PRIVACY POLICY - HISTORIC ACQUIRED RECORDINGS CONTRACT REVIEW

This privacy notice aims to give you information on how BMG Rights Management GmbH, Germany, (“BMG”, “we”, “us”, “our”) may process personal data in connection with our Historic Acquired Recordings Contract Review (“HARCR”) initiative.  Our address and contact details are available under the contact details set out below.

The purpose of the HARCR initiative and any related processing of personal data in is to identify if there are inequities or anomalies in historic recording contracts between black artists and labels or catalogues subsequently acquired by BMG group companies, and for the findings of that analysis to subsequently inform a plan to address any inequities and/or anomalies that may have been identified.

While BMG only began operations in 2008, we and our BMG group companies have acquired many older recording catalogues. If you have an active record contract with a BMG group company (which may include contracts where you contracted directly with a BMG group company, or where a BMG group company has acquired a third-party record company’s interest under a contract they had with you) (“BMG Contract(s)”) then this privacy notice may apply to you (“BMG Artist”, “you”, “your”). 

This privacy notice is supplemental to our Privacy Policy at www.bmg.com, and any other notices and privacy policies, and is not intended to override them. Any changes that we make to this privacy notice in the future will be posted on this page.

We act as a data controller when we use your personal information. If you have any questions relating to this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, then please contact us using the details below.

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

In connection with the HARCR initiative, we may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:

  • Contract Data includes your name, your BMG client ID(s), your BMG contract ID(s), your record label/catalogue and your royalty rates and other related royalty information relating to your BMG Contract(s) with us. We already store your Contract Data on our royalty systems and use it so that we can process your royalty data during the normal course of our operations as a record company.  This Contract Data is sourced either directly from your BMG Contract(s), or from the contract and/or royalty data provided from third-party record companies when the applicable labels or catalogues relating to your BMG Contract(s) were acquired.
     
  • Profile Data may include information about the racial origin of BMG Artists. BMG does not collect this Profile Data about BMG Artists during the normal course of our operations as a record company, and so this information will be collected by BMG specifically and solely for the purposes of the HARCR initiative. The Profile Data will be collected by repertoire specialists within the BMG group of companies, through their own expertise and knowledge of our BMG Artists and where necessary through research via publicly-available resources. This Profile Data will not be used for any other purpose.

When the HARCR initiative has been concluded, the personal data collected for this purpose (including all Profile Data) will be deleted, and only aggregated and/or statistical information relating to the HARCR initiative and/or the diversity of BMG’s catalogues will be retained.  Any such retained data will be anonymised and no individual person will be identifiable from the data. 

The Profile Data may include Special Category of Personal Data about you, since it may constitute personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin. We are legally required to treat this category of personal data even more carefully than your other personal data, and the HARCR initiative shall be carried out with all suitable safeguards and measures to protect your personal data and your fundamental rights.

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. In connection with the HARCR initiative, we will use your personal data where it is necessary for the legitimate interests of BMG Artists, of the BMG group, and of society more broadly.  More specifically:

  • for BMG Artists, the HARCR initiative may result in any inequities or anomalies in historic BMG Contracts with black artists being addressed by BMG, to the benefit of any affected BMG Artists (and also to the benefit of unaffected BMG Artists, to the extent that they would wish for any inequities or anomalies affecting their fellow BMG Artists to be addressed);
     
  • for BMG, the HARCR initiative supports BMG’s publicly-stated desire to address any inequities or anomalies in historic contracts with black artists, as well as supporting BMG’s core values of fairness and transparency; and
     
  • for society more broadly, the HARCR initiative directly supports anti-discrimination in society.

Any BMG action plans emerging from the HARCR initiative will be based only on the aggregated findings emerging from the initiative.

Your personal data will not be disclosed to any third parties except, where necessary in connection with the HARCR initiative, to our affiliate companies (including within the BMG group of companies).

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

We will not disclose your personal data to any other third parties except where:

  • such disclosure is necessary to fulfil existing obligations towards, or assert and enforce claims against, you;
     
  • you consented to such disclosure;
     
  • federal or competent state authorities, in particular law enforcement and/or data protection supervisory agencies, request such disclosure on the basis of the applicable laws, if and inasmuch as such disclosure is necessary to counter dangers to public safety and order or for the investigation and persecution of criminal acts; and/or
     
  • we are otherwise bound to do so by law.

We strive to keep our processing activities with respect to your personal data as limited as possible. Personal data collected and processed directly in relation to the HARCR Initiative will only be retained only for as long as we need it to fulfil the purposes of the initiative, and after that it will be deleted.

The information we collect from you may be transferred to, processed and stored at a destination outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”) when we transfer data to third parties or members of BMG’s group of companies. Recipients outside the EEA are bound by Standard Contractual Clauses draft by the EU Commission for the protection of personal Data.

Under the legislation applicable to you (including, where applicable, the General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679) (“GDPR”), you may be entitled to exercise some or all of the following rights:

  • Right of access (Art. 15 GDPR);

You have the right to information regarding the data we process concerning you. Upon request we will provide you a copy of the data together with additional information to the extent defined in Art. 15 GDPR.

  • Right to rectification (Art. 16 GDPR);

You have the right to rectification of your data, wherever such data is incorrect or incomplete.

  • Right to erasure (Art. 17 GDPR); ​

You have a right to erasure regarding data that is no longer required for the original purposes or that is processed unlawfully, as described in Art. 17 GDPR. Wherever certain data is subject to retention periods, instead of deleting the data we will restrict processing to the duration and intended purposes of such period.

  • Right to restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR);

​Upon your request, we will restrict processing of personal according to Art. 18, wherever there are uncertainties regarding our right to process such data or while a decision regarding your objection to such processing is pending. In such cases we will only retain data, restrict any processing to the minimal extent necessary and withdraw access to your data from our employees.

  • Right to data portability (Art. 20 GDPR);

Upon your request we will transfer any personal data you have provided to us during the use of our services on the basis of consent or any contractual or pre-contractual relationship to you or any third party, provided secure communication with third party is technically feasible. We will provide the data in a structured and machine-readable format.

  • Right to object to processing based on Art. 6 sec. 1 lit. f GDPR​

Upon your objection we will cease any processing of your personal data based on Art. 6 lit. f. Wherever we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your data, we are allowed to further process such data, provided our interest in doing so prevails in a weighting against your interest against the processing activity.

Therefore, to allow us to evaluate your request, please let us know the reason for your objection.

  • Right to withdraw consent

Where a processing is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by sending an email to [email protected], without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.

You may (i) exercise the rights referred to above or (ii) ask any questions or (iii) make any complaints regarding our data processing by contacting us using the details set out below. Additionally, you have the right lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach a supervisory authority so please contact us in the first instance.

This section applies to any California residents who are BMG Artists and whose data may be processed in relation to the Contract Review Initiative (as set out above).    

This information is supplemental to the information given above in relation to the HARCR initiative, and also to our Privacy Policy at www.bmg.com (including the section entitled “J. Your California Privacy Rights”), and any other notices and privacy policies, and is not intended to override them. 

For purposes of this section, “personal information” (and/or “personal data”) means information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular California consumer/resident or household. Personal information does not include publicly available information or information that has been de-identified.

We do not sell personal information, or otherwise provide personal information to third parties, other than service providers receiving information to perform services for us (please see “Disclosures of your Personal Data” above).

In connection with the HARCR initiative, we may collect Profile Data (as defined above), which may contain information about your race and/or color (characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law).   As stated above, in connection with HARCR initiative, your personal information (including Profile Data and the Contract Data) may be shared with:

  • our affiliate companies (including those within the BMG group of companies); and/or
  • our third-party service providers (e.g. of our IT systems).

Your California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident, subject to applicable law, you have the following rights under California law with respect to your personal information:

  • Right to Know. You have the right to request what personal information we collect, use, disclose, and/or sell, as applicable.
  • Right to Delete. You have the right to request the deletion of your personal information that is collected or maintained by us.
  • Right to Opt-Out of Sale. You have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information by us.
  • Right to Non-Discrimination. You have the right not to receive discriminatory treatment by us for the exercise of the privacy rights described above.

You may also authorize someone to exercise the above rights on your behalf.

The above rights are subject to us being able to reasonably verify your identity and authority to make these requests. These rights are also subject to various exclusions and exceptions under applicable laws.

If you are a California resident and wish to seek to exercise these rights, please contact us using the details below.

The contact details for our data protection team and our data protection officer are:

E-mail: [email protected]

BMG Rights Management GmbH
Data Protection Department
Charlottenstraße 59
10117 Berlin
Germany