Last updated: 1 November 2026
This policy explains what personal information gigmate collects, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the choices and rights you have. We have written it in plain English. If something is unclear, email us at the address in section 1.
1. Who we are
gigmate is run by Gig-Mates Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 13955541), registered office 8 Hornby Park, Liverpool L18 3LL. Gig-Mates Ltd is the “controller” of your personal information, which means we decide how and why it is used.
Contact for privacy questions and requests: info@gigmate.uk.
2. Who can use gigmate
gigmate is for people aged 18 or over. You must confirm this when you sign up. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If we find out that an account belongs to someone under 18, we will close it and delete the information. If you think a child is using gigmate, please tell us at the address above.
3. What we collect
| Information | Examples | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Account details | Name, email address, password (stored in scrambled form), city, favourite genres | You, when you sign up |
| Optional profile details | Age group, gender, profile photo, bio, artists and genres you like | You, if you choose to add them |
| Community activity | Tribes you join, posts, comments, gigs you save or are going to, messages you send to other members | You, when you use gigmate |
| Messages | Direct messages between members | You and other members |
| Email activity | Whether an email was delivered, opened or clicked, and unsubscribes | Our email provider, when you receive our emails |
| Technical and usage data | Device and browser type, pages viewed, approximate location from IP address, and the cookies the site needs to work | Your device, when you visit gigmate.uk |
We do not ask for, and ask you not to post, sensitive information such as health details, religion, sexual orientation or political views. We do not take payment details; if you buy a ticket you do so on the ticket seller’s own site.
4. How we use your information, and our legal basis
| What we do | Details | Legal basis (UK GDPR) |
|---|---|---|
| Run your account and the service | Create your account, match you to Tribes and gigs by genre and city, let you message other members | Contract (providing the service you signed up for) |
| Send you service messages | Account activation, password resets, important changes to these terms or this policy | Contract and legitimate interests |
| Send you marketing emails | Gig recommendations, Tribe invitations, updates about gigmate. Only if you ticked the marketing box at sign-up or otherwise said yes | Consent (you can withdraw at any time) |
| Keep gigmate safe | Review reports, block abuse and spam, enforce our Community Guidelines, prevent fraud | Legitimate interests (keeping members safe); legal obligation where required |
| Improve gigmate | Understand how the site is used, fix problems, improve how we match people to gigs and groups, using site statistics and, where possible, anonymised or aggregated data | Legitimate interests (improving our service) |
| Research and development | Developing our matching technology with research partners, using anonymised or aggregated data only | Legitimate interests |
| Meet legal duties | Respond to lawful requests, keep records, deal with your rights requests | Legal obligation |
5. Marketing emails
We only send you marketing emails if you have agreed to them. At sign-up the marketing box is not pre-ticked. You can change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any email or emailing us. Unsubscribing means we stop all gigmate emails to you, and we keep your address on a suppression list so that we do not email you again by mistake.
We track whether emails are opened and clicked so we can tell which gigs and Tribes are useful to you. If you do not engage with our emails for 12 months, we will stop sending them.
6. Who we share your information with
We do not sell your personal information. We share it only with:
- Service providers (processors) who act on our instructions: Brevo (email delivery and contact management); Make (workflow automation connecting our website and email provider); our website host and site statistics provider, Automattic / WordPress.com (including Jetpack Stats); Cloudflare (Turnstile, which protects our forms from spam and bots).
- Other members. Your name, profile photo, city, Tribe memberships and anything you post or choose to make visible can be seen by other members according to your privacy settings. Messages go to the person you send them to.
- Ticket sellers. When you click a link to buy a ticket (for example on Skiddle) you leave gigmate and the seller’s own privacy policy applies. The seller tells us only the total number of tickets sold through our links and the commission we earn each month. It does not tell us who bought them.
- Professional advisers, regulators and law enforcement where we are required to or it is necessary to protect members’ safety.
- A buyer or investor if the business is sold or reorganised, in which case your information would stay protected by this policy.
7. Transfers outside the UK
Some of our providers handle data outside the UK. Where they do, we rely on UK adequacy regulations for the country concerned (this covers the EU), the UK–US data bridge, or the standard contractual clauses in the provider’s data processing terms, to keep your information protected.
8. How long we keep your information
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Your account and profile | While your account is active. If you do not log in for 24 months we will email you, then delete or anonymise your account. You can delete your account at any time |
| Marketing emails | Stop after 12 months with no opens or clicks, or immediately if you unsubscribe |
| Unsubscribe record | Kept so we do not email you again (email address only) |
| Direct messages | Deleted when your account is deleted, except messages that have been reported to us, which we keep for 12 months so that abuse can be investigated |
| Reports and safety records | 12 months after the case is closed, longer if needed for a legal claim or an ongoing investigation |
| Site statistics | Held by Automattic under its own privacy policy; not used to identify individual visitors |
| Business records | As required by law, for example accounting records for 6 years |
9. Your rights
You have the right to:
- be told how your information is used (this policy)
- get a copy of your information
- have inaccurate information corrected
- have your information deleted in some circumstances
- restrict or object to certain uses, including anything we do on the basis of legitimate interests
- ask for your information in a portable format
- withdraw consent at any time (for example for marketing emails)
To use any of these rights, email us at the address in section 1. We will reply within one month and will not charge a fee unless a request is clearly excessive.
10. Messages and safety
gigmate lets members message each other and connect to go to gigs together. We do not routinely read private messages. We may review a message if it is reported to us or if we have reason to believe our Community Guidelines are being broken. You can block members, report any member, post or message, and turn off direct messages from people you have not connected with in your settings. Meeting people in person carries risk: please read our Safety Guide before you do.
11. Cookies and similar technologies
We only use cookies and similar technologies that are strictly necessary to run gigmate: keeping you logged in, remembering your session, and protecting our forms and the site from spam and bots (including short-lived security cookies and Cloudflare Turnstile). We do not use advertising cookies, and we do not use analytics cookies or session recordings. Our site statistics (Jetpack Stats) count visits without setting cookies on your device. If we add analytics or advertising cookies in future, we will ask for your consent first and update this policy.
12. Security
We use sensible technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including encrypted connections, restricted access and trusted providers. No online service can be completely secure. If a breach puts your rights at risk, we will tell you and the ICO as required by law.
13. Changes to this policy
If we make important changes we will tell you by email or on the site before they take effect. The date at the top shows when this policy was last updated.
14. Complaints
Please contact us first so we can try to put things right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO): ico.org.uk, telephone 0303 123 1113.