Privacy Policy

For artists and other account holders, Encore decides how your data is used (in GDPR terms, we're the “controller”).

For fans and other visitors who join a mailing list or send a message on an artist's site, the artist is the controller and Encore processes the data on their behalf (we're the “processor”). That includes the email updates an artist sends to their mailing list: the artist decides what to send and when, and we deliver it for them through our email provider. If you're a fan with a question about your data, please contact the artist first. We'll help if you can't reach them.

Your account

• Your name and email address.
• Your password, stored only as a one-way hash, or, if you sign in with Google, the name, email address and profile picture Google shares with us.
• Sign-in sessions: a secure session cookie, plus the IP address and browser details recorded with each session to help keep your account safe.

Your site

• Everything you add: artist name, bio, photos, logo, band members (with their roles and photos), links, releases, videos, show dates, merch (product names, prices, photos and store links), press quotes, your press kit (short bio, headline numbers, rider and hospitality notes), contact addresses, design choices and previously published versions.
• If you turn on tour-date sync: the Bandsintown artist name or calendar feed link you give us, when it last synced and any sync error, and the shows it brings in.
• If you start your site from a link: the details you leave ticked when you choose Add to my site (your artist name, genres, links, releases and videos and, from “About you”, where you're based, solo or band, and band members' names and roles, these three only where your site doesn't have them yet). Your first bio and tagline go into your site's draft when those are empty; a bio you wrote stays until you choose the new one. The year you formed, record labels, other bands, highlights, short description and “sounds like” aren't saved to your site: they're only used to write your first bio. Nothing from the lookups is saved before you choose Add to my site (see Music links and your first bio).
• Images you upload, including reference photos for AI press photos, with basic file details (size, type).
• If you use AI photos: the consent statement you agreed to, when you agreed, and your IP address and browser details at that moment; plus the looks you chose and the images generated.
• Feedback you send us from the app.

Email updates to fans

If you send email updates (campaigns) to your mailing list, we store what you wrote (subject, preview text, message, image and button link) and when it was sent. For each recipient we keep a delivery record: their email address, whether it was sent, when, any error, and our email provider's message reference. These records make sure nobody gets the same email twice and show you how a send went. We don't track whether fans open your emails or click their links.

Updates go out from a sending address of ours that is kept separate from our account emails, with the artist's name as the sender. The footer of every update carries an unsubscribe link and a postal address.

Bounces and spam reports

Our email provider tells us when an email can't be delivered (a bounce) or when the person who got it reports it as spam (a complaint). We store that with the fan's mailing-list entry, marking the address as bounced or complained, and stop sending the artist's updates to it. We also count each site's recent bounces and complaints, and pause its campaigns when there are too many, to protect email delivery for everyone.

Fans' replies go to your site's contact or booking email or, if you haven't added one, to the email address on your account, and everyone who gets the update can see that address. To use a different one, add a contact email to your site.

People who report content

• If you use our report form: the link you report, the type of problem, your description, your email address and (if you give it) your name, plus your account if you're signed in.
• To stop the form being abused, we count reports per IP address. That counter stores a one-way, keyed hash of your IP address, not the address itself.

Fans and visitors of artist sites

• Contact form: the name, email address, topic and message the visitor enters, and their IP address (to block spam and abuse).
• Mailing list: the email address, its status (pending, confirmed, unsubscribed, bounced or complained) and the related dates, plus a delivery record for each email update the artist has sent to it.
• Unsubscribing: every email update has an unsubscribe link, and mail apps that support it also show their own unsubscribe button. Either one stops that artist's emails to that address. We keep the address marked as unsubscribed so it isn't emailed again, unless the fan signs up again.
• Visit statistics: a daily count of visits per site. A visit is counted once per browser session: the visitor's browser keeps a small note in session storage, which disappears when the tab is closed. We don't use cookies or IP addresses for this and don't build profiles of visitors.

Abuse prevention

To stop spam and abuse, our servers keep simple counters of how many requests come from one IP address in a short window (usually an hour): contact messages, mailing-list sign-ups, reports and feedback. Each counter stores a one-way, keyed hash of the IP address (not the address itself), a number and a reset time. Visits to artist sites aren't counted this way. Signed-in features have similar counters per account, for example imports from a link per hour, and AI writing and starters made without AI per day; free AI first bios are also counted per IP address per day. These counters store the same kind of keyed hash, never your account ID or IP address itself. We use the counters only to limit abuse, never to profile anyone. See how long we keep data for how long they last.

Technical data

Like any website, our hosting provider processes request logs (such as IP address, page requested and browser type) to deliver pages, keep the service secure and fix problems.

We don't log what you write, the text of the pages we read for your first bio, or what we send to our AI writer. When something fails, our error logs record what went wrong (for example, that a service didn't answer), not your words.

While Encore is in a closed beta, you can ask for an invite with our “Request an invite” form. It collects:

• your name and your artist or band name;
• your email address;
• if you add them, a link to your music and a short note.

We use these to decide who to invite next and to email you your invite link. Our team gets an email about each new request. If the address already has a Encore account, we don't store the request. To stop the form being abused, we count requests per IP address and per email address, storing a one-way, keyed hash rather than the address itself (see Abuse prevention).

We don't use waitlist details for marketing, add them to a mailing list or share them with anyone except the providers that help us send email. The only email you'll get from the waitlist is your invite. If you then create an account, the rest of this policy applies to it.

When we invite you, we keep a record of the invite (the address it was for, when it expires and, once you sign up, which account used it), so we can see who joined from which invite. When you open an invite link, we set an essential cookie that remembers the invite until your account is created (see Cookies).

We keep a waitlist request until the closed beta ends, or for 12 months after you send it, whichever is sooner. To have it removed before then, use the Feedback button in your dashboard or, if you don't have an account, the form on our Report content page (choose “Something else”) and we'll delete it.

• To create and run your account and publish your site.
• To start your site from the links you give us and offer you a first bio, as described under Music links and your first bio.
• To send emails that are part of the service: password resets, sign-up confirmations to fans, notifications of messages to artists, and messages about your plan, such as when your free Pro months end (we work that date out from when you created your account).
• To send the email updates artists write to the fans who confirmed their sign-up, on the artist's behalf and only when the artist sends them. Each plan has sending limits (on Free, 250 emails a month shared by the artist's sites, each email to up to 250 confirmed fans; on Pro, 5,000 a month for each Pro site, each email to up to 5,000).
• To keep synced tour dates current, by checking the artist's Bandsintown listing or calendar feed when they sync, and once a day if they turn on auto-sync.
• To act on bounce and spam reports from our email provider, so addresses that bounce or complain aren't emailed again, and to pause a site's campaigns if it gets too many.
• To apply each plan's limits and keep usage fair, by counting things like emails sent and AI photos made.
• To prevent spam, fraud and abuse, and to keep the service secure.
• To answer your questions and feedback.
• During the closed beta, to decide who to invite and to send invites to people who asked for one.
• To understand, in aggregate, how the product is used so we can improve it.
• To meet our legal obligations, including responding to valid takedown requests.

We rely on: contract (running the service you signed up for); legitimate interests (security, preventing spam and abuse, and improving the product in ways that don't override your rights); steps you ask us to take before you have an account (handling your request for a beta invite); consent (AI photos made from your reference photos, which you can withdraw at any time by asking us to delete your reference photos or by deleting your account; fans confirming their mailing-list sign-up, which is the consent artists rely on when they send email updates); and legal obligation where the law requires us to keep or share information. Reading your public pages and public music databases to start your site and first bio relies on contract (you asked us to start your site from your links) and, for the public facts about you and your band members, legitimate interests. The first bio itself is optional: you can switch it off.

The Encore app uses only essential cookies to keep you signed in. We don't use advertising or analytics cookies. When you open an invite link, an essential cookie remembers the invite while you create your account (including if you sign up with Google). It's removed once your account exists or you sign in, isn't set at all if you're already signed in, and lasts at most 7 days.

In the editor, when you start your site from a link, what you chose under “About you” and the drafts of your first bio are kept in your browser's session storage for that tab, so a reload doesn't lose them. They're cleared when you finish the bio step or close the tab, and aren't used after 2 hours. When a polish, tidy-up or first-bio draft replaces your bio, your previous bio and the new version are kept in local storage on that device for up to 30 days, so you can switch back. The editor also keeps a copy of your unsaved edits in that tab's session storage, so a reload or a dropped connection doesn't lose them, and a few display notes in local storage (which kind of store your shop link turned out to be, and whether you've seen your latest AI photos).

Artist sites don't get any cookies from us. The visit counter uses the browser's session storage, and display preferences (like pausing motion) may be remembered in local storage. Music players embedded on artist sites, such as Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud or Bandcamp, are loaded from those services and may set their own cookies under their own privacy policies. YouTube videos only load after a visitor presses play, using YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode.

Merch links and “Visit the store” buttons take fans to the artist's own store (for example Bandcamp, Shopify or Big Cartel), where that store's terms, cookies and privacy policy apply. Encore doesn't process payments and doesn't see orders.

We share data only with providers that help us run Encore, and only what each needs. We don't sell personal data or share it for advertising.

• Vercel

  Hosting, content delivery, file and photo storage (Vercel Blob), custom-domain and SSL setup

  When

  Always

  Where

  USA and global edge network

• Managed PostgreSQL provider

  Our database (accounts, sites, fan lists, messages). Named here before public launch

  When

  Always

  Where

  To be confirmed

• Resend

  Sending emails: password resets, confirming your email address, fan sign-up confirmations, message notifications, and the email updates artists send to their fans (from a separate sending address). Resend also tells us which emails bounced or were reported as spam

  When

  Always

  Where

  USA

• Bandsintown

  Tour-date sync: we send the artist name you enter and receive that artist's public upcoming shows, keeping only the show details listed below the table

  When

  Only if you connect Bandsintown

  Where

  USA

• fal.ai and/or Runware

  Generating AI press photos with Google's Nano Banana 2.1 model

  When

  Only if you use AI photos

  Where

  fal.ai: USA. Runware: UK, with EU-based storage

• Anthropic

  AI writing: your first bio and tagline ideas when you start a site from a link, and polishing, drafts and tagline ideas in the editor. Anthropic may not train its models on what we send (see below)

  When

  Only while AI writing is switched on in the beta, and then when you start a site from a link with Write my first bio on (it's on unless your site already has a bio, and you can switch it off), ask for your first bio in the bio step, or use AI writing in the editor

  Where

  USA

• Google

  Sign in with Google; the YouTube API Services, for importing your public videos and reading your channel's description and country

  When

  Only if you use them

  Where

  USA

Music links and your first bio

When you paste a music link or type your artist name, we look up public information from Spotify, Apple (iTunes Search), MusicBrainz, YouTube and SoundCloud, and open short share links (such as Spotify or Deezer ones) to find the full link. We send these services the link or artist name, not your account details. Bandcamp links are saved as links and players only: we don't read Bandcamp pages.

To start your bio, we also read what you've written about yourself, and a few public facts:

• Your own website: the one you paste, the website on your triple j Unearthed profile, or the official homepage MusicBrainz lists for you. We check its robots.txt first, then read at most your home page and one About, Bio, Story, EPK or Press page (no more than 4 requests, robots.txt and redirects included), from our servers, with a User-Agent that identifies us and links to this page. We try to skip text that's hidden on the page. Link-in-bio pages, social profiles and Bandcamp pages aren't read (a link-in-bio page on your own domain is recognised after the first request and skipped), and press articles aren't treated as your words. If your own domain turns out to be a Bandcamp page, we stop there and use nothing from it.
• triple j Unearthed (ABC): your public artist profile, if you paste it or MusicBrainz links to it (after checking ABC's robots.txt): your bio and summary, region and state, genres, members, “sounds like”, the links you list, and when it was last updated.
• MusicBrainz: act type, city, year formed (bands only), current members and their roles, other bands you play or played in, a short description, and the links your entry lists.
• Wikidata (Wikimedia): public facts only (act type, year formed, members, genres, record labels, awards and nominations, and a short description), and only when your MusicBrainz entry is confirmed as yours and links to it.
• YouTube: your channel's description and country, through the YouTube API Services (see below).

If we can't be sure a page is yours, we show what we found unticked and ask you first. These lookups, including the text of your pages, are kept in our servers' memory for up to 24 hours and aren't stored in our database. Nothing from them is saved to your site until you choose Add to my site (see What we collect).

YouTube

To import your public videos and read your channel's description and country, we use the YouTube API Services. We only read public channel and video details (we never sign in to your YouTube account), and we save the videos and channel link you choose to your site. Google's terms apply to this too: see the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy.

AI writing

When you start a site from a link, we start your bio and tagline ideas from what you leave ticked: straight away with the Write my first bio switch on (it's on unless your site already has a bio, and you can switch it off), or when you ask for it in the bio step. While AI writing is switched on in the beta, that goes to our AI writer, Claude, made by Anthropic; otherwise we build a simple starter on our own servers, without AI.

For your first bio we send Anthropic: your artist name, act type, where you're based, the year you formed, members' names and roles, genres, releases (title, type and year), the record labels, other bands and highlights you leave ticked, a short description, “sounds like”, your current tagline, the passages in your own words you leave ticked (up to 5, and 6,000 characters in all, with where each came from and when it was last updated) and your answers to the quick questions. Each first draft or rewrite is one request (tried once more if the service is busy). Before sending, we try to remove contact details, ages, birth dates and text that addresses an AI. When you polish your bio, ask for a draft or ask for tagline ideas in the editor, we send your bio, your profile details (name, act type, genres, place, tagline and members), your releases and any facts you add.

Under Anthropic's commercial terms, Anthropic may not train its models on what we send through its API. Under its privacy practices, it deletes API inputs and outputs within 30 days, unless it needs to keep them longer to enforce its usage policy (content its safety systems flag can be kept for up to 2 years, and its safety classification scores for up to 7 years) or to comply with the law. Our AI policy explains how the first bio works and what it costs.

Merch import

If you import merch, we read the public product list (and the store's name and currency) of the Shopify or Big Cartel store link you paste, including a store on your own domain, and save copies of the product photos you choose to your site's photos. We don't sign in to your store or see its orders or customers. Bandcamp merch isn't imported: a Bandcamp link becomes your store button. If your store's domain turns out to be a Bandcamp page, we stop there and use nothing from it.

Tour dates

If you connect a calendar feed for tour-date sync, we fetch the link you give us from whichever service hosts it (for example Google Calendar or iCloud) when you sync, and once a day if you turn on auto-sync. For each show, from a calendar feed or Bandsintown, we only keep its date, time, venue, city, country, ticket link, whether it's sold out, and the event's ID (so it isn't added twice); nothing else in the feed is saved to your site. Anyone who has a calendar's public link can read it, so use a calendar that only holds your shows.

Some providers process data in the United States and other countries. Where the law requires it, we rely on safeguards such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.

• Account and site data: for as long as your account exists.
• When you delete your account, we delete your account, sites, uploads, fan lists, email updates and messages. Copies may remain in backups and caches for up to 30 days before they're overwritten.
• Fan data (mailing-list sign-ups and messages): until the artist deletes it, their site or their account. When a fan unsubscribes, or an address bounces or reports an update as spam, we keep the address marked that way, along with its past delivery records, so it isn't emailed again unless the fan signs up again.
• Email updates: drafts are kept until the artist deletes them. Sent updates and their delivery records (including each recipient's email address) are kept as a record of what fans received, until the artist deletes their site or account. If the artist removes a fan from their list, that fan's delivery records are deleted too.
• Synced tour dates are replaced on every sync, so a date removed from the artist's Bandsintown listing or calendar feed disappears from their site too.
• Sign-in sessions expire after 30 days without use.
• Beta waitlist requests: until the closed beta ends, or 12 months after you send one, whichever is sooner. Invite records: until the beta ends, or while an account made with the invite exists.
• Anti-abuse counters (see Abuse prevention): deleted automatically after their window ends, usually within a few days. You can ask us to delete counters linked to your IP address at any time.
• Usage records (how many emails a plan has sent, AI photos made, bio polishes used and AI first-bio attempts, with dates): for as long as your account exists, so allowances can't be reset by deleting and recreating a site. If you delete your account, we keep these records without your account attached (what was used, how much, its estimated cost and when), so our monthly totals, such as AI spending, stay correct. Records of AI first bios and AI photos also carry a one-way, keyed hash of your email address (never the address itself), kept with them after you delete your account, so the free ones aren't given again to a new account with the same email address. For each AI first bio we record the model, its estimated cost, which kinds of source it used and the attempt number, never the text. The first 3 per account are free; attempts the AI provider charged for count, even when the answer wasn't usable.
• Lookups for your first bio (the text of your pages and the public facts we find): in our servers' memory for up to 24 hours, never in our database. What's kept in your browser is described under Cookies and local storage.
• AI reference photos: stored privately (never at a public web address) and deleted automatically 30 days after upload. Consent records: see the AI Image Policy.
• Feedback and content reports (including the reporter's email address): for as long as we need them to improve the product or handle the issue, and to keep a record of what we removed and why.

Depending on where you live, you can ask to access, correct, export or delete your personal data, object to or restrict how we use it, and withdraw consent. You can edit most of your data directly in the app, download your fan list as a CSV, and delete your account yourself from Dashboard → Account. For anything else, use the Feedback button in your dashboard or, if you don't have an account, the form on our Report content page (choose “Something else”) and we'll respond within 30 days.

You also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority. We'd appreciate the chance to fix things first.

Everything is served over HTTPS, passwords are hashed, access to production data is restricted, and public forms are rate-limited and spam-protected. No system is perfectly secure, but if we ever have a breach that affects you, we'll tell you promptly.

Encore isn't meant for children. Accounts are for people aged 16 and over, and AI photo features for adults only. If you believe a child has given us personal data, use the Feedback button in your dashboard or, if you don't have an account, the form on our Report content page (choose “Something else”) and we'll delete it.

We'll update this policy as Encore changes and tell you about significant changes by email or in the app. Questions or requests? Use the Feedback button in your dashboard or, if you don't have an account, the form on our Report content page (choose “Something else”).