Privacy policy

Who we are

Melodic is a free guitar and bass game that runs in your web browser at game.playmelodic.com (and playmelodic.web.app), with this website at playmelodic.com. Melodic is made and run by Jayme Schroeder, an independent developer in Alberta, Canada, who is responsible for your information. In this policy “we”, “us” and “our” mean Jayme Schroeder.

This policy covers the game and this website. To reach us about anything in it, use the contact form.

What stays on your device

So that it remembers you between visits, the game saves these in your browser’s storage on your device (local storage and IndexedDB). Unless you make an account, none of it is sent to us, apart from the few numbers the anonymous stats include:

• the songs you import (their tab files), which YouTube video each song from the song list plays with, and your scores and practice stats for each;
• your progress: the Tour, your level and experience points, achievements, drill levels, and when and how long you’ve played;
• your settings, and your guitar setup: how your guitar is connected, the name of your audio input, and the levels and timing the setup measured;
• a few small things: how you like the library laid out; in Get songs, the difficulty level you picked, whether previews are muted, and which recommended songs it showed you lately (so the next visit shows you others); your anonymous stats choice and random number, and where you first came from (see below), when you last sent us messages, so a double-tap doesn’t send one twice; how many songs and drills you’ve played since the game last asked how you’re finding it, whether you’ve answered, and the ID of the rating you sent (so the developer’s replies can reach you on that device); and how many times you’ve opened the game, so a reminder to make an account shows only every other time (plus a mark that lasts until you close the tab, so a reload isn’t counted);
• if you’re signed in: your sign-in (your account’s ID, email address and a sign-in token, and your name if you signed in with Google), what the game needs to keep this device and your account in step, and when this device last updated your account’s “last played” time.

Get songs recommends songs from what’s in your library, your scores and the difficulty of the songs you play. It works that out in the game on your device; none of it is sent to us for that.

Because it’s in your browser, it stays in that browser on that device, and each web address keeps its own: game.playmelodic.com and playmelodic.web.app don’t share. You can erase it at any time by clearing this site’s data in your browser’s settings. Without an account, that erases your progress and songs for good: we have no copy to restore them from. (Settings → Career → Reset career clears only your progress.)

Melodic doesn’t set cookies, and neither does this website. (YouTube’s player may store its own when a music video plays, including a preview in Get songs: see Music videos.) The website saves two things in your browser: where you first came to it from (the same few words the anonymous stats send), which it adds to its links to the game, and when you last sent a message from its contact page, for the same reason as the game. If your browser sends the Global Privacy Control signal, the website doesn’t keep or pass on where you came from.

If you make an account

You don’t need an account to play. If you make one (Settings → Account, or the sign-in link on the main menu), the game keeps your things in it, so you can carry on from any computer, phone or tablet and don’t lose them if your browser’s data is cleared.

Your sign-in. With your email, we keep your email address and your password, which is stored only in scrambled (hashed) form, so nobody can read it, not even us. We send you an email to confirm your address and, if you ask, to reset your password. With Google, you sign in on Google’s own page, and Google tells us your email address, your name and an ID for your Google account (and a link to your profile picture, which Melodic doesn’t use). Google learns that you signed in to Melodic. Either way, we also keep when the account was made, when you last signed in, and when you last played and on what kind of device (computer, tablet or phone).

What’s kept in it:

• your progress: the Tour, your level and experience points, achievements, drill levels, and when and how long you’ve played;
• your library: the songs you’ve played or imported, the tab files you imported, which YouTube video each song from the song list plays with, and your scores and practice stats for each;
• the settings that go with you: whether you play guitar or bass, your amp tones and the ones you saved, your chord workouts, and how you like the library laid out.

Your guitar setup stays on each device and isn’t kept in your account: the name of your audio input, its levels and timing, the noise gate and your master volume. So does how the game plays, looks and sounds on each device (the highway’s speed, the size of the notes, the stage, the difficulty and the volumes), and so do the anonymous stats, which are never linked to your account.

Who can see it. Only you, signed in, can change what’s in your account, and our database refuses everyone else, except Melodic’s developer. The developer can read the accounts on a private page, signed in with their own verified address: each account’s email (and name, with Google), when it was made and last played, what kind of device it was played on, the progress and settings in it, and the songs in its library (their titles, artists, and how they’ve been played). The page also shows your email beside any rating you sent signed in (see When you rate Melodic). That’s used to see how Melodic is played and make it better, to fix a problem you’ve asked about, to keep the service safe, or when the law requires it, and never to contact you, except to answer a message you sent us or a rating (in the game). The developer’s page doesn’t open your tab files, and they’re never shared, published or used for anything but letting you play them.

How long we keep it. For as long as you have the account. Delete it at any time in Settings → Account → Delete account: that deletes the account and everything in it straight away, and the ratings you sent with it (what’s on the device you’re using stays there, as if you’d never signed in). If you can’t sign in any more, ask us through the contact form and we’ll delete it for you. If we ever stop running Melodic, we’ll delete all accounts, and say so first.

Signing out takes your progress and songs off that device (they stay in your account) and leaves its settings.

Your guitar and microphone

To hear what you play, Melodic asks your browser for an audio input: a guitar interface, a guitar cable, or a microphone. You can say no, and change your mind in your browser’s settings; the game still plays, but can’t score your playing.

When you allow it, the sound is analysed live, on your device, to tune your guitar, hear your notes, and play your guitar back through the game’s amps. Melodic never records it, keeps it or sends it anywhere. The name of your input (for example, the model of your audio interface) is kept on your device only, to remember its levels.

Anonymous play stats

Unless you turn them off, the game sends us a few numbers about how it’s played, so we know how many people play, which parts of Melodic they use, and where it needs work. The first time the game runs, it makes up a random number for your browser, and the stats are sent under that number: not your name, your email or anything else that says who you are. They are:

• when you started and when you last played, how many days you’ve played, and how many visits;
• how long you’ve played, and how much of that was in songs and in drills;
• how many songs and drills you’ve played, how many songs you finished and how many you imported (not which songs, and nothing from their files);
• your level, experience points, gigs passed and number of achievements;
• whether you’re on a computer, phone or tablet; whether your guitar comes in through a cable, a microphone or not at all; whether note detection is on; and your browser’s language setting (such as “en-CA”);
• where you came from, sent once, with the first of them: the site or app that sent you, by name (such as “youtube”, “google” or “example.com”, or “direct” if you typed the address in), what kind of link it was (such as a search, an ad, a video or a post), the campaign name in the link if it had one, and the first page you saw, on this website or in the game. Never the full address you came from, or what you searched for.

We also add them into totals for each day and for all time. The stats never include your IP address, your songs or their files, recordings, or anything you type. We use them only to understand how Melodic is played and to make it better, and never to target, advertise to or profile anyone.

Where you came from is worked out on the first page of Melodic you open, from the link you followed (some links say where they were posted, and for which campaign) or the page that sent you (which your browser tells the sites it opens). If that page is on this website, the website keeps it in your browser and adds it to its links to the game, and the game takes it out of its address as soon as it opens. It’s only sent for a browser that’s new to Melodic: if you’ve played in that browser before (with the stats off, say), it isn’t sent.

Turning them off. Go to Settings → Privacy & help → Anonymous play stats. Off stops them at once, deletes the record we have under your random number, and forgets the number (and where you came from). The day and all-time totals it was counted in stay, since they don’t say whose numbers they were. If your browser sends the Global Privacy Control signal, the stats start off.

How long we keep them. Each record is deleted automatically two years after the game last sent anything for it, so a record lasts only as long as you keep playing (or until you turn the stats off). The totals, which don’t belong to anyone, are kept.

When you write to us

The contact form, in the game (Settings → Privacy & help) and at playmelodic.com/contact, sends us:

• your message, and what it’s about (a question, feedback, a bug, an idea or something else);
• your email address, only if you give it, so we can reply;
• where you sent it from (the game’s screen, or the website), and when;
• technical details, only if you leave that box ticked. From the game: its version, your browser’s identification (its “user agent”), your screen size and language, whether you’re on a computer, phone or tablet, how your guitar is connected and the name of its input, and your note detection and timing settings. From the website: your browser, screen size and language. You can see exactly what will be sent before you send it.

Only the developer reads messages. We use them to reply to you and to fix and improve Melodic, and for nothing else: your email address is never added to a mailing list, used for marketing or shared.

How long we keep them. Each message is deleted automatically a year after it’s sent. If you’d like one deleted sooner, ask us, and tell us the email address you used, or roughly when you sent it and what it said, so we can find it.

Please don’t put sensitive information (such as health details or passwords) or other people’s personal information in a message.

When you rate Melodic

After every few songs or drills, the game asks how you’re finding it, until you answer. You can always say “Not now”, and you can rate it whenever you like in Settings → Privacy & help. If you answer, it sends us:

• your rating, from one to five stars, and the words you wrote, only if you wrote any;
• for context: your level, how many songs and drill sessions you’ve played, whether you’re on a computer, phone or tablet, whether you’re signed in, the game’s version, and when it was sent;
• if you’re signed in, your account’s ID and email address, so the developer knows who it’s from. The game says so before you send it.

Sent while you’re signed out, it doesn’t include your email address, your account or your stats number, so we can’t tell who sent it. Your device keeps the rating’s random ID, which is how a reply finds you.

Replies. The developer can write back to a rating, and you’ll see the reply in the game: it opens by itself on a menu screen, and it’s always under You → Your Feedback and in Settings → Privacy & help. You can answer, and change your rating, any time. To find replies, the game checks for them when it opens and every so often while it’s open, but only if you’ve sent a rating or you’re signed in. A rating sent signed out can be read only with its ID, which only your device and the developer have; one sent signed in can be read only by you, signed in to that account (on any of your devices), and the developer. The developer’s page shows when you’ve read a reply.

Only the developer reads ratings and your answers, to understand what works and what to improve, and to answer you. Each rating, with its replies, is deleted automatically a year after its last message. Signing out takes a signed-in rating’s conversation off that device, and deleting your account deletes the ratings you sent with it. Please don’t put personal information in the words.

Who else handles it

Melodic runs on Google’s Firebase. Firebase Hosting serves the game and this website, Firebase Authentication handles accounts and their emails, and Cloud Firestore stores what’s kept in accounts, the play stats, messages and ratings, on Google Cloud servers in the United States. Google handles this data for us as our service provider, under its data processing terms.

Like any web server, Google’s servers receive your IP address and basic browser details whenever your browser connects, to deliver the pages and protect them from abuse. We don’t store IP addresses in our database or use them to identify anyone. You can read Google’s privacy policy and how Firebase handles privacy.

Everything else Melodic needs (its code, fonts, sounds and songs) comes from our own hosting, not from other companies’ servers, except the music videos and their pictures, which come from YouTube (below). Signing in with Google takes you to Google’s own sign-in page and back; nothing of Google’s is loaded into the game. If you live outside the United States, accounts, the stats, messages and ratings are transferred there; Google protects international transfers with legal safeguards such as standard contractual clauses.

We don’t sell your information or share it for advertising. We would only disclose it if the law required us to, or if it were needed to protect Melodic’s players or the service from fraud or abuse.

Music videos

Songs from the game’s song list (in Get songs) can play along with their music video on YouTube, or with the recording where the song’s upload has no video. When you open Get songs, each video’s picture is loaded from YouTube’s image servers. When you play one of those songs with its video, the video plays in YouTube’s embedded player, in its privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com). On a computer or tablet, Get songs also plays a short preview of a song’s video in the same player, with its sound (there’s a button to mute it): the featured song’s, and the song’s own when you open its page. It doesn’t on a phone, or if your device is set to reduce motion.

YouTube, which is run by Google, then receives your IP address and browser details and knows which video was played (or previewed), and its player may store information in your browser to play it. That is covered by Google’s privacy policy, not ours. Melodic sends YouTube nothing else about you, and we get nothing back.

To play a song without its video, turn Music video off on the song’s page in the library: the game then plays its own band. On a phone, songs always play with the game’s own band.

Links to other sites

The game’s Get songs screen links to websites where you can find tab files, and each song on the song list links to the page its tab file is shared on. If you search from it, your search words go to the site you picked when you open it. Those sites, and any other site we link to, are run by others and have their own privacy policies; we don’t control what they collect.

Children

Melodic is for players of all ages, and nobody needs an account to play. Accounts are for players 13 and older (or older, where the law where you live sets a higher age for agreeing to this on your own). Younger players can play everything without one. If you’re under 13, ask a parent or guardian before you write to us, and please don’t include personal details such as your full name or where you live.

If we learn that a child under 13 has made an account, or that we’ve received personal information from a child without a parent’s permission, we’ll delete it. Parents and guardians can ask us to delete a child’s account or message.

Your choices and rights

• Turn the stats off at any time in Settings → Privacy & help. That deletes the record we have for your browser.
• Erase what Melodic saved on your device by clearing the site’s data in your browser.
• Delete your account and everything in it, in Settings → Account. Ask us through the contact form if you’d like a copy of what’s in it first.
• See, correct or delete a message you sent, or ask anything about your information, through the contact form.

Depending on where you live (for example in Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom or California), the law gives you rights over your personal information, such as to see it, correct it, have it deleted, and object to how it’s used. We answer requests within 30 days, and don’t charge for them. The anonymous stats carry no name and aren’t linked to accounts, so we can’t look them up by your name or email: turning them off in Settings is how to delete them.

For people in the European Union and the United Kingdom: we keep your data on your device, and in your account if you make one, to give you the game you asked for (to perform our agreement with you); we rely on our legitimate interest in understanding and improving Melodic for the anonymous stats (which you can turn off at any time) and ratings, and in answering you for messages.

If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to a privacy regulator: in Canada, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or Alberta’s Information and Privacy Commissioner; in the EU or UK, the data protection authority where you live.

Keeping it safe

Melodic is served only over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Our database lets the game add stats, messages and ratings, but not read anyone else’s: only the developer can read messages, and only the developer and the person who sent a rating can read it and its replies (see When you rate Melodic). What’s in an account can be changed only by that account, signed in, and read only by that account and the developer (signed in, see If you make an account). Passwords are never stored or seen as typed: Firebase keeps only a scrambled (hashed) form. We collect as little as we can, and delete it on a schedule. No system is perfectly secure, but we’ll tell you and the authorities if a breach puts your information at real risk, as the law requires.

Changes to this policy

If Melodic changes what it collects, we’ll update this policy and the date at the top. If a change is significant, we’ll also say so in the game or on this website before it takes effect, and we won’t use information we already have in a new way without telling you first.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your information: write to Jayme Schroeder through the contact form, or in the game at Settings → Privacy & help → Write to us.