Privacy Notice

This website is run by Joseph Laurence®, a UK songwriter and composer operating as a sole trader in the United Kingdom. For the purposes of UK data protection law, Joseph Laurence is the data controller for any personal data described in this notice.

If you have any questions about this notice or about your data, you can reach me by email at hello@josephlaurence.com. Email is the only contact method - There is no phone line, contact form or postal address published on this site.

By default, nothing. This is a static, informational site. There are no accounts, no sign-ups, no e-commerce, no sales and no forms. You can browse every page without giving me any personal data.

The only things that ever run beyond serving the pages are a strictly necessary record of your cookie choice and, only if you accept cookies, Google Analytics. Both are explained below.

When you first visit, you will see a cookie banner. Until you make a choice, no analytics or tracking cookies are set - The default state is that consent is denied.

To remember your choice so you are not asked on every page, the site stores a single value in your browser's local storage under the key jl-cookie-consent. This simply records whether you accepted or declined. It is classed as strictly necessary, it is set without needing your consent, it stays on your own device, and it is never sent to me or used to track you. You can clear it at any time through your browser settings, which will bring the banner back.

If, and only if, you accept cookies via the banner, the site loads Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to help me understand, in aggregate, how the site is used - For example, which pages are popular. This uses Google Consent Mode v2, so analytics stays switched off until you opt in.

When analytics is active, GA4 sets two cookies in your browser: _ga and a property-specific cookie named _ga_<id>. IP anonymisation is switched on, so your IP address is truncated and not stored in full. The data collected is broadly limited to things like pages visited, approximate region, device and browser type, and how you move through the site.

What is not collected: your name, your email address, or anything that directly identifies you. I do not use analytics for advertising, profiling or selling data, and there are no advertising cookies on this site.

Google Analytics is provided and processed by Google as a processor acting on my behalf. You can read more in Google's own privacy policy at policies.google.com/privacy.

International transfers: Google may process analytics data outside the UK, including in the United States. Where that happens, Google relies on safeguards such as the UK extension to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, and equivalent transfer mechanisms, to keep your data protected to UK standards.

If you use an email link on the site to get in touch, your message and email address are handled by my email provider so that I can read and reply. I use those details only to respond to you and to keep a sensible record of our correspondence.

I will not add you to any marketing list or share your details with anyone else without asking you first.

The site is hosted on Google Firebase Hosting, which serves the pages over a secure content delivery network. Like most web hosts, Firebase may process limited technical request data - Such as your IP address and basic request information - in order to deliver the site reliably and securely and to guard against abuse. This is handled by Google as part of providing the hosting service. As Google operates globally, this hosting request data may be processed outside the UK, including in the United States. Where that happens, Google relies on safeguards such as the UK extension to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, and equivalent transfer mechanisms, to keep your data protected to UK standards.

The site links out to streaming and social platforms - Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, YouTube Music, Instagram and TikTok. When you follow one of these links you leave this site and arrive on a service run by someone else, with its own cookies, tracking and privacy policy. I have no control over how those platforms handle your data, so I would encourage you to read their policies before using them.

Under UK GDPR I must have a lawful basis for processing personal data. The bases I rely on are set out below.

Consent - For Google Analytics. This only runs after you accept cookies, and you can withdraw consent at any time (see below). Withdrawing consent does not affect anything that happened before you withdrew it.

Legitimate interests - For reading and replying to any email you send me, and for the limited technical request data my host processes to keep the site secure and available. My legitimate interest is in responding to genuine enquiries and running the site safely, balanced against your rights.

The strictly necessary consent record (the jl-cookie-consent key) is exempt from the consent requirement because it exists solely to remember the choice you made.

I keep things only as long as I reasonably need to.

Emails: I keep email correspondence for as long as is useful to deal with your enquiry and any sensible follow-up, then delete it when it is no longer needed.

Analytics: aggregated GA4 data is retained according to Google Analytics' standard retention settings, after which it is automatically deleted by Google. The _ga and _ga_<id> cookies have their own expiry set by Google and will clear from your browser when they lapse, or sooner if you delete them.

Consent choice: the jl-cookie-consent value stays in your browser until you or your browser clears it.

Under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 you have rights over any personal data held about you. These include the right to be informed, the right of access, the right to rectification, the right to erasure, the right to restrict or object to processing, the right to data portability, and the right to withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent.

Because this site holds so little - Essentially any email you choose to send me, plus aggregated, IP-anonymised analytics if you opted in - exercising these rights is straightforward. Just email me at hello@josephlaurence.com and tell me what you would like. I will respond within one month, as the law requires, and there is normally no charge.

To stop analytics at any time, simply decline cookies in the banner (or clear the jl-cookie-consent value and choose again). You can also delete the _ga cookies and adjust cookie controls directly in your browser.

I would always rather you came to me first so I can put things right. But if you are not happy with how I have handled your personal data, you have the right to complain to the UK's data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), at ico.org.uk.

This site is a general-audience music and brand site. It is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under the age of 13. If you believe a child has sent me personal data, please email hello@josephlaurence.com and I will delete it.

This notice and any processing of your personal data are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and by the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

If this notice changes, the Last Updated date above will change with it. For significant changes that affect how your data is used, I will make the update clear on the site so that you can review it.