SoundCloud includes meaningful positives like account deletion, privacy rights for many regions, some settings controls, and an explicit no-AI-training-without-consent promise. However, it also relies on broad data collection and sharing, personalized advertising, unilateral terms changes, broad content-use licenses, and a low cap on liability.
SoundCloud offers a mix of user controls and fairly broad operational rights. It lets users keep ownership of uploads, provides deletion and privacy controls, and explicitly says uploaded content will not be used to train generative AI without opt-in consent. But it also collects extensive usage, device, location, and third-party data, uses personalized ads, shares data with advertisers and other partners, can change terms unilaterally, and sharply limits liability.
Points of interest
The privacy policy says SoundCloud collects account details, listening and usage activity, logs, cookies, device data, location data, and information from third parties. That gives the company a broad view of your behavior on and around the service.
"Nous recueillons automatiquement certaines données à caractère personnel... Informations d'utilisation... Données de journal... Cookies... Données de localisation"
While licenses for deleted audio may end, licenses for comments and other contributions are stated to be indefinite and irrevocable. That means some things you post may remain licensed even after account termination.
"Les licences relatives aux commentaires... sont à durée indéfinie et irrévocables"
If SoundCloud causes harm, its liability is generally capped at 100 euros or what you paid in the prior 12 months, whichever is higher, except where law forbids it. This can sharply limit practical recovery for outages or losses.
"responsabilité est limitée à 100 euros ou le montant que vous avez payé au cours des 12 mois précédents"
SoundCloud says it will not use your content to train generative AI models that reproduce your voice, music, or image unless you explicitly opt in. This is a strong creator-friendly protection compared with many platforms.
"Nous n'utiliserons pas votre contenu pour entraîner des modèles d'IA générative... sans votre consentement explicite"
SoundCloud says you can delete your account and offers rights such as access, correction, deletion, portability, restriction, objection, and consent withdrawal for EU/EEA/UK users, with some similar U.S. rights. These are meaningful user protections.
"vous pouvez supprimer votre compte... demander l'accès, la rectification, l'effacement, la portabilité"
SoundCloud uses your interactions and device identifiers to personalize ads and content, and may permit tracking technologies and SDKs. Some of this is consent-based, but the service still supports significant ad-targeting infrastructure.
"nous diffusons des publicités personnalisées... nous utilisons les informations que vous mettez à notre disposition en interagissant avec la Plateforme"
You keep ownership, but uploading grants SoundCloud and other users broad worldwide royalty-free rights to host, share, distribute, adapt, and otherwise use your content through platform features. Comments and some contributions are even described as indefinite and irrevocable.
"vous accordez... une licence limitée, mondiale, non exclusive, libre de droits et de redevances"
The terms can be modified at SoundCloud's discretion, and continued use after two weeks counts as acceptance. Users have to monitor updates or leave the service if they disagree.
"Nous nous réservons le droit de modifier... à tout moment et à notre entière discrétion"
Users can control profile visibility, listening activity, personalized ads, cookies, analytics, third-party connections, and some messaging settings through account, browser, and device settings. That gives users practical ways to reduce exposure.
"vous pouvez faire dans vos Paramètres... contrôler cookies, analytics, marketing, personalized ads, profile visibility, listening activity"
Account deletion is available, but backups may remain temporarily, search engines may still show cached pages, and downloaded offline copies may persist for up to 30 days. Deletion is real but not always immediate everywhere.
"il pourra rester temporairement disponible... dans la limite de 30 jours"
Disputes are generally governed by German law with Berlin courts as the usual venue, unless mandatory local law overrides. This may be inconvenient for users outside Germany, but it is not an arbitration clause.
"généralement, tous nos documents sont régis par le droit allemand"
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Documents
Terms of Service
source ↗- •Using SoundCloud means you accept its Terms, Community Rules, and moderation policies, and you must meet the stated minimum age for your region.
- •You may use SoundCloud personally and revocably, but you must not scrape content, fake engagement, impersonate others, bypass security, or upload illegal or infringing material.
- •You keep ownership of content you upload, but you grant SoundCloud and other users limited worldwide licenses to host, share, play, and distribute it.
- •You promise your uploads are authorized, lawful, and do not violate others’ rights, and you may have to indemnify SoundCloud for related claims or losses.
- •SoundCloud may monitor through moderation, remove or restrict content, issue warnings, and suspend or terminate repeat or serious violators.
- •You can report copyright or other rule violations, and if SoundCloud removes content or restricts your account, you can use its internal complaint process.
- •SoundCloud says the platform is provided as-is, may be unavailable or flawed, and it does not guarantee uninterrupted service, security, or virus-free operation.
- •SoundCloud’s liability is limited to 100 euros or the amount you paid in the previous 12 months, whichever is higher, subject to non-waivable legal exceptions.
- •Paid subscriptions have separate terms, include a 14-day legal withdrawal period, and generally are not refunded if you cancel early or are terminated for violations.
- •German law generally governs disputes, with Berlin courts as the usual venue, except where mandatory U.S. or EU law requires otherwise.
Privacy Policy
source ↗- •SoundCloud collects account details, profile content, payment and tax information, usage logs, device data, cookies, location data, and information from Google, Apple, Facebook, and partners.
- •Your public profile, comments, uploads, and some listening activity can be visible to other users, artists, rights holders, API developers, and connected third-party apps.
- •SoundCloud uses data to run accounts and subscriptions, process payments, personalize content and ads, provide creator analytics, enforce age limits, and detect fraud or security threats.
- •Some advertising and tracking uses consent, especially in the EU, EEA, and UK, while non-personalized ads and certain analytics may rely on legitimate interests.
- •SoundCloud shares data with affiliates, service providers, payment processors, advertisers, rights holders, authorities, and buyers in a merger or sale.
- •Data may be transferred internationally, including outside the EEA, using safeguards such as standard contractual clauses or other approved legal mechanisms.
- •You can control cookies, analytics, marketing, personalized ads, profile visibility, listening activity, third-party connections, and some messaging settings through account, browser, and device settings.
- •You can delete your account, but backups may remain temporarily and search engines may still show cached copies for a short time.
- •EU, EEA, and UK users can request access, correction, deletion, portability, restriction, objection, consent withdrawal, and complaint rights; some U.S. state residents have similar rights.
- •SoundCloud is not for children under 16 in the EU and UK or under 13 elsewhere, and it says it will delete underage data when discovered.
