Privacy Policy

The short version

We don't sell your data and we're not running a profile on you. The site does display ads (Google AdSense) and affiliate product links (Amazon and others) to help cover hosting costs - that's the only reason we need this page. If you're in the EU/UK or California, our cookie consent banner lets you refuse any non-essential cookies, including ad cookies.

What we collect

Contact form submissions: If you use the contact form, we receive your name (if provided), email address (if provided), and message. This information is used solely to respond to your inquiry and improve the site. We don't add you to mailing lists or share your details.

Affiliate click counts (aggregate): When you click an affiliate link (Amazon, MasterClass, Waves, etc.) we increment an anonymous counter telling us how often that specific item is clicked and from which page. No personal data, no IP, no user ID - just the item and the page path. This helps us feature items people actually want.

Graph support modal: If the “Support this wiki” modal appears on a graph page, we anonymously count whether it was shown, clicked, or dismissed. No personal data.

Server logs: Like virtually all websites, our hosting provider may log IP addresses and request data for security and operational purposes. These logs are not used for tracking or profiling and are retained only briefly.

Advertising (Google AdSense)

This site displays ads served by Google AdSense. Google and its partners may use cookies and similar technologies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to this site or other sites, including personalized advertising. You can opt out of personalized advertising at any time through Google Ad Settings.

For details on how Google uses data: see How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.

If you're in the EU/UK/EEA, Switzerland, or California, our cookie consent banner lets you refuse advertising cookies. If you refuse, you'll still see ads - they just won't be personalized.

Affiliate links

Some outbound product links (books, albums, courses, software, merch) are affiliate links. If you click one and buy something, we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Programs we participate in include:

• Amazon Associates (amazon.com)
• MasterClass (via Impact)
• Waves Audio (via CJ Affiliate)
• Musora / Drumeo / Pianote / Guitareo / Singeo
• Fender Play, TrueFire, Yousician, Artistworks
• Plugin Boutique, Ableton, Native Instruments, Universal Audio, iZotope
• Sweetwater, Reverb, Sheet Music Plus, Musicnotes

As an Amazon Associate, this site earns from qualifying purchases.

Affiliate links are labeled with a small “affiliate link - supports this wiki” note. We only recommend items we genuinely think are worth your time.

Cookies

Essential cookies: Required for basic functionality (such as admin authentication, remembering that you dismissed the site banner or the graph support modal). These are set without consent - the site can't function without them.

Advertising cookies (Google AdSense): Used to serve ads. Set only after you grant consent via the cookie banner (EU/UK/CH/CA visitors). Outside those regions, they are set by default, but you can still opt out of personalized ads via Google Ad Settings (linked above).

Analytics cookies (Google Analytics 4): Used to count visits and see which pages, tags and searches people use, so we know what to write next. Set only after you grant consent via the cookie banner. Choose “Reject all” and no analytics cookies are set at all.

What we record: the pages you open, the filters and searches you use on this site, which tags you follow, and whether you click a shop link. We do not record your name, your email, or anything you type outside the site's own search box. Google Analytics stores this for 14 months and we do not sell it to anyone.

Age, gender and interests (Google Signals): If you are signed in to a Google account that has Ads Personalization switched on, and you accept analytics cookies here, Google may tell us your age bracket, gender and broad interest categories, and may recognise you across the devices you use. It arrives grouped, never as individuals: we see “most readers of this page are 25 to 34”, never who you are. We use it to decide what to write and to describe the audience to advertisers. Switch it off for every site at once in My Ad Center, or refuse analytics cookies here and none of it is collected in the first place.

Where the analytics data is kept: inside Google Analytics, and we may also have Google copy it into Google BigQuery, a database on Google's own infrastructure, so we can run our own queries over it rather than only the reports Analytics offers. It is the same data described above and nothing extra is collected for it; it is not shared with anyone outside the site, and refusing analytics cookies means there is nothing to copy in the first place.

Changed your mind? Use the “Cookie settings” link in the footer of any page. It reopens the banner and withdraws your consent straight away.

Third-party services

The site may load resources from third-party services:

• Google AdSense - ads (see above for cookie details)
• MusicBrainz / Cover Art Archive - album cover art
• Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons - photographs of the Beatles and their collaborators. Those photographs come from Wikipedia and remain the property of their photographers, most under Creative Commons licences that require attribution; each one is credited on its Wikimedia Commons page, linked from the corresponding Wikipedia article. We are replacing them with our own drawings, and this note goes when the last photograph does.
• Amazon - product images for affiliate links (when configured)
• Ko-fi - tip page linked from the footer (only loaded when you click)
• Neon (PostgreSQL) - our database hosting
• Vercel - site hosting and edge functions

These services have their own privacy policies. We don't share user data with them beyond what's inherent in loading their resources.

Your rights

Everyone: If you've submitted information through our contact form and want it deleted, just ask via the contact page.

EU / UK / EEA (GDPR): You have the right to access, rectify, erase, or port your personal data, and to object to or restrict its processing. You can withdraw consent for cookies at any time via the cookie banner or by clearing your cookies. Contact us for any GDPR request.

California (CCPA): You have the right to know what personal information is collected, to delete it, to correct inaccuracies, and to opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information. We don't sell your data; we do share limited data with Google AdSense for personalized advertising unless you refuse via the cookie banner.

Children's privacy

This site is a general-audience educational resource. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or under 16 in the EU). If you believe we have, please contact us and we'll remove it.