Privacy Policy & Copyright Notice

LyricsGospel ("we", "us", "our") operates the website lyricsgospel.com — a free, publicly accessible database of Indian Christian song lyrics. We are committed to protecting the privacy of our users in accordance with:

• India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act)
• India's Information Technology Act, 2000 and its amendments
• The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), 2018 and the CPRA, 2020 (for US residents)
• General best-practice international privacy standards

This policy explains what data we collect, why we collect it, how it is used, and your rights as a data principal (India) or consumer (USA). By using our website you agree to the terms of this policy.

Information we collect is used only for the following purposes:

We do not use personal data for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects on individuals.

LyricsGospel uses a minimal number of cookies necessary for core functionality:

• Authentication cookie — A secure, HttpOnly session cookie is set when an admin or editor logs in. This cookie expires when you close your browser or after a defined session timeout. It is never accessible to JavaScript.
• Theme preference — A non-personal cookie may be used to remember your light/dark theme preference.

We do not use third-party advertising cookies, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or any other cross-site tracking technology. YouTube video embeds (where present) are served via youtube-nocookie.com to limit YouTube's tracking on our pages.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. Data may be shared in the following limited circumstances:

• Service providers — We use Vercel (hosting, USA) and Supabase (database, USA). Both are SOC 2 Type II certified. Data is processed by these providers solely to operate the website.
• Legal obligation — We may disclose information if required to do so by law, court order, or competent government authority in India or the USA.
• Safety — We may share information to protect the rights, property, or safety of our users or the public from harm.

• Submission records — Approved song submissions become part of the public lyrics database. The submission record (including submitter IP) is retained for 12 months for abuse-review purposes, then deleted.
• Rejected/spam submissions — Retained for 30 days, then purged automatically by our daily cleanup job.
• Rate-limit records — IP-based rate limit counters are purged after the window expires (15 minutes to 24 hours depending on the action).
• Admin accounts — Retained for as long as the account is active. You may request deletion by contacting us.
• Server logs — Vercel and Supabase retain infrastructure logs per their own data retention policies (typically 7–30 days).

Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, if you are a Data Principal (an individual whose personal data we process), you have the following rights:

• Right to Access — You may request a summary of the personal data we hold about you and the purposes for which it is being processed.
• Right to Correction & Erasure — You may request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data, or erasure of personal data that is no longer necessary for the purpose it was collected.
• Right to Grievance Redressal — You may raise a grievance with us and receive a response within a reasonable time. If unsatisfied, you may escalate to the Data Protection Board of India once constituted under the DPDP Act.
• Right to Nominate — You may nominate another individual to exercise your rights on your behalf in the event of your death or incapacity.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days of receiving your verified request.

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) grant you the following rights:

• Right to Know — You may request disclosure of the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you in the past 12 months.
• Right to Delete — You may request deletion of personal information we have collected, subject to certain exceptions (e.g., legal obligations).
• Right to Correct — You may request correction of inaccurate personal information.
• Right to Opt-Out of Sale / Sharing — We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising. There is nothing to opt out of.
• Right to Non-Discrimination — We will not discriminate against you for exercising your CCPA rights.

For residents of other US states with applicable privacy laws (Virginia — VCDPA, Colorado — CPA, Connecticut — CTDPA, etc.), we extend substantially the same rights described above.

To submit a verifiable consumer request, email [email protected] with the subject line "Privacy Request — CCPA". We respond within 45 days, with a possible 45-day extension where reasonably necessary.

The vast majority of songs in our database are traditional or widely shared devotional compositions that have been in public use within the Indian Christian community for many decades. These lyrics were gathered from publicly available sources on the internet, church hymnals, and community contributions.

LyricsGospel does not claim copyright ownership over any song or lyric published on this platform. All intellectual property in the underlying compositions, melodies, and lyrics remains with their respective original authors, composers, lyricists, and publishers.

If you are the rightful copyright owner of any content on this site and believe your rights are being infringed, please see Section 12 (DMCA & Takedown Requests).

For songs that are not marked with an exclusive copyright notice, we extend the following free use permissions to all visitors:

Attribution: While not legally required for non-copyrighted content, we appreciate attribution in the form of a visible credit such as "Source: lyricsgospel.com" or a hyperlink to the relevant song page. Attribution helps the Church community discover the full database.

Commercial use: If you intend to use lyrics in a commercial product (book, app sold for profit, merchandise, etc.), please verify the copyright status of the specific song independently and obtain permission from the original rights holders if necessary. LyricsGospel cannot grant commercial licenses on behalf of third-party rights holders.

Certain songs in our database are marked with an explicit copyright notice at the request of the original artist, ministry, or publisher. These songs are included solely for reference and personal devotional use. For these songs:

• Permitted: Reading lyrics on this website for personal or devotional reference. Sharing the URL link to the song page on LyricsGospel.
• Not Permitted: Reproducing, copying, downloading, printing, distributing, broadcasting, publicly performing, or creating derivative works of the lyrics without the express written permission of the copyright holder.
• Commercial use is strictly prohibited without a proper licence from the rights holder.

Unauthorised use of copyrighted songs may constitute infringement under:

• India: The Copyright Act, 1957 (as amended), which provides for civil remedies (injunction, damages) and criminal penalties (imprisonment up to 3 years, fines).
• USA: The Copyright Act of 1976 (17 U.S.C.), which provides for statutory damages of $750–$30,000 per work, and up to $150,000 for willful infringement.

If you wish to license a copyrighted song, please contact the artist or publisher directly. LyricsGospel is not a licensing body and cannot grant rights on their behalf.

LyricsGospel respects intellectual property rights. If you are a copyright owner (or authorised agent) and believe that content on this site infringes your copyright, you may submit a takedown request.

We will review all valid takedown requests and aim to respond within 5 business days. Upon verification, the content will be removed or marked with a copyright restriction. We reserve the right to reinstate content if a valid counter-notice is received under 17 U.S.C. § 512(g).

LyricsGospel does not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13 (USA — COPPA) or under the age of 18 without verifiable parental consent (India — DPDP Act, 2023, for children). Our website is a read-only lyrics reference platform and does not require registration to browse. If you believe a child has submitted personal information to us, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

We may update this Privacy Policy and Copyright Notice from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the Effective Date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this page periodically. Continued use of our website after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

For privacy requests, copyright takedowns, or any questions about this policy, please contact us: