Help us with your music listening data

FairMusE Portal

Music… Can music be fair? Should it?

Dear ListenBrainz user,

We would like you to enlist your help in a research project where we would like to analyse data from different music streaming services.

Many people say that music streaming is unfair. In this EU-financed research project we want to find out if it is true – or not, based on real data from streaming users, like you!

We want to understand how music is being recommended by algorithms: Who is recommended what, and why? We want to know if all artists get a fair chance to get played; we want to know if all labels have fair chances to be seen. We want to know if other aspects than your music interests shape the recommendations. Therefore we want to analyse data from different users.

Via interviews we also want to find out what streaming users think about fairness, algorithmic transparency and music: Should streaming be ‘fair’? If yes: Why? How to do this? Should music recommendation be transparent?

The result of our analysis will be a ‘fairness score’ for streaming platforms and will also include a map of user opinions on fairness, diversity and transparency in relation to music and algorithms.

You can help us by linking your ListenBrainz account with our portal. We do not have access to your private data and we will only use your public data to create visualisations and statistics on different aspects of fairness and diversity.

If you’re interested in participating, please follow these steps:

1. Read the user consent and create a profile

2. Tell us in which country you live, your gender and your approximate age

3. Provide us with your ListenBrainz userID

 When we have linked and processed your data you can see our estimates of fairness and diversity of your listening, including our estimate of what artists get out of your listening. Also, if you’re interested in sharing your opinions with us, please sign up for an interview!

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Information on Data Processing and Declaration of Consent

INTRODUCTION

Fair MusE values your privacy and processes your personal data in compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation: Regulation (EU) 2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (hereinafter ‘GDPR’).

Your Personal Data is any information related to you. Processing is any operation performed on the data.

According to the Transparency Principle, this document will provide you with information about the processing of your personal data as required by Art. 12, 13, and 14 of the GDPR.

 

For what purpose do we access your data?

We ask for your consent to process your personal data. The purpose of the processing of the data is to understand the level of fairness in the European music ecosystem, in the context of the EU Horizon Europe project “Fair MusE”. By studying music streaming activity data (your playlists and your listening history) and relating this to various dataset on e.g., diversity among music creators, our aim is to present a “Fairness score” showing different dimension of fairness for music creators (artists, composers etc.) or for users of streaming platforms in Europe. Additionally, the processing of data provided by you in surveys located at or linked from the Fair MusE participant portal will increase our understanding of fairness for music creators in Europe. 

Your data will be processed within the Fair MusE project. The data that you upload via the Participant Portal will never be published or shared with anybody outside the Fair MusE project. 

The Fair MusE project staff from Aalborg University and University of Lille will have access to your data under supervision of the joint data controllers.  We will publish different statistics and plots showing the data on an aggregated level, where individual persons cannot be identified. Your data will not be visible and your identity or music habits will not be identifiable via these publications. 

 

Who are we and how can you contact us?

Aalborg University (AAU) and Lille University are acting as the data controller within the meaning of the GDPR for participant data associated with the “Fair MusE” project, work package 4, https://fairmuse.eu Grant agreement ID: 101095088.

By signing up to this participant portal (https://portal.fairmuse.eu/), you consent to let us:

  • Process the music streaming activity data you upload via the “Fair MusE” participant portal. The music streaming activity data that we collect consists of 1) your playlists, 2) the music that has been played via your account. All other uploaded data will be filtered out and deleted during the uploading process and prior to the transfer from the Participant Portal to the database. Your music streaming activity data is stored in a database physically located at the “Fair MusE” project partner, Lille University, France.

  • Process data provided by you in surveys located at or linked from the “Fair MusE” participant portal to increase our understanding of the fairness for music creators in Europe. If you decide to provide us with additional qualitative information, e.g., participate in interviews, focus groups or workshops, your GDPR rights are also covered by this Declaration of Consent.

  • Process your email address for the purpose of creating a user login to the “Fair MusE” participant portal, to communicate with you regarding your data upload process and to inform you regarding your participation in the Fair MusE project.

  • Store cookies in your web browser to ease the login to the Fair MusE Participant Portal.

  • The data that you upload via the Participant Portal will never be published or shared with anybody. Only Fair MusE project staff from Aalborg University, University of Lille and Vrije Universiteit Brussel will have access to your data. We will, however, publish different statistics and plots showing the data on an aggregated level, where individual persons cannot be identified. Your data will not be visible and your identity or music habits will not be identifiable via these publications.

  • Reuse the data in our research of fairness in the European music ecosystem is planned until March 1, 2027, one year after the end of the Fair MusE project 28 February 2026.

  • No disclosure of personal data is planned to other organisations.

  • Your data will not be transferred outside the European Economic Area.

  • Your data will not be used for profiling or automated decision-making purposes.

The music streaming activity data will be stored securely at Lille University.

The survey data that you provide and your Participant Portal user data (e.g., email address, password, and user ID) will be stored securely at Aalborg University. In addition, this data is used solely for the purposes of this study and is processed by the scientific director or persons under his authority who are bound by an obligation of confidentiality.

You always have the right to revoke your consent. If you wish to revoke your consent later on, you can send an email to: contact@fairmuse.eu – or via the Fair MusE Participant Portal.

 

LEGAL BASIS FOR THE PROCESSING OF YOUR DATA

Your data is processed based on your consent (Art. 6.(1)(a) of the GDPR), which you give by accepting this notice.

 

YOUR RIGHTS WITH REGARDS TO THE PROCESSING OF YOUR DATA

The GDPR grants you certain rights with regards to the processing of your personal data. These rights include:

  • Access (Art. 15 GDPR): you have the right to obtain confirmation as to whether We have your personal data, as well as information about how We process it. In order to exercise your right of access, contact us at contact@fairmuse.eu.
  • Rectification (Art. 16 GDPR): if your personal data that We process are incomplete or inaccurate, you have the right to request rectification of such data without undue delay. In order to exercise your right to rectification, contact us at contact@fairmuse.eu.
  • Erasure (“right to be forgotten” – Art. 17 GDPR): in certain circumstances (e.g. if your data are processed unlawfully or unnecessarily) you may request erasure of your personal data.
  • Restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR): in certain circumstances (e.g. if you contest accuracy of your data that we process or lawfulness of the processing) you may request restriction of processing of your data. Such data will not be erased, but in principle can only be processed with your consent.
  • Data portability (Art. 20 GDPR): in certain circumstances, you may request transmission of your data to another controller in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.
  • Moreover, you have the right to withdraw your consent to the processing of your personal data at any time (Art. 7(3) GDPR): by contacting us at contact@fairmuse.eu. The withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal. You can, as a user of portal.fairmuse.eu, lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

 

DO YOU WANT TO COMPLAIN?

We must and will always comply with the rules. If you believe that we do not meet our responsibility or that we do not process your data according to the rules, you may lodge a complaint with the Danish Data Protection Agency at dt@datatilsynet.dk or the French Data Protection Agency through this complain form: https://www.cnil.fr/fr/plaintes

However, we encourage you also to contact us, as we want to do our utmost to accommodate your complaint. Data Protection Officers (DPO) for Université de Lille: Jean-Luc.Tessier@univ- lille.fr. Data Protection Officers (DPO) for Aalborg University: Niels Vase Email: dpo@aau.dk.

 

Best regards,

Jannick Kirk Sørensen, PhD, Associate Professor
Work Package Leader, Fair MusE Work Package 4 Email: js@es.aau.dk
Aalborg University, DK-9220 Aalborg, CVR no. 2910238