Privacy Policy

piano.org (“we,” “us,” or “the site”) is a free piano reference and educational resource. We respect your privacy and are committed to being transparent about the limited data we collect. This policy explains what information is gathered when you visit piano.org, how it is used, and your rights regarding that information.

1. Information We Collect

Analytics Data

We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to understand how visitors use the site — which pages are visited, how long sessions last, and which features are used most. GA4 collects anonymized usage data including page views, session duration, approximate geographic region (country or city level), device type, browser type, and referring URLs. This data is aggregated and does not personally identify you.

Contact Form Data

If you use the contact form on piano.org, we store the name, email address, and message you submit, along with the following request metadata for spam prevention:

• IP address — to detect and block automated abuse
• User-Agent — browser or client identifier
• Referrer — the page you navigated from, if any
• Accept-Language — language preference reported by your browser

This metadata is collected under our legitimate interest in preventing spam and misuse of the contact form. It is never used for advertising or sold to third parties, and is retained only as long as needed to review and respond to your message (see Section 9).

Data We Do Not Collect

piano.org does not require user accounts, and we do not collect personally identifiable information through normal browsing of the site. There are no login forms, registration pages, or user profiles. Contact form submissions are the only way personal data (name and email) is voluntarily provided.

2. Cookies

piano.org uses a small number of cookies:

Google Analytics cookies (_ga, _ga_*): These are set only if you accept analytics cookies via our consent banner. They help GA4 distinguish unique visitors and sessions. These cookies expire after 2 years (_ga) or 24 hours (session-scoped).

Consent preference cookie (piano_consent): This cookie records whether you accepted or declined analytics cookies. It expires after 365 days and contains only the value “accepted” or “declined.”

Essential cookies: We may use cookies strictly necessary for the site to function, such as remembering display preferences. These do not track you across sites.

You can manage your cookie preferences at any time by clicking “Manage Cookies” in the site footer.

3. MIDI and Microphone Access

Some interactive features on piano.org may request access to MIDI devices or your microphone (for example, to detect notes played on a connected keyboard). All MIDI and audio processing happens entirely in your browser on your device. No audio data, MIDI data, or microphone input is ever transmitted to our servers or any third party.

4. How We Use Information

The analytics data we collect is used solely to understand site usage patterns, improve content and features, identify and fix technical issues, and determine which chords, scales, and tools are most popular so we can prioritize development.

5. Data Sharing

We do not sell, rent, or trade your data to any third party. Analytics data is processed by Google Analytics under Google’s own privacy terms. We do not share data with advertisers or data brokers.

6. Third-Party Services

piano.org may contain links to external websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party site you visit.

7. Your Rights

For California Residents (CCPA)

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to know what personal information is collected, request deletion of your personal information, and opt out of the sale of personal information. As noted above, we do not collect personal information beyond anonymized analytics, and we do not sell any data. If you wish to exercise any rights under the CCPA, please contact us using the information below.

For EU/EEA Residents (GDPR)

Under the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to access, rectify, or erase personal data we may hold, restrict or object to processing, data portability, and the right to withdraw consent at any time. Analytics cookies are only loaded after you provide consent via our cookie banner. You can withdraw consent at any time by clicking “Manage Cookies” in the footer. Since we do not collect personally identifiable data, most GDPR data requests will not apply, but we will respond to any inquiry promptly.

For All Visitors

You can decline analytics cookies via our consent banner, and your choice will be respected. You can also use your browser settings to block or delete cookies at any time.

8. Children’s Privacy

piano.org is a general-audience educational site. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Since the site does not collect personal information from any visitors, no special provisions for children’s data are necessary.

9. Data Retention

Google Analytics data is retained according to Google’s default retention settings (14 months). The consent preference cookie is retained for 365 days on your device.

Contact form submissions, including spam-prevention metadata (IP address, User-Agent, Referrer, Accept-Language), are retained for up to 12 months and then permanently deleted. You may request early deletion by contacting us via email.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated “Last updated” date. Continued use of the site after changes constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

11. Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy or your data, please reach out via the Contact page.