1. Introduction
Straight Forward Group and its subsidiaries — Straight Forward Music, Straight Forward Publishing and Straight Forward Agency (collectively referred to as “we”, “us” or “our”) — are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and share your personal data when you visit any of our websites, including straightfwdgroup.com, straightfwdmusic.com, straightfwdpublishing.com and straightfwdagency.com., or when you contact us directly.
Please read this policy carefully. By using our websites or submitting your information to us, you confirm that you have read and understood this policy.
We are registered in England and Wales. For the purposes of applicable data protection legislation, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, Straight Forward Group is the data controller.
2. What Data We Collect
We may collect and process the following categories of personal data:
Identity data — your name, professional title and company name where provided.
Contact data — your email address, telephone number and postal address where provided.
Professional data — information about your role in the music industry, the nature of your enquiry, links to music or professional profiles you provide to us voluntarily.
Technical data — your IP address, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology identifiers on the devices you use to access our websites.
Usage data — information about how you use our websites, including pages visited, time spent on pages, links clicked and the page from which you arrived.
Communications data — the content of any messages, submissions or enquiries you send to us via our contact forms, email or any other channel.
Marketing data — your preferences in receiving communications from us and your communication preferences.
We do not collect any special categories of personal data — such as information about your race, ethnicity, religion, health, sexual orientation or political views — through our websites. We do not knowingly collect personal data from individuals under the age of 16.
3. How We Collect Your Data
We collect data through the following means:
Direct interactions — when you complete a contact form, submit music for A&R consideration, request a studio booking, send us a brief, subscribe to our newsletter or correspond with us by email or other means.
Automated technologies — as you interact with our websites, we may automatically collect technical and usage data through cookies, server logs and similar technologies. Please see our Cookie Policy for further details.
Third parties — we may receive technical and usage data from analytics providers such as Google Analytics, advertising networks and social media platforms where you interact with our content.
4. How We Use Your Data
We use your personal data for the following purposes:
To respond to your enquiries — when you contact us via any of our websites, we use your data to respond to your message and fulfil the purpose for which you contacted us. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests in managing and responding to communications about our business.
To consider submissions — when an artist, producer or songwriter submits music for consideration, we use the information provided to assess the submission. The legal basis is our legitimate interests in identifying and developing talent.
To administer studio bookings — when you enquire about or book studio time, we use your data to process and manage the booking. The legal basis is the performance of a contract or steps taken prior to entering a contract.
To send marketing communications — if you have subscribed to our newsletter or opted in to receive updates, we will use your email address to send you news, releases and announcements. The legal basis is your consent. You may withdraw consent at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any email we send you.
To improve our websites — we use technical and usage data to analyse how our websites are used, identify issues and improve the user experience. The legal basis is our legitimate interests in maintaining and improving our digital presence.
To comply with legal obligations — we may process your data where necessary to comply with applicable laws, regulations or legal proceedings.
5. Sharing Your Data
We do not sell, rent or trade your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes.
We may share your personal data with the following categories of third parties where necessary:
Service providers — companies that provide services on our behalf, including website hosting, email delivery, analytics, payment processing and IT support. These parties are contractually required to process your data only on our instructions and in accordance with applicable data protection law.
Professional advisers — lawyers, accountants and auditors who provide professional services to us, subject to professional confidentiality obligations.
Regulatory and law enforcement authorities — where we are required to disclose personal data by applicable law, regulation or legal process, or where disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of Straight Forward Group, our clients or others.
Business transfers — in the event that we sell, transfer or merge any part of our business or assets, personal data held by us may be transferred to the relevant third party as part of that transaction.
We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law.
6. International Transfers
Some of our external service providers are based outside the United Kingdom. Where we transfer your personal data outside the UK, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place — such as standard contractual clauses approved by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) — to ensure your data receives an equivalent level of protection.
7. Data Retention
We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements.
To determine the appropriate retention period, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure, the purposes for which we process the data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means.
In general terms:
- Enquiry and contact data is retained for up to 3 years from the date of last contact
- Artist and producer submission data is retained for up to 2 years
- Newsletter subscriber data is retained until you unsubscribe or withdraw consent
- Technical and analytics data is retained for up to 26 months
8. Your Rights
Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:
Right of access — you have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification — you have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.
Right to erasure — you have the right to request that we delete your personal data in certain circumstances, for example where it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected.
Right to restriction — you have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.
Right to data portability — where processing is based on your consent or the performance of a contract, you have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.
Right to object — you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests as our legal basis. You also have the right to object at any time to the processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes.
Rights related to automated decision-making — we do not use automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects on individuals.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at contact@straightfwdgroup.com. We will respond to all legitimate requests within one calendar month. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at any time if you believe we have not handled your personal data in accordance with applicable law. The ICO can be contacted at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.
9. Data Security
We have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access. These measures include secure server infrastructure, encrypted data transmission, access controls and regular security assessments.
Where we have given you or where you have chosen a password to access certain parts of our websites, you are responsible for keeping that password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.
10. Third Party Links
Our websites may contain links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications — including social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Spotify. Clicking those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy practices. We encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.
11. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. Where changes are material, we will take reasonable steps to bring them to your attention. Your continued use of our websites following the posting of any changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.
12. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your rights, please contact us at:
Straight Forward Group privacy@straightfwdgroup.com