This statement explains what personal data Wacken Metal Battle collects when you visit metal-battle.com, what we do with it, and the rights you have under the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The short version: we collect the minimum needed to run the competition, we never sell your data, and you can ask us to delete it at any time by writing to privacy@metal-battle.com.
1. Data Controller
The data controller responsible for personal data on this site is WOA Festival GmbH, Hauptstraße 1, 25596 Wacken, Germany. See the Contact page for full company details and our data protection officer’s address.
2. What We Collect
Server logs
When you load any page on metal-battle.com our hosting provider records your IP address, the requested URL, your browser’s user-agent string, the referring page, and a timestamp. Logs are kept for 14 days and used only to diagnose errors and block abusive traffic. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in operating a stable site).
Contact form
If you write to us through the Contact form or by email, your message, name, and email address are stored in our ticketing system for as long as we need to handle your request, plus six months for follow-up. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.
Band applications
When a band applies through the country application form we collect band name, country, contact email, member names, audio links, and any uploaded press kit. This data is shared only with the country promoter handling your round and the WMB jury. It is deleted twelve months after the cycle ends unless the band advances to the final.
Newsletter
The WMB newsletter uses double opt-in. We store your email, the confirmation timestamp, and your IP at sign-up. You can unsubscribe at any time from the link in every email — the unsubscribe takes effect immediately and we keep no shadow record.
3. Cookies
metal-battle.com sets a strictly necessary session cookie and asks you, on first visit, to consent to optional analytics and embed cookies. Your choice is remembered for twelve months. You can review and change it any time via the cookie settings link in the footer. Full per-cookie disclosure lives at Legal Notice → Cookies.
4. Embedded Media
Band pages embed audio and video from YouTube, Spotify, SoundCloud, and Bandcamp. We use the privacy-enhanced (“no-cookie”) variant where the provider offers one, and we only load the embed once you click play — until then no request is made to the third party. Once loaded, the provider’s own privacy terms apply.
5. Analytics
We use a self-hosted, IP-anonymising analytics instance (no Google Analytics, no Meta pixel). Page views, referrers, and a hashed visitor ID are stored for 90 days. You can opt out via the cookie banner.
6. Your Rights Under GDPR
You have the right to:
- Request a copy of the personal data we hold on you (Art. 15).
- Have inaccurate data corrected (Art. 16).
- Have your data erased once it is no longer needed (Art. 17).
- Restrict or object to processing (Art. 18, 21).
- Receive your data in a portable, machine-readable format (Art. 20).
- Withdraw consent at any time (Art. 7(3)).
To exercise any of these, write to privacy@metal-battle.com. We answer within thirty days.
7. Right to Lodge a Complaint
You can lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority of your country of residence. For Germany, ours is the Unabhängiges Landeszentrum für Datenschutz Schleswig-Holstein, Holstenstraße 98, 24103 Kiel.