Privacy Policy for wav.arena

Effective Date: November 2, 2025

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how wav.arena collects, uses, discloses, and safeguards your information when you visit our platform. By using wav.arena, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

2. Information We Collect

We collect the following types of information:

  • Personal Information: Name, email address, profile details, and other identifying information.
  • Usage Data: Information on how you interact with wav.arena, including log data and analytics.
  • Uploaded Content: Any beats, profile images, or media shared on the platform.
  • Cookies and Tracking Technologies: Information collected via cookies, web beacons, and other tracking mechanisms.

Data Categories and Purposes:

  • Identifiers (email, username, user ID): Account creation, authentication, and communications
  • Device and technical data (IP address, browser type, device information): Security, fraud prevention, platform operations, and system diagnostics
  • Usage data (battles entered, votes cast, page views, session data): Analytics, feature improvement, ranking calculations, and service optimization
  • Audio files (uploaded beats/songs): Battle participation, AI verification, and platform functionality
  • User-generated content (ratings, messages, profile information, bio): Platform functionality, community features, and user experience personalization

3. How We Use Your Information

We may use the collected information for the following purposes:

  • To provide, operate, and maintain the platform.
  • To improve user experience and develop new features.
  • To communicate with users regarding updates and support.
  • To enforce our Terms of Service and prevent fraudulent activities.
  • To analyze trends and optimize platform performance.

Lawful Bases for Processing (GDPR):

  • Performance of contract: To provide the services you've requested (battles, uploads, rankings, messaging, and other platform features)
  • Legitimate interests: Platform security, fraud prevention and detection, analytics, service improvement, and system operations
  • Consent: Optional features like marketing communications or non-essential cookies (where applicable)
  • Legal obligation: Compliance with applicable laws, court orders, regulatory requirements, and DMCA takedown procedures

4. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Wav.arena uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance user experience and gather analytics data. Users can control cookie preferences through their browser settings.

5. Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell or rent personal data. However, we may share information with third parties in the following cases:

  • With service providers who assist in platform operations.
  • When required by law or to protect our legal rights.
  • With user consent for optional third-party integrations.

6. Third-Party Processors

IRCAM Amplify (AI Content Verification)

We share uploaded audio files with IRCAM Amplify SAS ("IRCAM Amplify"), a French company, solely for the purpose of performing AI-music-detection analysis to verify the accuracy of user-disclosed AI usage labels. Processing occurs in accordance with IRCAM Amplify's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

wav.arena acts as a data controller for your audio submission, and IRCAM Amplify acts as a data processor for the purpose of performing AI verification. Processing is carried out under French and EU GDPR standards. The analysis result and model metadata are returned to wav.arena and stored in our database. No additional personal data beyond the audio file itself is transferred to IRCAM Amplify.

Other Third-Party Processors

We work with the following service providers to operate wav.arena:

  • Amazon Web Services (AWS): Cloud hosting infrastructure, authentication services (AWS Cognito), database (Amazon DynamoDB), file storage (Amazon S3), and email delivery (Amazon SES)
  • Analytics: We do not currently use third-party analytics or tracking services beyond essential platform operations

International Transfers: Personal data may be transferred to and processed in the United States and other countries where our service providers operate. For EU/EEA users, we ensure adequate protection of your personal data through:

  • Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission with our service providers (AWS, IRCAM Amplify)
  • EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework where applicable
  • Technical and organizational measures to protect data in transit and at rest

Automated Decision-Making: AI verification analysis is automated but does not result in solely automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects on you. The analysis is used to verify accuracy of user-disclosed AI usage labels. You may contact support at support@wavarena.com to request manual review of any AI verification result or to discuss the automated processing.

6.5. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your experience and operate the platform:

  • Essential cookies: Required for authentication, security, session management, and core functionality. These cannot be disabled without impacting platform operations.
  • Functional cookies: Remember your settings, preferences, and choices to improve your user experience.
  • Analytics: We do not currently use third-party analytics cookies. Platform analytics are derived from server logs and essential operations only.

You can manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings. Note that disabling essential cookies will impact platform functionality, including your ability to log in and use core features. For EU/EEA users, non-essential cookies require your consent, which you can manage through your browser or by contacting us at support@wavarena.com.

7. Third-Party Links

Our platform may contain links to third-party websites. Wav.arena is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of external sites.

8. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your data. However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Data Retention

We retain personal data for as long as necessary to provide services, comply with legal obligations, and resolve disputes. Specific retention periods include:

  • Account data (profile, email, settings): Duration of active account + 2 years after account deletion request
  • Battle history and voting records: Duration of active account + 2 years (retained for ranking integrity and fraud prevention)
  • Audio files (beats/songs): Duration of active account + 30 days after deletion request or content removal
  • AI verification reports: 2 years from analysis date (for platform integrity and dispute resolution)
  • Server logs and security data: 12 months (for security, fraud prevention, and system diagnostics)
  • Messages and notifications: Duration of active account + 30 days after deletion request

Users may request earlier data deletion by contacting us at support@wavarena.com. Some data may be retained longer if required by law, for legitimate business purposes (fraud prevention, legal disputes), or to comply with legal holds or investigations. Anonymized or aggregated data that cannot identify you may be retained indefinitely for analytics and platform improvement.

10. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

  • Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
  • Rectification: Correct inaccurate or incomplete data
  • Erasure ("Right to be Forgotten"): Request deletion of your data (subject to legal retention obligations)
  • Restriction: Limit how we process your data in certain circumstances
  • Portability: Receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format and transmit it to another controller
  • Objection: Object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing purposes
  • Withdraw Consent: Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw at any time (does not affect lawfulness of processing before withdrawal)

To exercise these rights, contact us at support@wavarena.com with your request. We will respond within 30 days (GDPR) or 45 days (CPRA). We may need to verify your identity before processing your request.

Additional Information:

  • EU/EEA users: See our GDPR Compliance page for detailed information about your rights under the General Data Protection Regulation
  • California users: See our CCPA/CPRA Compliance page for information about your rights under the California Privacy Rights Act

11. Children's Privacy

wav.arena is not intended for use by individuals under 13 years of age in the United States, or under 16 years of age in the European Economic Area (EEA) and United Kingdom. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children below these age thresholds.

If we discover that we have inadvertently collected personal data from a child without appropriate parental consent, we will take steps to delete that information promptly. If you are a parent or guardian and believe we have collected information from your child, please contact us immediately at support@wavarena.com with details, and we will investigate and take appropriate action.

By using wav.arena, you represent and warrant that you meet the minimum age requirement for your jurisdiction.

12. California Privacy Rights (CPRA)

No Sale or Sharing: We do not "sell" or "share" personal information as those terms are defined under the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). We do not use personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising or targeted advertising based on your activity across different websites or services.

California residents have specific rights under the CPRA. For detailed information about your rights and how to exercise them, please see our CCPA/CPRA Compliance page.

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, services, or legal requirements.

Material Changes: For material changes (such as introducing new third-party processors, changes to how we collect or use personal data, or changes affecting your rights), we will notify registered users via email within 30 days of the change taking effect.

Non-Material Changes: Minor updates, clarifications, or corrections will be posted here with an updated effective date without individual notification.

Your continued use of wav.arena after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised policy. If you do not agree with the changes, you may discontinue use of the platform.

14. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your data protection rights, or need to report a privacy concern, please contact us at:

Email: support@wavarena.com

Service: wav.arena

Mailing Address: 2154 Inner Cass Circle, Sarasota, FL 34231

We will respond to your inquiry within a reasonable timeframe. For data subject requests, we aim to respond within 30 days (GDPR) or 45 days (CPRA) of receiving your request.