SoundCloud Privacy Policy

On our website we use functions (widgets) of the social media network SoundCloud of the company SoundCloud Limited, Rheinsberger Str. 76/77, 10115 Berlin, Germany. You can recognize the widgets by the well-known orange logo. By using functions such as playing music, data is transmitted to SoundCloud, stored and evaluated. In this privacy policy we will show you what data is involved, why we use SoundCloud and how you can manage or stop your data or data transfer.

What is SoundCloud?

The social media network SoundCloud is an online music platform for the exchange and distribution of audio files. On SoundCloud musicians or podcasters offer their audio files for download. In addition, SoundCloud can also be used to integrate the audio files into other websites. And this is exactly what we have done. Typical for SoundCloud are the graphical representations of the audio files in waveform and the comment bar. This allows registered users to listen to and comment on music or podcasts at any time.

Why do we use SoundCloud on our website?

Our goal is to provide you with the best possible service on our website. By this we do not only mean our products or services. Total customer service also includes how comfortable you feel on our website and how helpful our website is for you. Through the embedded SoundCloud playback feature, we can deliver acoustic content directly to your door. You don’t have to follow any link to listen to an audio file first, but can start right away from our website.

What data is stored on SoundCloud?

When you visit one of our websites that has a widget (like or share button or play function) built in, your browser connects to a SoundCloud server. Thereby data can be transferred from you to SoundCloud, managed and stored there. For example, SoundCloud will know your IP address and which page (in this case ours) you have visited and when. If you have a SoundCloud account and are logged in while browsing our website, the collected data is directly assigned to your account/account. You can only prevent this by logging out of SoundCloud while you are on our website. In addition to the information mentioned above, the cookies also store data about your user behavior. For example, whenever you click a button, play or pause a song, this information is stored in the cookies. The widget or SoundCloud is thus able to recognize you and sometimes the widget is also used to deliver personalized content to you. SoundCloud not only uses its own cookies, but also cookies from third parties such as Facebook or Google Analytics. These cookies help the company to get more information about your behavior on external websites and its own platform. We as website operators do not receive any information about your user behavior through the cookies used by SoundCloud. The data transfer and therefore the information on technical devices and your behavior on the website takes place between you and SoundCloud.

In the following we show cookies that are set when you go to a website that has integrated SoundCloud functions. This list is only an example of possible cookies and cannot claim to be complete. In this example the user does not have a SoundCloud account:

Name: sc_anonymous_id
Value: 208165-986996-398971-423805221120704-0
Purpose: This cookie makes it possible to integrate files or other content into websites and stores a user ID.
Expiration date: after 10 years

Note: The sc_anonymous_id cookie is set immediately if you are on one of our websites that has a sound cloud feature built in. You do not need to interact with the function yet.

Name: __qca
Value: P0-1223379886-1579605792812221120704-7
Purpose: This cookie is a third-party cookie from Quantcast and collects information such as how often you visit the site or how long you stay on the site. The information collected is then shared with SoundCloud.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: Sclocale
Value: en
Purpose: The cookie stores the language setting that you have preset.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: _soundcloud_session
Value: /
Purpose: We could not find any concrete information about this cookie.
Expiration date: after session end

Name: _session_auth_key
Value: /
Purpose: The cookie can be used to store session information (i.e. user behavior) and to authenticate a client request.
Expiration date: after 10 years

SoundCloud also uses other third-party cookies such as _fbp, _ga, gid from Facebook and Google Analytics. All the information stored in the cookies is used by SoundCloud to improve its services and to deliver personalized advertising.

How long and where is the data stored?

In principle, the collected data will remain stored at SoundCloud as long as a user account exists or it is necessary for SoundCloud to achieve the business goals. How long exactly the data is stored changes depending on the context and legal obligations. Even if you do not have an account and personal data has been stored, you have the right to request deletion of the data.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

If you have a SoundCloud account, you can manage your data processing or delete your whole account via “Settings”. You can also manage, delete or disable cookies in your browser exactly as you wish. The approach always depends on the browser you use. If you decide to delete or deactivate cookies, please note that not all functions may then be available. The following instructions tell you how to manage, delete or disable cookies in your browser.

We hope we have given you a good overview of the traffic through SoundCloud. If you would like to learn more about SoundCloud’s privacy policy and general data handling practices, we recommend that you read the company’s privacy policy at https://soundcloud.com/pages/privacy.

Source: Created with an imprint generator, translated by DeepL.