Privacy Policy

Drowned in Sound (“DiS”, “we”, “us”) is a UK-based, founder-owned music publication and membership platform. We publish articles, podcasts and newsletters and operate a community forum at community.drownedinsound.com. We are reader-funded with free and paid membership options. 

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at: support@drownedinsound.org.

We collect the following categories of personal data depending on how you interact with us:

• Membership (free or paid): name, email, membership tier, billing cycle, communication preferences, and payment status. Card processing is handled by Stripe; we never store full card numbers.
• Tip Jar & one-off contributions: name, email, payment details (processed by Stripe).
• Newsletters & contact: email and any info you include in messages.
• Community forum: email, username, optional profile fields, posts and messages (via our Discourse forum).
• Site usage: IP address, device/browser info, pages viewed, links clicked and similar analytics.
• Public recognition: if you become a DiS Patron, we may list your name on our “Patrons” page (you can request anonymity).

We do not intentionally collect data from children under 16.

• Provide services (contract): create/manage your account, deliver newsletters, grant access to members-only posts, playlists and archives, acknowledge support on our Patrons page, and run the forum.
• Process payments (contract/legal obligation): process subscription fees and donations via Stripe; we do not store full card numbers. Stripe sets essential cookies to enable secure transactions.
• Communicate (consent/legitimate interests): send administrative emails, newsletters and membership content you signed up for; you can unsubscribe anytime.
• Improve & secure (legitimate interests): analyse readership to improve content, prevent abuse/fraud, and protect our services (including forum security cookies such as _forum_session, _t, and dosp).
• Legal compliance (legal obligation): tax/accounting and compliance with applicable laws.

We share data only when necessary:

• Processors: Ghost Foundation Ltd (CMS/membership), Stripe (payments), email delivery and analytics partners. They process data on our behalf and under contract. By default, Discourse forums use a documented set of essential cookies for login, preferences and security.
• Legal/safety: where required by law or to protect rights, property or safety. We do not sell your personal data.

Our own and our processors’ servers may be outside the UK/EEA. Ghost(Pro) servers are in Amsterdam, The Netherlands; some data may also transit via global CDNs or processor locations. Where data is transferred internationally, we use appropriate safeguards (e.g., standard contractual clauses).

• Membership & billing records: kept while your membership is active and as required for legal/accounting.
• Forum content: kept until you delete it or request deletion (backups may persist for a limited period).
• Analytics: retained in aggregate/non-identifiable form where feasible.

You can access, rectify, erase, restrict, object, port your data, and withdraw consent (e.g., for marketing or being listed as a Patron).

Email support@drownedinsound.org to exercise your rights. You may also contact the UK Information Commissioner's Office.

See our separate Cookie Policy for the cookies we use (including Ghost membership cookies, Stripe payment cookies, and community forum cookies).

We may update this Privacy Policy. We’ll post updates here and, for significant changes, may email registered subscribers.