Privacy Policy

1. WHO WE ARE

Honky Tonk Music Association (“HTMA”) is a division of Affinity Publishing Group, Inc. (“APGI”), headquartered in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

This Privacy Policy describes how HTMA and, where applicable, Affinity Publishing Group, Inc. collect, use, maintain, process, protect and disclose information in connection with HTMA websites, membership services, award programs, competitions, voting, registrations, winner and nominee services, events, communications, media programs, streaming services, promotions and related activities.

References in this Policy to “HTMA,” “we,” “our” or “us” may include Affinity Publishing Group, Inc. when APGI provides technology, administrative, financial, publishing, security, communications, media, fulfillment or other operational support for HTMA.

2. THE AFFINITY PUBLISHING GROUP FAMILY

Affinity Publishing Group, Inc. operates and supports a family of companies, divisions, brands, programs, properties and services. Some operate under their own public-facing names while remaining part of the broader APGI organization.

Depending upon the service involved, the APGI family includes or may include:

The inclusion of a name in this section does not necessarily mean that each name represents a separately incorporated legal entity. Some are divisions, brands, programs, services, media properties, trade names, projects or operating units within Affinity Publishing Group, Inc.

Personal information may be shared internally only when reasonably necessary for a legitimate organizational purpose, such as providing a requested service, processing an authorized transaction, maintaining account security, fulfilling an award or membership benefit, supporting an event, administering technology, complying with legal obligations or protecting the integrity of APGI and HTMA systems.

Where practical, access to personal information should be limited to individuals, systems, personnel and APGI operations that reasonably need the information for an authorized purpose.

3. WHO THIS POLICY PROTECTS

This Privacy Policy applies broadly to people who interact with HTMA, including website visitors, fans, free and paid members, voters, artists, musicians, songwriters, nominees, winners, honorees, recipients, Guardian Angel honorees, Lifetime recipients, families, authorized representatives, estates, competition entrants, sponsors, supporters, vendors, event attendees, job applicants where applicable, media participants and others who communicate with HTMA.

4. INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT

Information Provided Directly

We may receive information including a person’s name, professional or stage name, songwriter name, credited name, email address, telephone number, city, state, province, region, country, mailing or shipping address, representative information, membership information, award or nomination information, biography, photographs, videos, recordings, competition submissions, voting information, communication preferences, support requests and other information voluntarily provided.

Where appropriate, we may also collect information necessary to verify identity, eligibility, authority to act for another person, membership status or entitlement to restricted services.

Information Generated Through Website Use

When a visitor uses an HTMA or APGI-controlled website, certain technical information may be created automatically by the website, hosting provider, security system or other technology used to provide the service.

This may include IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, approximate geographic area, referring page, pages visited, dates and times of access, session information, security events and similar technical information.

Such information may be used to operate websites, maintain security, diagnose technical issues, understand website performance, prevent abuse and protect users and APGI systems.

5. FAN PRIVACY

Fan privacy is a central part of the HTMA privacy commitment.

A person’s decision to support an artist, listen to music, watch a video, participate in an HTMA activity, cast an eligible vote, read an article or become part of the HTMA community does not mean that person’s private information should become public.

Fans may generally visit public portions of our websites without creating an account unless a particular service requires registration.

When fans register for membership, voting, event opportunities, promotions, newsletters or related services, HTMA may collect information reasonably necessary to provide, administer and protect those services.

HTMA does not intend to publish a fan’s private email address, telephone number, home address, account credentials or other private account information merely because the person follows an artist, votes, participates in HTMA activities or becomes an HTMA member.

6. WINNER, NOMINEE, HONOREE AND RECIPIENT PRIVACY

HTMA maintains records concerning awards, nominations, honors and official recognitions. Certain information concerning those recognitions is intentionally public because HTMA maintains an official historical Awards Registry.

Public recognition information may include the recognized person’s or act’s name, professional or stage name, songwriter or credited name, award or recognition title, award year, official classification, recognized song, recording, performance or work, performing-act information and other information reasonably associated with the public recognition.

The fact that an individual is publicly recognized by HTMA does not mean that the individual’s private account information becomes public.

Private email addresses, telephone numbers, physical addresses, representative contact details, account credentials, security information and verification records should remain separate from the public Awards Registry unless disclosure has been specifically authorized or is otherwise appropriate under applicable law.

7. WINNER ACCESS AS AN UMBRELLA CATEGORY

For internal registration, verification and portal purposes, HTMA may use the term “Winner Access” as an umbrella administrative category.

This may include individuals whose official registry classification is Winner, Nominee, Honoree, Guardian Angel, Recipient, Lifetime recipient or another officially recognized HTMA classification.

Use of the Winner Access portal does not change the person’s underlying public registry classification. A Nominee remains a Nominee in the official registry, and an Honoree remains an Honoree, even though each may be authorized to use the same secure registration and portal system.

8. GUARDIAN ANGELS, DECEASED HONOREES AND FAMILY MEMBERS

HTMA recognizes that some honorees and award recipients are deceased and that family members, estates or authorized representatives may need to communicate with HTMA or maintain appropriate access on behalf of the recognized person.

Where appropriate, HTMA may request information reasonably necessary to determine that an individual seeking access is a family member, estate representative, authorized representative or other person reasonably entitled to communicate on behalf of the honoree.

A representative’s private contact information does not automatically become part of the deceased honoree’s public registry record.

9. IDENTITY AND ACCOUNT VERIFICATION

HTMA may verify the identity or eligibility of individuals requesting access to restricted membership, nominee, winner, honoree, recipient or administrative services.

Verification may include comparison with existing HTMA records, permanent HTMA identity records, award and nomination records, official credits, representative information and communication by email, text message or telephone.

Verification is designed to reduce the risk that an unauthorized person could obtain access to another individual’s award, recognition, account or private information. A matching name by itself does not necessarily prove authorization to access restricted information.

10. PERMANENT HTMA IDENTITY RECORDS

HTMA may assign permanent identity numbers to recognized individuals, acts or organizations for record-management purposes.

A permanent identity may include a primary name together with applicable legal names, professional names, stage names, songwriter names, aliases and performing-act relationships.

The purpose of the identity system is to preserve historical accuracy, avoid unnecessary duplicate identities and ensure that multiple awards, nominations or credits belonging to one recognized individual remain properly connected.

11. HOW WE USE PERSONAL INFORMATION

HTMA and APGI may use information to operate and maintain websites, administer accounts, provide member services, verify identities, administer awards and nominations, maintain the official Awards Registry, operate voting and competitions, communicate with participants, process authorized transactions, deliver certificates, trophies, tickets, magazines or other materials, provide customer support, administer promotions, protect against fraud or abuse, maintain historical records, support media activities, improve services, fulfill legal obligations and protect HTMA, APGI, our users and the public.

12. INTERNAL SHARING WITHIN THE APGI FAMILY

Information may be shared between APGI-controlled operations where reasonably necessary to provide a service requested by the individual or to carry out legitimate APGI or HTMA operations.

Examples may include payment administration, membership fulfillment, award fulfillment, technical support, website security, authorized media production, publishing administration, customer support, event coordination or delivery of requested products and services.

Where information is transferred internally, APGI intends to limit its use to legitimate purposes related to the reason the information was collected or another purpose reasonably compatible with that reason.

13. WE DO NOT SELL PERSONAL INFORMATION

We do not operate our membership, award, fan or nominee programs as a business for selling lists of fans, members, artists, winners, nominees, honorees or representatives to outside marketers.

14. SERVICE PROVIDERS

HTMA and APGI may use outside service providers for functions such as website hosting, security, email delivery, payment processing, video hosting, streaming, analytics, data storage, communications and other operational services.

These providers may process information when reasonably necessary to perform their services. Independent service providers may maintain their own privacy policies and contractual obligations.

15. PAYMENTS AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Paid memberships, subscriptions, sponsorships and other authorized transactions may be processed through independent payment processors.

Affinity Publishing Group, Inc. may provide financial administration and payment-processing support for HTMA.

Private payment information should not be displayed publicly merely because someone becomes an HTMA member, sponsor, winner or participant.

16. VOTING PRIVACY AND INTEGRITY

Where HTMA conducts fan or member voting, information may be collected as reasonably necessary to establish eligibility, prevent duplicate or fraudulent votes, protect voting integrity and calculate results.

HTMA does not intend to publicly disclose an individual fan’s private account information merely because that individual participated in a vote. Published results may include aggregated totals, percentages, rankings or other appropriate results.

17. EMAIL, TEXT AND TELEPHONE COMMUNICATIONS

HTMA may use contact information provided by an individual to communicate about accounts, awards, nominations, events, registrations, subscriptions, membership benefits, security, competitions, media opportunities or other activities in which the individual is involved.

Security, verification, transaction and service communications may be different from optional promotional communications.

18. COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES

HTMA and APGI websites may use cookies or related technologies for website operation, security, preferences, account sessions, performance and other legitimate functions.

Third-party embedded services, including video players or streaming platforms, may use technologies governed by their own privacy policies.

19. VIDEO, AUDIO, PHOTOGRAPHS AND MEDIA

Artists, nominees, winners, competition participants and other individuals may voluntarily submit photographs, audio, video, biographies, interviews or other media.

Such materials may be used for the purposes for which they were submitted and in accordance with applicable permissions, award terms, competition rules, releases or agreements.

Private contact information submitted together with media does not automatically become part of the public media presentation.

20. PUBLIC INFORMATION VS. PRIVATE INFORMATION

HTMA maintains an important distinction between information intended for public recognition and information collected for private administration.

An artist’s stage name, award title, song title or professional credit may properly appear publicly while the artist’s telephone number, shipping address, private email address or account credentials remain private.

Information being publicly available elsewhere does not necessarily mean HTMA will publish that information within its own services.

21. WEBSITE VIDEO AND MEDIA ACTIVITY

HTMA or APGI websites may record general activity associated with video, audio or media usage for purposes such as counting plays, understanding website engagement, maintaining service statistics, diagnosing technical problems or preventing abuse.

Such activity information should be handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy and should not be used to unnecessarily expose the private identity of an individual fan.

22. SECURITY

HTMA and APGI seek to maintain reasonable administrative, organizational and technical safeguards appropriate to the nature of the information being handled.

Measures may include account authentication, identity verification, access controls, security monitoring, transaction logs, administrative restrictions and other safeguards.

No online system can be guaranteed completely secure. Accordingly, HTMA cannot promise absolute security, but protecting the integrity and confidentiality of information remains an important organizational responsibility.

23. TRANSACTION TIMESTAMPS AND AUDIT HISTORY

For security, accountability and historical integrity, HTMA and APGI systems may record the date and time of meaningful transactions and administrative changes.

This may include registrations, application submissions, identity matching, matched or unmatched determinations, nominee or winner verification, email verification, text verification, telephone verification, approvals, rejections, account changes, identity edits, registry corrections and other administrative actions.

Where appropriate, historical timestamps may be preserved rather than overwritten so that HTMA can maintain an accurate audit trail showing when significant actions occurred.

24. DATA RETENTION

Information may be retained for as long as reasonably necessary to provide services, administer memberships, maintain historical awards records, preserve transaction histories, resolve disputes, prevent fraud, comply with applicable legal requirements and protect APGI and HTMA.

Official award, nomination and recognition records may be retained on a long-term or permanent basis because they form part of HTMA’s historical record.

Permanent retention of a historical award record does not necessarily require permanent public display of unrelated private personal information.

25. CHILDREN AND MINORS

HTMA takes the privacy of children and younger participants seriously. Our services are not intended to encourage minors to provide unnecessary personal information.

Where an activity permits participation by a minor, HTMA may require appropriate parent, legal guardian or authorized-adult involvement.

Parents or legal guardians who believe a minor has provided personal information without appropriate authorization may contact HTMA for review.

26. INTERNATIONAL USERS

HTMA operates from the United States while recognizing artists, fans, members and participants throughout the world.

Individuals accessing HTMA or APGI services from outside the United States should understand that information may be processed or maintained in the United States or in other locations where authorized service providers operate.

Where applicable law provides individuals with particular privacy rights, HTMA and APGI will review properly submitted requests in accordance with applicable requirements.

27. PRIVACY REQUESTS

Individuals may contact HTMA concerning personal information associated with them, including appropriate requests for correction, review or other privacy concerns.

HTMA may require reasonable identity or authority verification before providing, changing or removing private information. This protects individuals against unauthorized requests submitted by someone else.

28. OFFICIAL AWARD AND REGISTRY CORRECTIONS

Requests concerning an official award, nomination, honoree, recipient, songwriter, performing-act or historical registry credit may be reviewed separately from ordinary account-information requests.

HTMA may preserve a record of corrections so that the integrity and history of the official Awards Registry remain intact.

29. LEGAL DISCLOSURE AND PROTECTION

HTMA or APGI may disclose information when reasonably necessary to comply with applicable law, lawful legal process or governmental requests, or when reasonably necessary to investigate fraud, enforce terms, protect systems or protect the rights, safety or property of HTMA, APGI, users or others.

30. BUSINESS OR ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES

If an APGI business, division, service or property is reorganized, transferred, merged or otherwise changed, information associated with that operation may be transferred as part of the legitimate transaction, subject to applicable law and appropriate protection of personal information.

A corporate or organizational change does not, by itself, convert private information into public information.

31. THIRD-PARTY LINKS

HTMA and APGI websites may contain links to independent artist websites, ticket providers, social-media services, streaming services, video platforms, retailers or other third-party websites.

Those services are responsible for their own privacy practices. Individuals should review the policies of third-party services when leaving an HTMA or APGI-controlled website.

32. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Policy may be updated as HTMA and the APGI family expand, introduce new services, develop new technologies, modify membership programs or respond to changes in legal requirements.

The effective or updated date displayed near the top of this Policy may be changed when material revisions are made.

33. OUR PRIVACY PRINCIPLE

HTMA intends to maintain a responsible distinction between what deserves to be celebrated publicly and what deserves to remain private.

Awards are meant to be celebrated. Artists deserve recognition. Fans deserve respect. Families deserve consideration. Members deserve security. Private information deserves protection.

34. CONTACT US ABOUT PRIVACY