No one ever picked up a guitar for the first time and thought ‘I wonder if one day I’ll be so successful I’ll have to think about data privacy’. Unfortunately, practicing musicians now have to think such things.

Here’s some things you should bear in mind:

• If you have a mailing list (and if you read this blog on a regular basis you know that you should!) and if you live in the UK or the EU there are data protection regulations you need to put in place to stay compliant with various laws. Here are some data privacy practices you should be aware of:

• If you collect emails via a sign up form at gigs you should send a confirmation email once you add those addresses to your list. This email should state that by that person giving you their email they consent to receive messages and communications from you (as well as a nice hello!).

• If you have a form on your website for the collection of emails, use a two step opt-in to confirm subscriptions (this improves the quality of your list also).

• You should have a privacy policy on your website which tells users how their data is stored and what purposes it will be used for.

If you use emails to run other marketing activities (i.e. such as a custom list on Facebook to show your subscribers Facebook or Instagram ads) this needs to be included in the privacy policy also.

Stay legal!

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