Privacy Policy

1.Information We Collect

We collect information in three ways: what you provide directly, what you post in live chat, and what is generated automatically when you use the Site.

Information you provide:

• Song submissions — the audio file plus the details you enter on the submission form: your artist/name, email address (both required), song title, producer name, any message or note, and any optional social-media links you add. Your name, song title, producer, and social links may be shown publicly on the Site and read aloud/displayed during live broadcasts. Your email is never displayed publicly.
• Submission agreement record — when you check the box agreeing to our Terms of Use & Submission Agreement, we keep a permanent record of that agreement: your name, email, song, IP address, browser user-agent, the terms version, and a timestamp. This is a legal record and is retained as described in Section 7.
• Contact or support messages — if you use the contact form or email us, we retain your name, email, and the content of that message.

Live chat:

• Chat is public. The display name you choose and the messages you send in the live chat are visible to everyone watching. Don’t share anything private there.
• We store recent chat messages (a rolling window of the most recent messages) along with the sender’s IP address, which is used only for moderation, rate-limiting, and blocking abuse. IP addresses attached to chat are visible only to the site admin, never to other visitors.
• Your chosen chat display name is saved in your own browser (local storage) so you don’t have to re-enter it — see Section 4.

Information collected automatically (site activity & analytics):

• Visitor activity log — on each page view we record your IP address, browser user-agent, the page visited, the referring site, and derived details (browser, operating system, device type, and — where the host provides it — an approximate country). This log is used for security, abuse prevention, and basic traffic analytics, and is viewable only by the site admin. It is not used for advertising or cross-site tracking.
• Play counts — aggregate counts of how many times each track is played. These are attached to the track, not to any individual visitor.
• Rate-limit & security logs — short-lived records of recent submission/chat activity by IP, used to enforce limits and block spam.

2.How We Use Your Information

• To receive, queue, and review submitted music during live streams.
• To detect and block submission spam or abuse (rate limiting by IP).
• To operate and improve the Site (server diagnostics, error tracking).
• To display aggregate play counts on the public music catalog.
• To respond to messages or inquiries you send us.

We do not use your information for profiling, behavioral advertising, or any automated decision-making that affects you.

3.Payments & Donations

Skip-the-Line boosts and donations are processed through Cash App (Block, Inc.). When you send a payment via Cash App, that transaction is governed by Cash App’s Privacy Policy. HeartStruck does not receive or store your Cash App credentials, card numbers, or bank details.

We log the transaction amount and Cash App cashtag associated with confirmed donations solely to verify skip-queue eligibility and maintain a payment log. This log is visible only to the HeartStruck admin and is never shared.

4.Cookies & Session Data

The Site uses one cookie and a small amount of browser local storage. We do not use tracking or advertising cookies.

• Admin session cookie — set only after an admin logs in. It is marked HttpOnly and SameSite, is served securely over HTTPS, and expires when the browser is closed. It is used solely to authenticate admin actions and is never set for ordinary visitors.
• Local storage (public visitors) — if you use the live chat, your chosen display name is saved in your browser’s local storage so you don’t have to retype it. We also store a small flag remembering that you’ve seen the “how it works” intro. This data stays on your device, is not a cookie, and is not transmitted for tracking. You can clear it anytime through your browser settings.
• No analytics trackers — we do not use Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, or any third-party behavioral tracking scripts. Our visitor log (Section 1) is first-party and stays on our own server.
• No advertising cookies — the Site does not serve ads and does not set ad-network cookies.

5.Streaming & Playback

Live stream video is delivered via HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) from our own server, and uploaded audio tracks are served from our own server. However, some parts of the Site load resources from third parties, and your browser shares your IP address with those providers as a routine part of fetching their files:

• hls.js (video player library) — loaded from cdn.jsdelivr.net. jsDelivr privacy policy.
• Google Fonts — the Site’s typefaces are loaded from fonts.googleapis.com / fonts.gstatic.com. Google privacy policy.
• Embedded players — where an artist links a track on Spotify, SoundCloud, or YouTube, playing that track may load an embedded player from those services (we use YouTube’s privacy-enhanced youtube-nocookie.com domain where possible). Each platform’s own privacy policy applies to what it collects.

None of these providers are used by us for analytics or advertising; they are used only to load the fonts, player, or media you requested.

6.Data Sharing & Third Parties

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to any third party.

We may share information only in these limited circumstances:

• Legal obligation — if required by a valid court order, subpoena, or applicable law.
• Safety — to protect the rights, property, or safety of HeartStruck, its users, or the public, where disclosure is permitted by law.
• Service providers — our web host and server operator may have incidental access to server logs as part of normal infrastructure operations. They are not permitted to use this data independently.

7.Data Retention

• Submission files & details — retained until removed by the admin (e.g., after review, at the submitter’s request, or during cleanup).
• Submission agreement records — the legal record of your Terms agreement (Section 1) may be retained for up to three (3) years, as stated in our Terms of Use, for fraud-prevention and copyright-dispute purposes.
• Live chat messages — kept as a rolling window of the most recent messages; older messages are automatically dropped, and the admin may clear chat at any time.
• Visitor activity log — kept as a rolling window of the most recent visits; older entries are automatically pruned as new ones arrive.
• IP rate-limit / security logs — short rolling windows (typically an hour or less); older entries are pruned automatically.
• Payment logs — retained for administrative record-keeping and dispute resolution.

If you want your submitted audio file, submission record, or a chat message removed, contact us at the address below and we will delete it promptly (except records we are required to keep for legal or fraud-prevention purposes).

8.Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights under applicable privacy laws (such as CCPA for California residents or GDPR for EU/EEA residents). These may include:

• The right to know what personal data we hold about you.
• The right to request deletion of your personal data.
• The right to opt out of any sale of personal data (we do not sell data).

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at the address in Section 11. We will respond within 30 days.

9.Children’s Privacy

The Site is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child has submitted personal information to us, contact us and we will delete it.

10.Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page will reflect any changes. Continued use of the Site after a revision constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

11.Contact

Questions about this policy or requests regarding your data:

Also see our Terms of Use & Submission Agreement for additional rules governing use of the Site.