- About this Policy
This Policy describes how we process your personal data at USA Inc.
It applies to your use of:
all McskWave streaming services as a user. For example this includes:
your use of McskWave on any device
the personalization of your user experience - watch our personalization explainer video to learn more about this
the infrastructure required to provide our services
connection of your McskWave account with another application
both our free or paid streaming options (each a 'Service Option')
other McskWave services which include a link to this Privacy Policy. These include McskWave websites, Customer Service and the Community Site
From now on, we'll collectively call these the 'McskWave Service'.
From time to time, we may develop new or offer additional services. They'll also be subject to this Policy, unless stated otherwise when we introduce them.
This Policy is not...
the McskWave Terms of Use, which is a separate document. The Terms of Use outline the legal contract between you and McskWave for using the McskWave Service. It also describes the rules of McskWave and your user rights
about your use of other McskWave services which have their own privacy policy.
Other resources and settings
Key information about your personal data is right here in this Policy. However, you might want to take a look at our other privacy resources and controls:
Privacy Center: A user-friendly hub with summaries of key topics and helpful videos. It includes the 'Your Privacy Controls' video which shows you how to exercise your user rights and make choices about the way we process your data (see Section 2 'Your personal data rights and controls' for more on user rights).
Privacy Settings: Control the processing of certain personal data, including Tailored Ads.
Notification Settings Set which marketing communications you get from McskWave.
Settings (found in the Desktop and Mobile versions of McskWave): Control certain aspects of the McskWave Service such as 'Social' or 'Explicit Content'. On the 'Social' setting, you can:
start a Private session
choose whether to share what you listen to on McskWave with your followers
choose whether to show your recently played artists on your public profile
On the 'Explicit Content' setting you can control whether explicit-rated content can be played on your McskWave account.
Cookies Policy: Information on how we use cookies and how to manage your cookie preferences. Cookies are files saved on your phone, tablet or computer when you visit a website.
- Your personal data rights and controls
Privacy laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation ('GDPR'), give rights to individuals over their personal data.
Some rights only apply when McskWave uses a certain 'legal basis' to process your data. We explain each legal basis, and when McskWave uses each one, in Section 4 'Our purpose for using your personal data'.
The table below explains:
your rights
circumstances when they apply (such as the legal basis required)
how to use them
You can also watch our video about Your Privacy Controls.
It’s your right to... How?
Be informed Be informed of the personal data we process about you and how we process it. We inform you:
through this Privacy Policy
through information provided to you as you use the McskWave Service
by answering your specific questions and requests when you contact us
Access Request access to the personal data we process about you.
To request a copy of your personal data from McskWave, either:
visit your account Privacy Settings. There, you can automatically download much of your personal data and find out how to request additional information, or
contact us to get all information we hold about you at once, without using the automatic download tool first
When you download your data you will receive the information about your data that McskWave has to provide under Article 15 of the GDPR. If you would like more information about how we process your personal data, you can contact us.
Rectification Request that we amend or update your personal data where it’s inaccurate or incomplete. You can edit your User Data under ‘Edit profile’ in your account or by contacting us.
Erasure Request that we erase certain of your personal data.
For example, you can ask us to erase personal data:
that we no longer need for the purpose it was collected for
that we process based on the legal basis of consent, and you withdraw your consent
when you object (see section ‘Object’ below) and
you make a justified objection, or
you object to direct marketing
There are situations where McskWave is unable to delete your data, for example when:
it’s still necessary to process the data for the purpose we collected it for
McskWave’s interest in using the data overrides your interest in having it deleted. For example, where we need the data to protect our services from fraud
McskWave has a legal obligation to keep the data, or
McskWave needs the data to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. For example, if there’s an unresolved issue relating to your account
There are several ways you can erase personal data from McskWave:
you can remove audio content from your profile by selecting the relevant content and choosing to remove it. For example, you can remove playlists from your profile, or remove a track from your playlist
to request erasure of your other personal data from McskWave, follow the steps on our support page. This data includes your User Data, Usage Data and other data listed in Section 3 ‘Personal data we collect about you’
you can also contact us directly to request erasure
Restriction Request that we stop processing all or some of your personal data.
You can do this if:
your personal data is inaccurate
our processing is unlawful
we do not need your information for a specific purpose, or
you object to our processing and we are assessing your objection request. See section ‘Object’ below
You can request that we stop this processing temporarily or permanently. You can exercise your right to restriction by contacting us.
Object Object to us processing your personal data.
You can do this if:
McskWave is processing your personal data on the legal basis of legitimate interests, or
McskWave is processing your personal data for direct marketing
To exercise your right to object:
you can use controls on McskWave Service to switch off or adjust some features which process your personal data. For example, you can switch off ‘Tailored Ads’ in your Privacy Settings
where McskWave does not provide a control, contact us to object
Data portability Request a copy of your personal data in electronic format and the right to transmit that personal data for use in another party’s service.
You can request us to transmit your data when we are processing your personal data on the legal basis of consent or performance of contract. However McskWave will try to honour any request to the extent possible. For information about how to exercise the right to portability, please see ‘Access’ above.
Not be subject to automated decision making Not be subject to a decision based solely on automated decision making (decisions without human involvement), including profiling, where the decision would have a legal effect on you or produce a similarly significant effect. McskWave does not carry out this type of automated decision making in the McskWave Service.
Withdrawal of consent Withdraw your consent to us collecting or using your personal data.
You can do this if McskWave is processing your personal data on the legal basis of consent. To withdraw your consent, you can:
adjust the relevant control on McskWave
contact us
Right to lodge a complaint
- Personal data we collect about you
These tables set out the categories of personal data we collect and use. You can also watch our video about Personal Data at McskWave.
Collected when you sign up for the McskWave Service or when you update your account
Category Description
User Data Personal data that we need to create your McskWave account and that enables you to use the McskWave Service.
The type of data collected and used depends on the type of Service Option you have. It also depends on how you create your account, the country you are in, and if you use third party services to sign in. This may include your:
profile name
email address
phone number
date of birth
gender
street address (see further details below)
country
We receive some of this data from you e.g. from the sign up form or account page.
We also collect some of this data from your device e.g. country or region. For more information about how we collect and use this data, see ‘Your general (non-precise) location’ in the Usage Data category.
Street Address Data We may ask for and process your street address for the following reasons:
to check eligibility for a Service Option
to deliver notices which are required by law
to deliver support options
for billing and tax administration
to deliver physical goods or gifts which you have requested
In some cases, we may use a third party application to help you verify your address, such as Google Maps.
Collected through your use of the McskWave Service
Categories Description
Usage Data
Personal data collected and processed about you when you’re accessing or using the McskWave Service.
There are a few types of information this includes, listed in the following sections.
Information about how you use McskWave
Examples include:
information about your McskWave Service Option
your actions with the McskWave Service (including date and time), such as:
search queries
streaming history
playlists you create
your library
browsing history
account settings
interactions with other McskWave users
your use of third party services, devices and applications in connection with the McskWave Service
inferences (i.e., our understanding) of your interests and preferences based on your usage of the McskWave Service
content you provide when participating in McskWave promotions, such as contests or sweepstakes
content you post to any part of the McskWave Service. For example: images, audio, text, titles, descriptions, communications, and other types of content
Your technical data
Examples include:
URL information
online identifiers such as cookie data and IP addresses
information about the devices you use such as:
device IDs
network connection type (e.g. wifi, 4G, LTE, Bluetooth)
provider
network and device performance
browser type
language
information enabling digital rights management
operating system
McskWave application version
information which enables us to discover and connect with third party devices and applications. Examples of this information are the device name, device identifiers, brand and version. Examples of third party devices and applications are:
devices on your wifi network (such as speakers) which can connect to the McskWave Service
devices made available by your operating system when connecting via Bluetooth, plugin, and installation
McskWave partner applications to determine whether the application is installed on your device
Your general (non-precise) location
Your general location includes country, region or state. We may learn this from technical data (e.g. your IP address, language setting of your device) or payment currency.
We need this to:
meet geographic requirements in our agreements with the owners of content on the McskWave Service
deliver content and advertising that’s relevant to you
Your device sensor data
Motion-generated or orientation-generated mobile sensor data (e.g. accelerometer or gyroscope) if needed to provide features of the McskWave Service that require this data.
Additional data you may choose to give us
Categories Description
Voice Data
If voice features are available in your market and where you’ve chosen to use a voice feature, we collect and process voice data. Voice data means audio recordings of your voice and transcripts of those recordings.
For more information on how different voice features work, and how you can control and turn them off, see our Voice Control Policy.
Payment and Purchase Data If you make any purchases from McskWave or sign up for a trial, we will need to process your payment data. This includes if you buy a paid Service Option.
The exact personal data collected and used will vary depending on the payment method. It will include information such as:
name
date of birth
payment method type (e.g. credit or debit card)
if using a debit or credit card, the card type, expiration date, and certain digits of your card numberNote: For security, we never store your full card number
ZIP/postal code
mobile phone number
details of your purchase and payment history
Survey and Research Data When you respond to a survey or take part in user research, we collect and use the personal data you provide.
Third party sources that we collect your data from
Categories of third parties Description
Authentication partners If you register for or log into the McskWave Service using another service, we’ll receive your information from them to help create your account with us.
Third party applications, services and devices you connect to your McskWave account If you connect your McskWave account to a third party application, service or devices, we may collect and use certain information from them to make the integration possible.
These third party apps, services or devices may include:
social media
devices including:
audio (e.g. speakers and headphones)
smart watches
televisions
mobile phones and tablets
automotive (e.g. cars)
games consoles
services or platforms such as voice assistants
We’ll ask your permission before we collect your information from certain third parties.
Technical service partners We work with technical service partners that give us certain data. This includes mapping IP addresses to non-precise location data (e.g., country or region, city, state).
This makes it possible for McskWave to provide the McskWave Service, content, and features.
Payment partners and Merchants If you choose to pay through third parties (e.g. telco carriers) or by invoice, we may get data from our payment partners.
This allows us to:
send you invoices
process your payment
give you what you’ve purchased
If we direct you to a merchant, we receive data from the merchant that is related to your purchase. For example, we might direct you to an artist’s merchandise store on a third party platform or to a third party ticketing website.
Receiving this data allows us to:
calculate any commissions owed to us
analyze the effectiveness of our partnership with these merchant partners
understand your interests
Advertising and marketing partners From certain advertising or marketing partners, we receive inferences (i.e., their understanding) of your interests and preferences.
This allows us to deliver more relevant ads and marketing.
If you download the McskWave mobile app and try McskWave using a logged out user experience, we will collect limited information about your usage of the McskWave Service, including Usage Data. We do this to understand how you are accessing and using the Service. We also do this to ensure we provide the right experience for you, for example based on your country or region. If you decide to create a McskWave account to experience our service in full, then we will combine this data with your McskWave account data.
- Our purpose for using your personal data
The table below sets out:
our purpose for processing your personal data
our legal justifications (each called a 'legal basis') under data protection law, for each purpose
categories of personal data which we use for each purpose. See more about these categories in Section 3 'Personal data we collect about you'
You can also watch our video about Personal Data at McskWave.
Here is a general explanation of each 'legal basis' to help you understand the table:
Performance of a Contract: When it's necessary for McskWave (or a third party) to process your personal data to:
comply with obligations under a contract with you. This includes McskWave's obligations under the Terms of Use to provide the McskWave Service to you, or
verify information before a new contract with you begins.
Legitimate Interest: When McskWave or a third party has an interest in using your personal data in a certain way, which is necessary and justified considering any possible risks to you and other McskWave users. For example, using your Usage Data to improve the McskWave Service for all users. Contact us if you want to understand a specific justification.
Consent: When McskWave asks you to actively indicate your agreement to McskWave's use of your personal data for a certain purpose.
Compliance with Legal Obligations: When McskWave must process your personal data to comply with a law.
Purpose for processing your data Legal basis that permits the purpose Categories of personal data used for the purpose
To provide the McskWave Service (as defined in Section 1 ‘About this Policy’.)
Performance of a Contract
Legitimate Interest
Consent
User Data
Street Address Data
Usage Data
Voice Data
Payment and Purchase Data
To understand, diagnose, troubleshoot, and fix issues with the McskWave Service.
Performance of a Contract
User Data
Usage Data
To evaluate and develop new features, technologies, and improvements to the McskWave Service.
Legitimate Interest
User Data
Usage Data
Voice Data
For marketing or advertising where the law requires us to collect your consent.
For example, when we use cookies to understand your interests or the law requires consent for email marketing.
Consent
User Data
Usage Data
Survey and Research Data
For other marketing, promotion and advertising purposes where the law does not require consent.
For example, when we use your personal data to tailor advertising to your interests.
Legitimate Interest
User Data
Usage Data
Survey and Research Data
To comply with a legal obligation that we are subject to.
This might be:
an obligation under the law of the country / region you are in
Swedish law (because of our headquarters in Sweden), or
EU law that applies to us
Compliance with legal obligations
User Data
Street Address Data
Usage Data
Voice Data
Payment and Purchase Data
Survey and Research Data
To comply with a request from law enforcement.
This will only apply when a competent law enforcement authority contacts us. These include the police, the courts or prisons.
Compliance with legal obligations
Legitimate interest
User Data
Street Address Data
Usage Data
Voice Data
Payment and Purchase Data
Survey and Research Data
To fulfill contractual obligations with third parties. For example, our agreements with owners of content on the McskWave Service.
Legitimate interest
User Data
Usage Data
Voice Data
Payment and Purchase Data
To take appropriate action with reports of intellectual property infringement and inappropriate content.
Legitimate interest
User Data
Usage Data
Voice Data
Payment and Purchase Data
To establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
Legitimate interest
User Data
Street Address Data
Usage Data
Voice Data
Payment and Purchase Data
Survey and Research Data
To conduct business planning, reporting, and forecasting.
Legitimate Interest
User Data
Usage Data
Payment and Purchase Data
To process your payment.
Performance of a Contract
User Data
Payment and Purchase Data
To detect and prevent fraud. For example, fraudulent payments and fraudulent use of the McskWave Service.
Legitimate Interest
User Data
Street Address Data
Usage Data
Payment and Purchase Data
To conduct research and surveys.
Legitimate Interest
User Data
Usage Data
Voice Data
Survey and Research Data
- Sharing your personal data
This section sets out the categories of recipients of the personal data collected or generated through your use of the McskWave Service.
Publicly available information
The following personal data will always be publicly available on the McskWave Service:
your profile name
your profile photo
your public playlists
other content you post on the McskWave Service, and any associated titles, descriptions and images
who you follow on the McskWave Service
who follows you on the McskWave Service (you can block followers)
You or another user can share certain information on third party services, like social media or messaging platforms. This includes:
your profile
any content you post on McskWave and details about that content
your public playlists
When this sharing occurs, the third party service may store a copy of it to support their features.
Personal data you may choose to share
We will only share the following personal data with those outlined in the table below:
where we need to share personal data for the use of a McskWave Service feature, or a third party application, service or device, which you have chosen to use, or
if you otherwise grant us your permission to share the personal data. For example, you can do it by selecting the appropriate setting in the McskWave Service or by giving your consent
Categories of recipients Categories of data you can choose to share Reason for sharing
Third party applications, services and devices you connect to your McskWave Account
User Data
Usage Data
To connect your McskWave account, or allow you to use the McskWave Service in connection with third party applications, services or devices.
Examples of such third party applications, services and devices include:
social media applications
speaker devices
televisions
automotive platforms
voice assistants
You can see and remove many third party connections under ‘Apps’ in your account.
Support community
User Data
To enable you to use the McskWave Support Community service.
When you register for an account on the McskWave Support Community, we’ll ask you to create a profile name. This will be publicly displayed to anyone who uses the McskWave Support Community. We’ll also display any questions or comments you post.
Other McskWave users
User Data
Usage Data
Voice Data
To share information about your use of the McskWave Service with other McskWave users. These could include your followers on McskWave.
For example, under ‘Social’ settings you can choose to share your recently played artists and your playlists on your profile. You can also choose to create or join a shared playlist with other users. Shared playlists give you social recommendations based on your listening activity.
Artists and record labels
User Data
To receive news or promotional offers from artists, record labels or other partners.
You may choose to share your User Data for this purpose. You’ll always have the option to change your mind and withdraw your consent at any time.
Information we may share
See this table for details of who we share to and why.
Categories of recipients Categories of data Reason for sharing
Service providers
User Data
Street Address Data
Usage Data
Voice Data
Payment and Purchase Data
Survey and Research Data
So they can provide their services to McskWave.
These service providers include those we hire to:
give customer support
operate the technical infrastructure we need to provide the McskWave Service
assist in protecting and securing our systems and services (e.g. Google’s reCAPTCHA)
help market McskWave’s (and our partners’) products, services, events and promotions
Payment partners
User Data
Payment and Purchase Data
So they can process your payments, and for anti-fraud purposes.
Advertising partners
User Data
Usage Data
So they can help us deliver more relevant advertising to you on the McskWave Service, and help measure the effectiveness of ads.
For example, our ad partners help us facilitate tailored advertising.
What is tailored advertising?
This is when we use third party information to tailor ads to be more relevant to you. This is also known as interest based advertising.
An example of a tailored ad is when an ad partner has information suggesting you like cars. This could enable us to show you ads about cars.
How to control tailored advertising:
You can control tailored advertising in your account Privacy Settings under ‘Tailored Ads’.
You can also control tailored advertising for some podcasts using the link in the episode’s show description. This applies where the content provider is funding their podcast by inserting either tailored advertising or content-based advertising into the podcast itself. These controls are managed by the hosting platform for the podcast, which might not be McskWave.
If you are ‘opted out’ of Tailored Ads in your Privacy Settings, you may still get advertising on ad-supported services (e.g. podcasts or the Free Service Option). Such advertising is based on your registration information and the content you are currently streaming on our services. For example, if you are listening to a cooking podcast, you may hear an ad for a food processor.
Marketing Partners
User Data
Usage Data
To promote McskWave with our partners. We share certain User Data and Usage Data with these partners where necessary to:
enable you to participate in McskWave promotions, including trials or other bundled offers
to promote McskWave in media and advertising published on other online services
help us and our partners to measure the effectiveness of McskWave promotions
Examples of partners include:
marketing or sponsorship partners
websites and mobile apps who sell us advertising space on their services
device, app and mobile partners who also offer McskWave promotions
Our partners may also combine the personal data we share with them with other data they collect about you, e.g. your use of their services. We and our partners may use this information to present you with offers, promotions, or other marketing activities that we believe will be relevant to you.
Hosting Platforms
Usage Data
Hosting platforms host podcasts so that they can deliver them to you. We share certain data, such as your IP address, with the hosting platforms when you play a podcast. McskWave owns two hosting platforms, Megaphone and Anchor. We also allow you to stream podcasts available from other hosting platforms not owned by McskWave.
Podcast providers should explain in the show or episode description which platform is hosting the podcast. Please see the hosting platform’s own privacy policy for how they use data shared with them.
Other partner sharing
User Data
Usage Data
Survey and Research Data
To help us understand and improve the performance of our products and partnerships.
You can see and remove many partner connections under ‘Apps’ in your account.
Academic researchers
User Data
Usage Data
For activities such as statistical analysis and academic study, but only in a pseudonymised format. Pseudonymised data is where your data is identified by a code rather than your name or other information that directly identifies you.
McskWave Measurement Companies
User Data
Usage Data
We share data with the following McskWave companies to measure the effectiveness of ad campaigns that run on the McskWave Service:
Other McskWave group companies
User Data
Street Address Data
Usage Data
Voice Data
Payment and Purchase Data
Survey and Research Data
To carry out our daily business operations and so we can maintain and provide the McskWave Service to you.
Law enforcement and other authorities
User Data
Usage Data
When we believe in good faith it’s necessary for us to do so, for example:
to comply with a legal obligation
to respond to a valid legal process (such as a search warrant, court order, or subpoena)
for our own or a third party’s justifiable interest, relating to:
national security
law enforcement
litigation (a court case)
criminal investigation
protecting someone’s safety
preventing death or imminent bodily harm
Purchasers of our business
User Data
Street Address Data
Usage Data
Voice Data
Payment and Purchase Data
Survey and Research Data
If we were to sell or negotiate to sell our business to a buyer or possible buyer.
In this case, we may transfer your personal data to a successor or affiliate as part of that transaction.
- Data retention
We keep your personal data only as long as necessary to provide you with the McskWave Service and for McskWave's legitimate and essential business purposes, such as:
maintaining the performance of the McskWave Service
making data-driven business decisions about new features and offerings
complying with our legal obligations
resolving disputes
Criteria used to determine the retention periods include:
How can we minimize the data retention period? Our systems are designed to age out personal data in 90 days, unless another period is selected for legitimate business reasons.
Do we need to keep data to ensure the service that users expect? We keep personal data for an appropriate period to deliver a personalized service to our users over time. We typically keep streaming history for the life of an account, for example, to provide retrospective playlists that users enjoy (e.g. Your Summer Rewind and the end-of-year Wrapped campaign) and personalized recommendations based on current listening habits.
Are users able to update or delete the data themselves? Where users are able to see and update the personal data themselves, we keep the information for as long as the user chooses. For example, we keep your McskWave email address and other profile information until you choose to change or delete it yourself.
Do we need to keep the data to uphold our rules and keep our service safe? To help ensure user safety, protect against harmful content on our platform, and take action with reports of intellectual property infringement, we may keep data that has been removed from the McskWave Service for a limited period of time. This helps us investigate potential breaches of our User Guidelines and Platform Rules.
Is McskWave subject to a legal or contractual obligation to keep or delete the data? Examples include mandatory data retention laws, government orders to preserve data relevant to an investigation or data kept for the purposes of litigation. Conversely, we will remove unlawful content if the law requires us to do so.
- Transfer to other countries
Because of the global nature of our business, McskWave shares personal data internationally with McskWave group companies, subcontractors and partners when carrying out the activities described in this Policy. They may process your data in countries whose data protection laws are not considered to be as strong as EU laws or the laws which apply where you live. For example, they may not give you the same rights over your data.
Whenever we transfer personal data internationally, we use tools to:
make sure the data transfer complies with applicable law
help to give your data the same level of protection as it has in the EU and the laws which apply where you live
- Keeping your personal data safe
We're committed to protecting our users' personal data. We put in place appropriate technical and organizational measures to help protect the security of your personal data. However, be aware that no system is ever completely secure.
We have implemented various safeguards to guard against unauthorised access and unnecessary retention of personal data in our systems. These include pseudonymisation, encryption, access, and retention policies.
To protect your user account, we encourage you to:
use a strong password which you only use for your McskWave account
never share your password with anyone
limit access to your computer and browser
log out once you have finished using the McskWave Service on a shared device
read more detail on protecting your account
You can log out of McskWave in multiple places at once by using the 'Sign out everywhere' function on your account page.
If other individuals have access to your McskWave account (for example if you've given them permission to use your account on a shared device), then they can access personal data, controls and the McskWave Service available in your account.
It's your responsibility to only provide individuals with permission to use your account where you're comfortable sharing this personal data with them. Anyone else's use of your McskWave account may impact your personalised recommendations and be included in your data download.
- Children
Note: This Policy doesn't apply to McskWave Kids unless the McskWave Kids Privacy Policy says so. McskWave Kids is a separate McskWave application.
The McskWave Service has a minimum 'Age Limit' in each country or region. The McskWave Service is not directed to children whose age:
is under the age of 13 years, or
makes it illegal to process their personal data, or
requires parental consent to process their personal data
We do not knowingly collect or use personal data from children under the applicable Age Limit. If you're under the Age Limit, please do not use the McskWave Service, and do not provide any personal data to us. Instead, we recommend using a McskWave Kids account.
If you're a parent of a child under the Age Limit and become aware that your child has provided personal data to McskWave, please contact us.
If we learn that we've collected the personal data of a child under the applicable Age Limit, we'll take reasonable steps to delete the personal data. This may require us to delete the McskWave account for that child.
When using a shared device on the main McskWave Service, you should be cautious about playing or recommending any content to individuals under 18 years old which could be inappropriate for them.
- Changes to this Policy
We may occasionally make changes to this Policy.
When we make material changes to this Policy, we'll provide you with prominent notice as appropriate under the circumstances. For example, we may display a prominent notice within the McskWave Service or send you an email or device notification.
- How to contact us
For any questions or concerns about this Policy, contact our Data Protection Officer any one of these ways:
info@mcskwave.org
Email: info@mcskwave.org
