Privacy Policy
This policy explains what personal information Studio 56 Inc ("Studio 56," "we," or "us") collects when you use studio56.ai, the Studio 56 plug-in, the instruments and effects you make, and our related services (the "Service"), and what we do with it. Studio 56 is responsible for this information (the "controller" under European law). Our contact details are at the end of this policy.
In short
- We collect your account details, what you create in the Studio, your billing status, and technical logs.
- We don't sell your personal information.
- We don't use your prompts, uploads, instruments or effects to train AI models, and our AI providers aren't allowed to either.
- Our team reads prompts and chats to fix problems and improve Studio 56.
- The Studio 56 plug-in tells us how long and how often your instruments, effects and presets are played, never your notes, your audio or anything about your song. You can switch that off in the plug-in.
- In the United States, except California, analytics and advertising measurement are on until you turn them off. Everywhere else they stay off until you turn them on.
- We only record your screen if you say yes.
- You can download or delete your data yourself in Settings.
Information we collect
| What | Details | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Email address, display name, profile picture link, how you sign in (email and password, or Google), and account settings. We store passwords only as secure hashes. | You, or Google if you sign in with Google |
| What you create | Prompts, chat messages, edit requests, answers to questions, reference images, audio or text you upload, and the instruments, effects, presets, code, artwork and builds made from them. Also feedback and support messages. | You |
| Billing | Your plan, subscription status, Stripe customer and subscription IDs, card brand, last four digits and expiry date, and payment events. Stripe collects your full card details; we never see them. | You, through Stripe |
| Usage and cost records | Which operations ran for your account, which AI model or build computer did the work, how much it used and cost, whether it worked, and when. | Our systems |
| Device and log data | IP address, browser and device type, operating system, pages and features requested, times, and error reports. We derive your approximate country from your IP address. | Your browser or app |
| Instruments and effects installed before the Studio 56 plug-in | If you still use our earlier installer app, which we no longer offer, it activates an instrument or effect on a computer by sending a one-way scrambled (hashed) version of the computer's hardware ID, the computer's name, and its operating system and processor type. The activation receipt saved on your computer contains a scrambled form of your account ID. Instruments and effects installed this way don't contact our servers. | Our earlier installer app |
| Studio 56 plug-in | The Studio 56 plug-in installs as Studio 56 for instruments and Studio 56 FX for effects, and both do what is described here. When you sign it in, it sends the computer's name. While signed in, it checks your account for your instruments and your plan, downloads your instruments, and activates each one by sending a one-way scrambled (hashed) version of the computer's hardware ID, the computer's name and its operating system. The activation receipt saved on your computer contains a scrambled form of your account ID. It saves your sign-in, your email address and when it last checked on your computer, so your instruments keep opening while you are offline. When you ask it to make or change an instrument, effect, preset or MIDI file, it sends what you typed together with the instrument it is about, that instrument's current settings, the names of the presets you have saved and the recent lines of that chat, and a request for a MIDI file also sends your song's tempo. Your chats in it are saved on your computer. A song saved in your music app carries a pass for each Studio 56 instrument and effect in it. When you open a song that uses one someone else made, the plug-in sends its ID and that pass, we record that your account has it, and its maker sees how many people have it in songs, but not who they are. Signed out, it plays the instruments a song already has on that computer and any free instruments Studio 56 offers to everyone. While it is open it checks about once a minute for those free instruments, sending the same scrambled hardware ID and whether the computer is a Mac or a Windows PC, and it activates a free instrument by sending that scrambled ID, the computer's name and its operating system. We use this to count, once a day, how many computers use Studio 56 without an account. Signed in or not, each time it checks for instruments it also sends the name and version of your music app and whether the plug-in has made sound since the last check, but never which notes, how many or when. We keep one mark a day from this, linked to your account while it is signed in, to count who plays Studio 56 and in which music apps. While it is signed in, it also sends how it is used, linked to your account: for about every ten minutes of playing, how long each instrument or effect and each of its presets made sound, how many of those seconds your song was running for, how many times the instrument was opened, how often you chose each preset and moved its controls by hand, when you undo a preset made from a sentence, and when you save a preset of your own. What it counted while signed out on that computer is sent when you sign in. A preset is named only by a name Studio 56 gave it, never by one you typed. It never sends the notes you play, any audio, or anything about your song, your files or your other software. All of this usage data is sent until you switch it off. Switch off Help make Studio 56 better in the plug-in's account pop-up and it stops for your account on that computer, the music app's name and the made-sound mark included, and what it had not yet sent is discarded. You can also switch it off for everyone on a computer by adding a line that reads -DisableUsageData to a text file named Options.txt in the Studio 56 folder (Library/Application Support/Studio 56 in your home folder on a Mac, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Studio 56 on Windows) and restarting your music app. Signed in or not, it checks about once an hour for a newer version of itself, sending only its version number, and installs it. When something goes wrong in it, such as a download, sign-in or instrument that fails, or your music app crashing while it was loaded, it sends us a problem report: what failed and for which instrument, the versions of the plug-in, your music app and your operating system, your computer's processor type, and for a crash, the details your operating system saved about it, without file paths. While it is signed in, reports are linked to your account. | The Studio 56 plug-in |
| Emails you ask for | If you ask for Studio 56 news by email, your email address and where on the site you asked. If you joined one of our earlier waitlists, also anything you chose to add, such as your name, the music software you use, or a link to your music. If you ask for the Studio 56 download link on a phone, we email it to the address you give and keep that address with the link's ID and, when analytics is on, the campaign that brought you. The link carries an ID, so we can tell when it is opened and Studio 56 is downloaded from it. | You |
| Anonymous visit counts (until you choose, outside the EEA, Switzerland and Quebec) | Pages you visit, clicks, the link or campaign that sent you, and device type, without cookies, recordings, ad click IDs or your location. To count repeat visits on the same day, PostHog uses a scrambled (hashed) mix of your IP address and browser details that changes every day, then discards the IP address. We never link these counts to your account. Choosing Essential storage only stops them, and browsers that send Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control are not counted. | PostHog, in your browser |
| Analytics (see Cookies for when it is on) | Pages you visit, clicks, features you use, referrer, device details and approximate location. If you are signed in, this is linked to your account. | PostHog, in your browser |
| Screen recordings (only if you say yes) | How you move around the site and what appears on screen, including page text, buttons and error messages. What you type, and your chat messages and replies, are hidden in these recordings. If you are signed in, they are linked to your account. | PostHog, in your browser |
| How you found us (whenever analytics is on) | The site that sent you, campaign tags in the link (such as utm_source) and ad click IDs (such as gclid or fbclid). If you are signed in, we store these with your email address. | Your browser |
| Advertising measurement (see Cookies for when it is on) | From your browser, Meta receives page views, sign-ups and a signal each time you create an instrument or effect, download Studio 56, or have its download link emailed to you from your phone, along with a Meta browser ID and ad click ID. If you reached us from one of our ads, the link we email you carries that ad's click ID and campaign name, so what you do on your computer is measured for the same ad. The first time one of your instruments is downloaded to your computer, our server tells Meta, sending a scrambled (hashed) version of your email address and account ID, the Meta browser ID and ad click ID saved from your browser, and the instrument's ID. When you pay for a plan, our server also tells Meta the amount and currency, with the same scrambled email address and account ID, the Meta browser ID and ad click ID saved when you signed up, and your browser type. Meta uses this to measure and improve our ads and may also use it for its own advertising. If you reached us from one of our ads in ChatGPT, the link you arrived by carries a click ID that OpenAI gave that ad click, and it is saved with your account as described under How you found us. When you create an account, and the first time that account opens the Studio 56 plug-in, our server tells OpenAI so we can measure those ads, sending that click ID, the address of the page you arrived on, the time, and a scrambled (hashed) ID made from your account ID. We don't send OpenAI your email address, your IP address or details of your browser, and no OpenAI script or cookie is added to the site. | Meta Pixel in your browser, and our servers |
How we use it
The table shows each purpose and, for people in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the United Kingdom, the legal basis we rely on.
| Purpose | Legal basis (EEA and UK) |
|---|---|
| Run your account, the Studio and the Studio 56 plug-in: generate, edit, build and deliver your instruments and effects, activate them on your computers, check your plan, and answer support requests | Performing our contract with you |
| Take payments, apply plan allowances, and keep tax and accounting records | Performing our contract; complying with legal obligations |
| Keep the Service secure: block bots, stop abuse and fraud, limit one free account per person, and investigate misuse | Our legitimate interest in a safe, fair service |
| Improve quality: our team reads prompts, chats, generation steps and failures to fix problems and make Studio 56 better | Our legitimate interest in improving the product. You can object (see Your rights). |
| Understand how the Studio 56 plug-in is used: which music apps it runs in, how long and how often instruments, effects and their presets are played, and which presets are kept or undone, so we can improve Studio 56 and the sounds it designs | Our legitimate interest in improving the product. You can switch it off (see Studio 56 plug-in above) or object (see Your rights). |
| Count visits anonymously with PostHog | Our legitimate interest in understanding how the site is used |
| Apply the privacy rules for where you are, looked up from your IP address on each visit and not stored | Complying with legal obligations; our legitimate interests |
| Product analytics with PostHog | Your consent |
| Advertising measurement with Meta and OpenAI | Your consent |
| Emails about your account, builds, billing and changes to these policies | Performing our contract |
| Short notes from our founder: a welcome, reminders when an instrument you made hasn't reached the Studio 56 plug-in yet, a note when a checkout is left unfinished, and a note if you stop using Studio 56. They sell nothing, and you can unsubscribe at any time | Our legitimate interest in helping you get started with the Service |
| Product news, if you asked for it | Your consent |
| Comply with the law and protect our rights | Complying with legal obligations; our legitimate interests |
Our servers also send PostHog a small set of subscription events (started, cancelled, moved to the free plan, payment failed or recovered) with your account ID, your plan, Stripe's IDs for your subscription and price, and for a failed payment the amount due, even if you haven't allowed analytics, so we can run billing reports. These don't include your email address and don't use cookies.
We use automated checks to pause work when you reach your allowance and to block abuse. We don't make decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you based only on automated processing.
AI and your content
Studio 56 uses AI models from outside providers to turn your requests into instruments, effects, presets and MIDI files. Replies in the Studio chat are written by AI. To do this work, the providers listed below receive your prompts, the conversation so far, design plans and code, and any reference files you upload.
No training on your content. We don't use your prompts, uploads, instruments or effects to train AI models. Our agreements with AI providers don't allow them to train on it either. Some providers keep requests for up to 30 days to detect abuse; requests we route through OpenRouter use hosts that keep no copy. If we ever want to use your content for training, we will ask you first.
People on our team read prompts. To fix failures and improve results, our team reviews prompts, chats and generation records. We also receive email notifications when someone signs up or signs in, joins the news list, subscribes or cancels (with any reason they gave), or has a build finish or fail. These include the person's email address and, for a build, their name, the instrument's name and any error.
Who we share it with
We don't sell your personal information. We share it only with the service providers below, who work for us under contracts that limit how they may use it, and in the other cases listed after the table.
| Provider | What they do for us | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | AI for the chat, designing instruments and effects, planning changes, writing MIDI files, naming controls, and repairs | Prompts, conversation history, design plans and code, your instruments' settings, and images you attach |
| OpenRouter, and the AI hosts it routes to (such as Together AI, Fireworks, DeepInfra, Parasail, Morph and Google Gemini) | AI for building instruments and effects from their design, writing presets, custom sound code where it is used, reading uploaded reference images and audio, and sorting prompts and feedback for our own reports | Prompts, design plans and code, your uploads, and feedback notes |
| OpenAI | Matching your request to our sound library | Request text, and the instrument's name and design notes |
| Stripe, including Link | Payments and subscriptions. When a subscription is sold through Link, Stripe is the seller of record and also handles tax, receipts and billing support, under its own privacy policy | Billing details, payment information and email address |
| Supabase | Database and sign-in | Most account and Studio data |
| Vercel | Website hosting, page-speed measurement without cookies, and isolated computers that test generated code | Requests, device data and generated code |
| Fly.io | Servers that run our API and generation | Requests and Studio data |
| Cloudflare | Storage for builds and downloads, and bot checks (Turnstile) on sign-in forms | Built files, IP address and browser signals |
| Buildkite, Codemagic and GitHub | Computers that compile instruments and effects | Their source code, build settings and logs |
| Apple and Microsoft | Apple notarizes Mac builds; Microsoft signs Windows builds | The built files |
| Resend | Sending email | Email address and message content |
| Sentry | Error reports | Error details and account ID, with other personal details removed |
| Sign in with Google, if you use it | Sign-in details | |
| PostHog | Anonymous visit counts, product analytics, screen recordings you allow, and the subscription events described above | Analytics data |
| Meta | Advertising measurement, when it is on | The advertising data described above |
| OpenAI, for our ads in ChatGPT | Advertising measurement, when it is on | The ChatGPT ad click ID and the other details described above |
We may also share information: when you ask us to; to comply with law or a valid legal request; to prevent fraud, abuse or security problems; to protect the rights and safety of our users, Studio 56 or others; or as part of a merger, financing, acquisition or sale of all or part of our business, in which case this policy continues to apply to your information.
Cookies and similar technologies
We use cookies and your browser's local storage. Essential ones are always on because the Service doesn't work without them. Which optional ones run depends on where you are, which we look up from your IP address each visit without storing it:
- In the United States, except California, analytics and advertising are on until you turn them off.
- Everywhere else, they stay off until you turn them on.
- Screen recordings only run if you say yes, wherever you are.
You can change your choice at any time with Privacy choices in the site footer.
| Type | What it does | When it is used |
|---|---|---|
| Sign-in and security | Keeps you signed in, protects forms from forged requests, and runs bot checks | Always |
| Preferences | Remembers your theme, drafts, workflow state and privacy choice, and for each visit which privacy rules apply where you are | Always |
| Analytics (PostHog) | Measures how the site is used, and records your screen if you said yes | When analytics is on |
| Advertising (Meta and OpenAI) | Stores a Meta browser ID and ad click ID so Meta can measure our ads. Our ads in ChatGPT store nothing more in your browser, because the click ID of a ChatGPT ad is saved with how you found us while analytics is on, and our server sends it to OpenAI only when advertising is on as well. | When advertising is on |
Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a request to opt out of advertising measurement and keep Meta and OpenAI off, whatever you chose in the banner, and we don't count your visits anonymously either. If your browser sends Do Not Track, PostHog analytics stays off, including anonymous counts.
How long we keep it
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Account, instruments, effects, chats and builds | Until you delete them or your account. After you ask to delete your account, we wait 30 days in case you change your mind, then delete it. |
| Prompts and chats kept for quality review | Up to 1 year, or until you delete your account, whichever comes first |
| Built instruments and effects | Kept so Studio 56 can download them to your computers; deleted on request |
| Copies of AI requests and replies kept to diagnose failures | Encrypted, and set to expire after 14 days |
| Server logs, with email addresses and access tokens removed | As long as needed for security and debugging |
| How long and how often your instruments, effects and their presets are played, as the Studio 56 plug-in reports it | Up to 2 years, or until you delete your account, whichever comes first |
| Failed sign-in attempts | 1 day |
| Billing, usage and tax records | As long as needed for tax, accounting and disputes, usually up to 7 years |
| Security log of account events, such as sign-ins and deletions | As long as needed to protect the Service and show we handled requests |
| Counts of what you make, and delivery receipts | Kept without your account link after you delete your account |
| Team notification emails | Kept in our email account until no longer needed; deleted on request |
| News list and earlier waitlists | Until you ask us to remove you or delete your account |
| Analytics data in PostHog | Until deleted; we delete it on request |
Backups are overwritten on our providers' regular schedules. Meta and OpenAI keep the advertising data they receive under their own policies.
Your rights and choices
Everyone
- Download your data: Settings > Data & privacy.
- Delete your account: Settings > Data & privacy. You have 30 days to change your mind.
- Correct your details: email us and we will change them. You can reset your password in Settings.
- Analytics and advertising: turn them on or off at any time with Privacy choices in the site footer.
- Emails: unsubscribe from product news and our founder's notes using the link in the email, by replying "stop", or by emailing us. We still send emails about your account and billing.
- Anything else, including a copy of information not in the export, or deleting a news-list or waitlist entry or analytics data: email oliver@studio56.ai.
We answer requests within 30 days. To protect your account, we may confirm your request from the email address on your account. We will not treat you differently for using your rights.
EEA and United Kingdom
You have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict and move your information, and to object to our use of it, including our quality review of your prompts. Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time. You can complain to the data protection authority where you live or work; in the UK that is the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk). UK residents can also complain to us first: we acknowledge complaints within 30 days and tell you the outcome.
United States
Depending on your state, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia and others, you may have the right to know what we collect, get a copy, correct it, delete it, and opt out of the sale of personal information, of targeted advertising and of "sharing" for it. We don't sell personal information for money. When advertising is on, Meta receives identifiers and website activity, and OpenAI receives the click ID of a ChatGPT ad together with your sign-up and your first plug-in open, which some state laws count as a sale or as sharing for targeted advertising. In California it is off unless you turn it on; in other states it is on until you turn it off. Either way, you can turn it off at any time with Privacy choices in the site footer, and we treat a Global Privacy Control signal as a request to opt out. You can use an authorized agent. If we refuse a request, you can appeal by replying to our decision, and we will answer within 45 days. We don't share personal information with others for their own direct marketing.
Children
The Service is for people 18 and older. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If we learn that we have, we delete the account and its information.
Security
We protect information with encryption in transit, access controls, secure cookies, signed download links, and limited access for our team. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your personal information, we will notify you and the authorities as the law requires.
International transfers
Studio 56 is based in the United States, and our providers process information mainly in the United States. If you use the Service from another country, your information is transferred there. For information from the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, we rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where a provider is certified under it, and otherwise on the European Commission's standard contractual clauses and the UK addendum in our agreements with providers.
Changes to this policy
If we make a material change, we will email you before it takes effect and update the date at the top of this page. We will not start using information we already hold for a new purpose, such as AI training, without asking you first.
Contact us
Studio 56 Inc, 96 Los Altos Avenue, Los Altos, CA 94022, United States
Email: oliver@studio56.ai
Phone: +1 (650) 946-6494