Privacy Policy

East African Gospel (referred to in this policy as "we," "us," or "our") is a non-commercial Christian ministry platform based in Kampala, Uganda. Our platform is operated by a dedicated team of volunteers and Christian servants whose sole purpose is to advance the Gospel through music across East Africa.

For the purposes of data protection, East African Gospel is the data controller — meaning we are responsible for deciding how and why personal information about you is collected, stored, and used. If you have any questions about how we handle your data, the contact details in Section 15 of this policy will connect you directly with our team.

We only collect information that is genuinely necessary for the operation of our platform and the fulfilment of our ministry mission. We do not collect excessive or unnecessary data. Below is a clear breakdown of the categories of information we may hold:

We collect information about you in the following ways:

• Directly from you — when you register an artist profile, fill in a contact form, submit your music, or send us an email. This is the primary source of the information we hold.
• Automatically from your device — when you visit our website, we automatically receive certain technical data through your browser, such as your IP address, the pages you visit, and how long you spend on them. This is standard for all websites.
• Through cookies and similar technologies — small files placed on your device that help the website function correctly and allow us to understand how visitors use the platform. See Section 8 for full details on our cookie use.
• From third-party platforms — if you share a link to our platform from your social media page or if you embed a social media widget, some information about that interaction may be received. We do not control what data social media platforms collect on their own behalf.

We use your personal information only for the following specific, lawful, and ministry-related purposes:

• To create and manage your artist profile on the East African Gospel platform, making you discoverable to churches, organisations, and believers across East Africa.
• To display your uploaded music on your profile page so that visitors can listen to your songs and learn about your ministry.
• To communicate with you about your account, updates to the platform, changes to our terms or policies, and occasional ministry-related newsletters or announcements.
• To maintain and improve the platform — understanding how visitors use the site helps us make it more useful for artists and the wider Gospel community.
• To respond to your enquiries when you contact us through our forms, email, or social media channels.
• To protect the integrity of the platform — detecting and preventing abuse, spam, or any activity that violates our Terms and Conditions.
• To comply with any legal obligations applicable to us under the laws of the Republic of Uganda.

Specifically, we will never:

• Sell your name, email address, phone number, or any other personal detail to any third party, advertiser, data broker, or commercial entity.
• Share your personal information with any marketing company or allow third parties to use your data for advertising or promotional purposes without your explicit consent.
• Use your personal data as a commercial asset or source of revenue in any form.
• Allow any external organisation to access your personal profile data for their own commercial gain.

We handle your data the way we would want our own data to be handled — with dignity, discretion, and faithfulness. This is both our legal commitment and our Christian conviction.

While we will never sell your data, there are a small number of limited and necessary circumstances in which some of your information may be shared with trusted third parties:

• Website hosting and technical service providers — our platform is hosted on a web server, and our hosting provider will have access to the technical data necessary to keep the site running. These providers are bound by strict confidentiality agreements and may only use your data to provide their technical service to us.
• Email service providers — if we send you emails or newsletters, we may use a trusted email platform (such as Mailchimp or a similar service) to deliver those communications. Your email address is shared with that provider solely for delivery purposes.
• Analytics tools — we may use tools such as Google Analytics to understand how visitors use our platform. These tools collect aggregated, anonymised data and do not identify you personally.
• Legal authorities — we may disclose your personal information if we are legally required to do so by a court order, law enforcement request, or other lawful legal process under Ugandan law.

When you upload up to two audio songs to your artist profile, those songs are stored on our platform servers and made publicly available to visitors who wish to listen to them. This is the core purpose of the music upload feature — to promote your ministry and make your music accessible.

• Your uploaded songs remain your property at all times. Uploading them to East African Gospel does not transfer ownership or copyright to us.
• We will never use your music commercially — it will not be licensed, sold, remixed, or exploited for financial gain by us or any third party through our platform.
• Your music is made available on the platform for free listening only — visitors may stream but not download your songs through the platform.
• If you wish your music to be removed from the platform at any time, you may request this via the contact details in Section 15, and we will process your request promptly.

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device when you visit a website. We use a minimal and responsible number of cookies to ensure the platform works correctly and to understand how it is being used. We do not use cookies to track you across the internet or to build advertising profiles.

You can control cookie settings through your web browser. Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of the platform, particularly features that require you to be logged in.

You have clear rights in relation to the personal data we hold about you. We are committed to honouring these rights fully and without obstruction. Your rights include:

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details provided in Section 15. We will respond to all legitimate requests within 30 days. We will never charge a fee for processing a reasonable privacy rights request.

East African Gospel is not designed for, or directed at, children under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under the age of 18 without the verifiable consent of a parent or legal guardian.

If you are under 18 and wish to register an artist profile, you must obtain written permission from a parent or guardian before doing so, and that parent or guardian must be willing to be contactable by us if required.

We take the security of your personal information seriously and implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect it against accidental loss, unauthorised access, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures include:

• Secure HTTPS connections — all data transmitted between your device and our platform is encrypted using SSL/TLS technology.
• Access controls — only authorised members of the East African Gospel team who need your data to perform their roles have access to it.
• Secure hosting — our platform is hosted on reputable servers with industry-standard security configurations.
• Regular security reviews — we periodically review our data handling practices and technical security measures to ensure they remain adequate.
• Password protection — artist accounts are password-protected. We strongly encourage you to use a strong, unique password for your account.

We retain your personal data only for as long as it is necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected. Our general retention approach is as follows:

• Active artist profiles — we retain your profile data and uploaded music for as long as your artist profile remains active on the platform.
• Deleted or deactivated accounts — when you request deletion of your account and profile, we will remove your personal data within 30 days. Anonymised technical records may be retained for platform security purposes.
• Contact and communication records — messages and emails you send us are retained for a reasonable period to enable us to manage ongoing enquiries, and then securely deleted.
• Technical data and analytics — anonymised usage data may be retained in aggregated form indefinitely for platform improvement purposes, as it does not identify any individual.

When your data is no longer needed, we will securely delete or anonymise it in a way that prevents its recovery or identification.

Our platform may contain links to external websites, social media platforms, YouTube videos, or other third-party digital services. These links are provided as a service to our community and do not imply endorsement of those external sites or their practices.

This Privacy Policy applies only to East African Gospel's own platform. When you click a link to an external site — for example, an artist's YouTube channel, Facebook page, or personal website — you are leaving our platform and entering a space governed by that third party's own privacy policy. We have no control over and accept no responsibility for the content or privacy practices of any external site.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our platform, our practices, or applicable data protection law. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page.

Where a change is significant and affects the way we process your personal data, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you directly — for example by sending an email to registered artists or by displaying a notice on the platform. Your continued use of East African Gospel after any update constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

We encourage you to revisit this page periodically. We will always keep this policy honest, clear, and up to date.

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or the way we handle your personal information, please reach out to us. We are a small, dedicated team and we welcome every genuine enquiry. We aim to respond to all privacy-related requests within 30 days.

• Email: privacy@eastafricangospel.com
• General Contact: info@eastafricangospel.com
• Website: www.eastafricangospel.com
• Address: East African Gospel Ministry, Kampala, Uganda
• Social Media: @EastAfricanGospel on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube & X

We believe that protecting your privacy is an expression of love and respect for you as a fellow image-bearer of God. Thank you for trusting East African Gospel with your information. We do not take that trust lightly, and we are committed to honouring it faithfully.