messages are not promotional and may still be sent.
• Account information: you may be able to update certain account and profile information within the App.
• Account security: you are responsible for your credentials and activity under your account. If you suspect unauthorized access or use, contact us promptly at support@songcry.app.
• SSO and third-party permissions: you may revoke SSO or connected-account permissions through your device settings, the App settings, or the third-party service. Revoking permissions may limit or disable certain features.
• Reports and complaints: if you believe content or user conduct violates our Terms or Community Guidelines, you may report it through in-App reporting tools if available or by emailing support@songcry.app.
• Analytics and diagnostics controls during beta: where available, you may be able to limit non-essential analytics in App settings. If in-app controls are not available, you may contact us at support@songcry.app to request limiting non-essential analytics where feasible.

Data Retention

We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the Services and for legitimate business purposes such as security, fraud prevention, compliance, and dispute resolution. We may also retain information as necessary to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

Specifically:

• Account information, including date of birth and your most recent location reading, is retained until you delete your account. Location recorded with your activity, including the positions where you hosted songs, is deleted when you delete your account.
• Uploaded content, including audio and cover art, is retained until you delete it or delete your account.
• Artist profile and content submission records, including the outcome of our review, are retained for as long as the account exists and for a reasonable period afterward to resolve disputes, respond to copyright complaints, and enforce our Terms.
• Verification materials are retained to complete and evidence the verification decision, and are deleted when you delete your account. A document uploaded during an artist signup that is never completed is deleted automatically 30 days after it is uploaded. You can email support@songcry.app to request removal sooner.
• Records of your acceptance of the Terms of Use and acknowledgment of this Privacy Policy, including the version accepted and the time of acceptance, are retained for as long as the account exists and are deleted with the account.
• A record of changes to the legal name on an artist account is retained while the account exists, so that we can evidence verification decisions.
• If you join a waitlist, the details you submit are retained until we contact you or you ask us to remove them.
• Information about artists we contact who have not signed up is retained as described under "Artists We Contact", and opt-out records are kept so that we continue to honor them.
• When an account is deleted, we keep a limited deletion record containing the email address, username, account type, signup date, and the IP address and device information associated with the deletion request, for fraud prevention and to demonstrate that the deletion took place.

Data Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect information. However, no system is completely secure.

If you believe you have found a security vulnerability, please contact us at support@songcry.app and include details. Please do not publicly disclose the issue until we have had an opportunity to investigate.

Your U.S. Privacy Rights

Depending on your state of residence, you may have rights regarding your personal information, which may include the right to request access, correction, or deletion of personal information, and the right to opt out of certain processing as defined by applicable law.

California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident, you may have the right to request access to, deletion of, and or correction of personal information, subject to verification requirements and exceptions.

Sale or sharing of personal information: We do not sell personal information. We do share the identifiers described under "Advertising and Measurement" with Meta and Google for advertising measurement and audience building, which California law treats as sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising. You may ask us to stop by emailing support@songcry.app with the subject line "Do Not Share My Personal Information", and we will stop sharing identifiers associated with you. We do not share the personal information of anyone we know to be under 18.

Data portability: you may request a copy of your data in a portable format by contacting us. Depending on the nature of the data and the request, we may provide exports in a common machine-readable format.

How to Submit a Request

Email support@songcry.app with the subject line "Privacy Request" or "California Privacy Request" if applicable. We will take reasonable steps to verify your request and may ask for information to confirm your identity. If permitted by law, you may designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf; we may require proof of authorization.

We will not discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights.

Children's Privacy

The Services are not intended for anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. We ask for date of birth at account creation and block account creation where the date entered indicates the person is under 18. If we learn we have collected personal information from someone under 18, we will take steps to delete it.

International Data Transfers

Although the Services are intended for U.S. residents, your information may be processed and stored in the United States and in other jurisdictions where our service providers operate. These jurisdictions may have different data protection laws than your state.

Third-Party Links

The Services may contain links to third-party websites or services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those third parties, and their practices are governed by their own privacy policies.

Contact Us

Email: support@songcry.app

Mail: Songcry, Inc., 20950 Warner Center Ln, Suite A, Woodland Hills, CA 91367

Copyright and DMCA Notices

If you believe content available through the Services infringes your copyright, you may submit a notice under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") by contacting our Designated Agent:

Designated Agent: Legal Department (DMCA Agent)

Email: dmca@songcry.app

Address: 20950 Warner Center Ln, Suite A, Woodland Hills, CA 91367

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will update the "Last Updated" date above. If we make material changes, we may provide additional notice, for example by email or in-app notice, before changes take effect, and where a change materially affects what information we collect, how we use it, or who we share it with, we may ask you to review and accept the updated documents before continuing to use the Services. Features and data flows may evolve as the App is updated; we will update this Privacy Policy if changes are material.