Above the Crowds is an independent music magazine about live shows, albums, artists and the strange human need to keep recommending music to each other.
This privacy policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, and what rights you have.
Above the Crowds
Website: https://abovethecrowds.live
Contact: info@abovethecrowds.live
The person responsible for this website is:
Pablo Iriarte
Berlin, Germany
Email: pablo@piriurdi.es
What personal data we collect.
We only collect the data needed to run the website, keep it secure, respond to messages, manage comments, and understand how people use the site. Depending on how you use the website, this may include:
- your name
- your email address
- your website, if you leave it in a comment form
- your message, if you contact us
- your IP address
- your browser and device information
- cookies and similar technical data
- any information you choose to send us voluntarily
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect the data shown in the comments form, as well as the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string. This helps us detect spam and keep the site safe.
An anonymised string created from your email address, also called a hash, may be sent to the Gravatar service to check whether you are using it. The Gravatar privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After your comment is approved, your profile picture may be visible to the public next to your comment.
Visitor comments may also be checked through an automated spam detection service. If you use Akismet or another anti-spam plugin, make sure this section matches the plugin you actually use. Akismet says its WordPress plugin integrates with WordPress privacy tools and provides privacy notice options for comment forms.
Contact forms and emails
If you contact us through the website, by email, or through any linked social media account, we will use the information you provide to reply to your message.
This may include your name, email address, social handle, message content and any other information you decide to include.
We do not use this information for marketing unless you have clearly agreed to it.
Media and submitted material
If you send us music, press releases, photos, artwork, live show material or other media for possible coverage, we may store and review that material for editorial purposes.
Please only send material you have the right to share with us.
If you upload or send images, be aware that image files can contain embedded metadata, including location data. Visitors may be able to download and extract this data if those images are published on the site.
Cookies
This website may use cookies to make the site work properly, improve the reading experience, manage comments, protect the site from spam, and understand basic visitor activity.
If you leave a comment, you may choose to save your name, email address and website in cookies. This is for convenience so you do not have to fill in your details again when leaving another comment. These cookies may last for one year.
If the website has a login area, WordPress may set cookies to check whether your browser accepts cookies, save login information, and remember screen display choices. Login cookies usually last for two days, while screen option cookies may last for one year. If “Remember Me” is selected, login may persist for two weeks.
If you edit or publish an article, WordPress may save an additional cookie in your browser. This cookie contains no personal data and only indicates the post ID of the article you edited. It usually expires after one day.
Non-essential cookies, such as analytics, advertising or embedded third-party tracking cookies, should only be used where legally allowed and, where required, after consent.
Analytics
We may use privacy-friendly analytics or website statistics tools to understand how visitors use the site, which articles are being read, and how people find us.
This may include data such as page views, referral sources, country or region, device type and browser type. [Google Analytics, Jetpack Stats]
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content, such as videos, playlists, images, posts, links or articles from other websites. Embedded content from other websites behaves in the same way as if you had visited those websites directly.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, especially if you have an account with that service and are logged in.
This may include services such as YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, Apple Music, Vimeo or other third-party platforms.
Links to other websites
Our articles may link to external websites, artists, venues, streaming platforms, ticketing pages, labels, magazines or social media profiles.
We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those external websites. Please check their own privacy policies if you want to know how they handle your data.
Who we share your data with
We do not sell your personal data.
We may share limited personal data with service providers that help us run the website, such as:
- website hosting providers
- WordPress and website plugins
- spam detection services
- analytics providers, if used
- email or contact form providers, if used
- security and backup services
These providers only receive the data needed to provide their service.
If you request a password reset, your IP address may be included in the reset email.
Legal basis for processing
Under the GDPR, we process personal data based on one or more of the following legal bases:
- Consent, when you agree to something, such as accepting optional cookies or submitting certain forms.
- Legitimate interest, when we need to run, protect and improve the website, moderate comments, prevent spam, and respond to messages.
- Contract or pre-contractual communication, when you contact us about a possible collaboration, feature, interview, review, photo pass, submission or similar request.
- Legal obligation, when we need to keep certain information to comply with the law.
A GDPR privacy notice should explain the purpose and legal basis for processing personal data, as well as data rights and retention.
How long we keep your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata may be kept indefinitely. This helps us recognise and approve follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
If you contact us by email or through a contact form, we may keep the message for as long as needed to reply, manage the request, maintain editorial records, or protect our legitimate interests.
If you submit material for possible coverage, we may keep related messages and files for editorial reference, unless you ask us to delete them and we have no legal or legitimate reason to keep them.
Technical logs, security data and analytics data are kept only as long as needed for security, maintenance and site improvement.
Your rights
If you are in the European Union, you have rights under the GDPR. These may include the right to:
- access the personal data we hold about you
- correct inaccurate personal data
- request deletion of your personal data
- restrict or object to certain processing
- withdraw consent where processing is based on consent
- request a copy of your data in a portable format
- lodge a complaint with a data protection authority
To make a request, contact us at:
[info@abovethecrowds.live]
We may need to verify your identity before responding to certain requests.
Where your data is processed
This website may use services based in Germany, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States or other countries.
If personal data is transferred outside the European Economic Area, we rely on appropriate safeguards where required, such as standard contractual clauses or equivalent protections.
Children’s privacy
Above the Crowds is not aimed at children and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children.
If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us and we will delete it where appropriate.
Changes to this policy
We may update this privacy policy from time to time, especially if we change plugins, analytics tools, comment settings, newsletter tools or other website services.
The latest version will always be available on this page.
