Privacy Policy

Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how Similar Song Finder ("we", "us", "the service") handles information when you use our website to find similar songs, save tracks, or create and share a Virtual CD. We keep the data we collect to a minimum.

Information We Collect

• Your searches — The song titles, artist names, or Spotify/YouTube links you enter so we can generate recommendations. You do not need an account to search.
• Virtual CD content — If you create a Virtual CD, we store its title, optional note and occasion, ordered track list, language, creation time, and the third-party catalog references attached to those tracks. Do not include sensitive personal information in a title or note.
• Virtual CD management and abuse prevention — We store one-way hashes and quota records needed to recognize authorized deletion requests, prevent duplicate submissions, and enforce creation limits. The deletion key itself is shown to you during the creation flow and stored on your device; the server stores a one-way hash rather than the key in readable form. Network-address hashes used for short-window creation limits are cleared after the relevant window on a best-effort basis.
• Recommendation security and incident diagnostics — For requests that enter the recommendation flow, we may store the client IP address supplied by our trusted network edge, one-way HMACs derived from that address and an anonymous device identifier, coarse country or region, network operator number and edge data center, plus broad browser or automated-client classifications. We use these fields to identify abnormal traffic, investigate abuse, explain quota rejections, and diagnose service incidents. Raw client IP addresses in ordinary query records are available only to authorized administrators, are not sent to advertising analytics, and are deleted or anonymized after no more than 90 days. When an address is confirmed as a source of abusive or automated traffic, we may copy it into a restricted security blocklist. A block does not expire automatically and stops blocking only when an authorized administrator explicitly revokes it. A revoked record may remain for incident history and may later be removed or anonymized when it is no longer needed to protect the service. Query facts do not retain the full User-Agent.
• Usage and analytics data — Aggregated, non-identifying information about how the site is used (for example, pages viewed and features used) to help us improve it.
• Device information — Basic technical details such as browser type and operating system, used for compatibility and performance.
• Cookies and local storage — Small data files used to remember preferences such as your language and light/dark theme, measure traffic, retain an anonymous device identifier for search and Virtual CD abuse prevention, keep anonymous recent searches and saved tracks, preserve a Virtual CD draft, retain management information for CDs created on that device, and temporarily keep up to three sanitized discovery snapshots for account sync. See "Cookies" below.
• Account information and discovery history (only if you create an account) — If you choose to register, we store the email address and details you provide, the tracks you save, and up to 20 recent successful discoveries. A discovery snapshot can include the seed song, filters you selected, recommendation reasons, and safe song metadata needed to show that context again. It does not store preview audio URLs, signed attribution tokens, or complete AI/provider responses.

If paid features are offered, payment details are handled by our payment providers. We do not store full payment card details ourselves.

Third-Party Services

To turn the song you enter into recommendations, your search input is sent to third-party services that help us:

• Generate recommendations — We use an AI provider to suggest tracks that match your input.
• Verify and enrich tracks — We check suggestions against public music catalogs and metadata providers (such as Apple Music / iTunes and Last.fm) so that results are real, playable songs, and to fetch cover art and preview links.
• Link out to music apps — Results link to external services such as Apple Music, Spotify, or YouTube, which are governed by their own privacy policies.

We share only what is needed to perform the search (typically the song title, artist, or link you entered). We do not send these providers your identity.

Creating a Virtual CD does not upload or copy the underlying audio files to Similar Song Finder. Its track list contains music metadata and links used for identification and discovery.

How We Use Your Information

• Provide and operate the similar-song search.
• Create, display, share, manage, and delete Virtual CDs.
• Maintain, debug, secure, and improve the service.
• Understand aggregate usage so we can make the product better.
• Detect, prevent, and address abuse or technical problems.

Cookies

We use a small number of cookies and similar local-storage entries, including:

• Preferences — your selected language and light/dark theme.
• Anonymous music activity — up to three recent searches, tracks you choose to save, and up to three sanitized discovery snapshots on this device before signing in. A discovery snapshot is protected by a server signature, expires after no more than 30 days, is removed from local storage after a successful account sync, and grants no authority to read or manage other server data.
• Anonymous device and Virtual CD state — an anonymous device identifier used to scope search and Virtual CD abuse-prevention limits, your in-progress draft, retry information, and management keys for CDs created on this device. A separate deletion key can be saved by you for use on another device.
• Analytics and advertising — measurement of site usage and, when advertising is enabled, advertisement delivery, ad performance, frequency control, fraud prevention, security, and reporting. Advertising personalization is used only where permitted and, when required, after consent.

You can clear or block cookies in your browser settings; some preferences may not be remembered if you do.

Advertising, Google AdSense, and Third-Party Cookies

We may use Google AdSense and other advertising partners to display advertisements on Similar Song Finder.

Third-party vendors, including Google, may place and read cookies in your browser, use web beacons, process IP addresses, or use similar technologies for advertising delivery, ad measurement, frequency control, fraud prevention, security, and reporting.

Google's use of advertising cookies enables Google and its partners to serve ads based on your visit to Similar Song Finder and/or other websites on the Internet. Where required by law, personalized advertising technologies are used only after the appropriate consent has been obtained.

Other third-party advertising vendors or ad networks may also use cookies, web beacons, IP addresses, or similar identifiers to serve and measure advertisements. These third parties process information under their own privacy policies.

You can manage the ads Google shows you or opt out of personalized advertising through Google's Ads Settings. You may also use opt-out tools made available by participating advertising companies.

Disabling personalized advertising does not necessarily stop all advertisements. You may still see non-personalized or contextual advertisements based on factors such as the content of the page, your general location, or the time of day.

Consent for Advertising in the EEA, United Kingdom, and Switzerland

Before personalized advertising is enabled for visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, the site will use a Google-certified consent management platform to explain the available purposes and advertising partners and to request consent where required. If that consent mechanism is not active, personalized advertising will not be enabled for those visitors.

Depending on your choices, Google and its advertising partners may process personal data and use cookies or similar technologies for personalized advertisements, non-personalized advertisements, limited advertisements, ad measurement, security, and fraud prevention.

When active, the consent message lets you accept, reject, or manage the available advertising and privacy choices. When the consent platform provides a privacy-settings link or icon, you can use it to revisit those choices.

U.S. State Privacy Choices

Where applicable, visitors may have rights to opt out of certain uses or sharing of personal information for targeted advertising. Available choices are presented through the site's consent and privacy management tools when those rules apply.

We do not sell personal information in exchange for money. Some advertising activities may nevertheless be treated as “sharing” or “targeted advertising” under certain U.S. state privacy laws.

Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal information. We share data only with the third-party providers described above that help us operate the service, to comply with the law, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of the service and its users.

A Virtual CD is unlisted, not private. It is excluded from our public CD directory and is not intended for search indexing, but anyone who obtains its sharing link can open its title, note, occasion, and track list. Do not share the link or include information in the CD that you would not want the recipient to see.

Data Retention

We keep operational query facts for up to 90 days and then delete or anonymize them; anonymous daily totals may be retained longer for trend analysis. Confirmed abusive network addresses may be retained separately in the restricted security blocklist without automatic expiration. Only an explicit administrator revocation stops enforcement; the revoked incident record may remain until it is no longer needed for service protection. Separately, signed-in Recent Searches and Discovery History are account Library data limited to the 20 most recent entries. They remain until displaced by newer entries, cleared by you, or removed with your account.

Virtual CDs currently have no automatic expiration and remain available until someone with a valid deletion key deletes them, or we remove them for operational, safety, or legal reasons. Deletion makes the sharing link unavailable immediately. The service currently uses soft deletion, so the underlying record is not necessarily erased from service storage at that same moment; it may be retained while needed for security, abuse prevention, data integrity, or legal obligations, and removed or anonymized when it is no longer needed.

You can remove saved tracks, clear recent and discovery history, delete a Virtual CD with its deletion key, or permanently delete your account and associated library data from Account settings. If you no longer have a Virtual CD deletion key or need help with a privacy request, contact us below.

Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, export, or delete your personal information. To make a request, contact us using the details below.

Children's Privacy

The service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by updating the date at the top of this page.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, contact Similar Song Finder at contact@similarsongfinder.io.