Privacy Policy

Last updated: 20 July 2026 · This Privacy Policy explains how demo-tape.net ("demo-tape", "we", "us") collects and processes personal data, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and applicable Italian data-protection law.

demo-tape is operated by a private individual (not a company) who acts as the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. For any privacy-related request — including to obtain the controller's identity, exercise your rights, or reach the person responsible — contact [email protected]. We will respond to any legitimate request within the time limits set by the GDPR.

We keep the data needed to run the service and nothing more:

• Account data: username, email address, hashed password (or, for social sign-in, no local password), account type, and — if you provide it — display name, city, country, bio, website and social links, avatar and profile background.
• Content & activity: the tracks, comments, likes/supports, follows, lists and private messages you create, plus play history needed to power charts and recommendations.
• Technical & security data: connection metadata (IP address, approximate country, browser user-agent, timestamps) for key actions, and cookies (see the Cookie Policy).
• Optional security data: if you enable two-factor authentication, the related secret and recovery codes.

Your email address is never shown publicly.

Where enabled, you can create an account or sign in with a third-party provider (Google, Facebook or X/Twitter). If you use this option, we receive from that provider only your name, email address and, where available, your public nickname/avatar — used solely to create or match your account. We do not post anything to those services. If the option is not enabled, only email-and-password sign-in is available.

• Performance of a contract (GDPR art. 6(1)(b)): creating and running your account, hosting and streaming your content, delivering messages and notifications you asked for.
• Legitimate interests (art. 6(1)(f)): keeping the service secure, preventing abuse and fraud, and improving the platform — see connection logs below.
• Consent (art. 6(1)(a)): optional notification emails and any newsletter, which you can turn off at any time.
• Legal obligation (art. 6(1)(c)): responding to valid, binding requests from competent authorities.

You can receive optional email notifications (a new private message, a comment on your track, a new follower, a support/like, or a new upload from an artist you follow). These are opt-in/opt-out from your Settings, and every such email includes an unsubscribe option. Transactional emails (email verification, password reset) are not marketing and cannot be disabled while your account exists. You may object to any promotional/newsletter email at any time.

Direct messages are private between the two participants. Message content is encrypted at rest and demo-tape does not monitor, review or moderate the content of private messages: our staff and administrators do not read them in the ordinary course of operating the service. We may only access message content where strictly required to comply with a valid, binding order from a competent authority. You remain solely responsible for what you send.

For diagnostics, security and abuse prevention — and to be able to cooperate with lawful requests from competent authorities — we record connection metadata for key actions (sign-in, upload, sending a message, reporting content): the IP address, approximate country, browser user-agent and timestamp. These logs are kept for 6 months and then automatically deleted, and are disclosed to authorities only upon a valid, binding legal request. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in operating a secure service and compliance with legal obligations.

We do not sell your personal data. We rely on a small number of service providers (processors) acting on our instructions, each under a data-processing agreement (DPA) and their own privacy terms:

• Hetzner Online GmbH (Germany, European Union) — storage of audio and media files (object storage) and encrypted backup copies. See Hetzner's privacy policy & data-processing terms.
• Cloudflare, Inc. (United States, with EU data processing) — content delivery network (CDN), DNS, web-application firewall and the Turnstile anti-bot check on the sign-in and registration forms. See Cloudflare's Data Processing Addendum and privacy policy.
• TurboSMTP — delivery of transactional emails (account verification, password reset, notifications) and the newsletter. See TurboSMTP's privacy & GDPR terms.
• The provider that hosts our application server and database — a third-party hosting/VPS provider, located in the European Union (Romania), that runs the website and stores account data. We keep our infrastructure minimal and do not disclose the specific provider publicly for security reasons; the identity of this processor is available on request to a data subject or a supervisory authority.

By creating an account and continuing to use demo-tape, you acknowledge and agree that your personal data is processed by the providers listed above, under their respective data-processing and privacy terms linked here. If you do not agree, please do not use the service. We keep this list up to date; where a new processor is added, this policy is updated accordingly.

Your personal data is stored and processed within the European Economic Area: the application server and database are hosted in the European Union (Romania), and media files and encrypted backups are stored in the European Union (Germany). Some processors — for example Cloudflare and our email delivery provider — may process limited data (such as your IP address or email address) outside the EEA; where this happens, the transfer is covered by an adequacy decision or by the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.

Account and content data are kept for as long as your account exists. Connection logs are kept for 6 months. After account deletion, your profile is anonymised as described below.

Under the GDPR you have the right to access, rectify, erase or port your data, to restrict or object to certain processing, and to withdraw consent at any time (without affecting prior processing). To exercise these rights, contact [email protected]. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Italian supervisory authority, the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali (garanteprivacy.it), or with the authority of your country of residence.

You can delete your account yourself from your Settings. When you do, we anonymise your profile — email, password, name, username, location, bio, links, avatar, two-factor data and email preferences are erased, and sign-in becomes impossible — and we remove your interactions (likes, supports, follows, comments, lists, notifications, sessions). Your uploaded tracks are taken offline (removed from listings, search and streaming) but the underlying rows may be retained in an anonymised form for catalogue integrity, since they are no longer linked to an identifiable person. Messages you sent remain visible to the other participant with the sender shown as "Deleted user", their content still encrypted. This implements your right to erasure (GDPR art. 17) while respecting the rights of other users.

demo-tape is not intended for children. You must be at least 16 years old to use it (14 in Italy, subject to the consent of a parent or legal guardian, in line with Italian law implementing GDPR art. 8). We do not knowingly collect data from anyone below this age.

We use only the cookies and local storage strictly necessary to run the service, plus a couple of preference cookies — no advertising or third-party tracking. See the full Cookie Policy.

Upload only music you own or have the rights to share. Bootlegs, remixes and edits must respect the original rights holders — takedown requests are honoured (see Report copyright). Be decent: no spam, no harassment in comments or messages, no fake plays/supports. Accounts that abuse the platform can be limited or removed. Downloads are governed by the per-track permissions set by each uploader (public, shared, followers, friends or private) — respect them. Full terms are in the Terms of Service.

demo-tape is a platform for human-made music. AI-generated tracks are not allowed — this applies to fully AI-generated instrumentals as well as AI-generated vocals, regardless of the tool or service used to create them.

The one exception: acapellas and vocal stems that were recorded by a human and then processed with AI purely for enhancement — noise reduction, audio restoration, or more precise stem separation — are allowed, because the underlying performance remains human.

AI-generated uploads are removed by the admins as soon as they are identified. Repeat offenders risk a temporary or permanent account ban. Every reported track is manually reviewed by the admin team — if you suspect a track is AI-generated, flag it with the Report link on its page.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time; material changes are announced on the platform. The "last updated" date above always reflects the current version.

Privacy contact: [email protected]