Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Offbeat Inc. operates offbeatinc.com — a website providing DJ gear, software, setup, and music production buying guides. We're a small independent company based in South Carolina.

2. Affiliate Disclosure

This site participates in affiliate marketing programs. Some links on this website are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase — at no additional cost to you. We only recommend products and services we've researched and believe are genuinely useful.

Affiliate links are marked with rel="sponsored" where appropriate. Affiliate relationships do not control our editorial conclusions, rankings, or criticism.

3. Information We Collect

We collect minimal data. Specifically:

• No personal accounts: We do not require you to create an account or log in.
• Analytics — only with your consent: We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4, measurement ID G-9MG87ETLPT) to understand which guides visitors find helpful. Before you allow analytics, we do not load Google’s tag, send anything to Google, or set any Google cookie. On your first visit we ask once with a simple, equally-available choice: Allow analytics or Do not allow. If you allow it, we record one minimized pageview (the path of the guide you read — no referrer and no free text) and a small set of reviewed, low-detail events for meaningful actions (for example an affiliate product click, limited to the merchant and category only — no destination URLs, no search terms, no free text and no personal data). Your choice is remembered in this browser’s first-party storage, persists across visits, and you can change or withdraw it at any time from the on-page control. We implement Google’s basic Consent Mode: the Google tag is blocked from loading until you choose, and when you allow it we declare consent to Google explicitly and in order (an initial default with all consent types denied, then an update that grants analytics storage while the advertising consent types stay denied). Withdrawing issues an explicit consent denial, clears the Google analytics cookies, and reloads the page once so the already-loaded analytics tag is fully removed — after that, the tag is not loaded on that page or any later page. To be clear about what we do not promise: once you allow analytics, Google still collects its standard pseudonymous telemetry (an IP address that is used and then reduced, approximate location, browser / device / operating system, and interaction data) and sets its first-party GA cookies (for example _ga and the property-specific _ga_9MG87ETLPT). Our on-page minimization governs the pageview and events we explicitly record — it is not a guarantee that identifiable data can never reach Google. Google’s automatic “Enhanced Measurement” features (site search, outbound clicks, browser-history page changes, scroll depth, videos, file downloads, and forms) are settings of the GA4 property managed by the site owner in the GA4 dashboard. As of October 2026 the owner has them configured for this static site with only page-load-based Page views enabled and all of the other automatic measurements disabled. Our code does not disable or control that dashboard setting — it works with the property as configured. You can opt out at any time (the on-page control), via Google’s Analytics opt-out / Ads Settings, by blocking googletagmanager.com and google-analytics.com in your browser, or by using a content blocker.
• Cookies: Offbeat does not set advertising or behavioral-profiling cookies on offbeatinc.com. If you allow analytics, Google sets the GA first-party cookies _ga and the property-specific _ga_9MG87ETLPT on offbeatinc.com; we set no Google cookie before you allow analytics. Independently of Google, we store only your consent choice (“allowed” / “not allowed”) in this browser’s first-party storage, solely to remember and apply your choice. Third-party (affiliate/merchant) links may set cookies on their own domains — see each program’s privacy policy.
• Contact forms: If we add a contact form, any information you submit is used only to respond to your message and is not shared or sold.

Quick, practical summary: the table below explains what data may be involved when you browse this site, why it exists, where it lives, and how to minimize or opt out. If something in your browser or a third-party site behaves differently than described here, the third-party site's policy will control their behavior.

Note: like most websites, basic hosting/edge infrastructure can log request metadata for security and reliability. We do not use those logs to identify individual visitors.

4. What We Do Not Do

To keep this straightforward and user-friendly, here are a few things we intentionally avoid:

• No user profiles: we don’t build a profile about you across visits.
• No advertising/behavioral tracking on-site: we don’t set advertising pixels or behavioral-profiling cookies on offbeatinc.com. If you allow analytics, the only on-site cookies are the Google first-party GA cookies described in §3; before you allow analytics we set no Google cookie at all.
• No sale of personal data: we don’t sell, rent, or trade personal information.

5. Third-Party Services & Links

This site may link to or reference third-party services including:

• Retailers, manufacturers, software platforms, and affiliate networks used for product links
• Google Fonts (for typography) — governed by Google's privacy policy
• Google Analytics 4 (G-9MG87ETLPT) for usage analytics, only when you allow analytics — see §3; governed by Google's privacy policy
• GitHub Pages / Cloudflare Pages (site hosting)

When you click an outgoing link, you are leaving our website and the third-party site’s privacy policy applies. Third parties may have their own cookies, log retention, and analytics. We encourage you to read their policies if you have concerns.

Tip: if you prefer to avoid affiliate cookies entirely, you can copy the product name and search it directly rather than following an affiliate link.

6. How We Use AI-Assisted Tools

Some content may be drafted or organized with AI-assisted tools, then reviewed before publishing. These tools do not collect visitor data and are not connected to the public-facing website.

7. Your Choices & Rights

Because we collect minimal personal data, there is generally little or nothing for us to delete or correct. Still, we take requests seriously and will help where we can.

• Opt out / minimize: use the on-page analytics control to allow, change, or withdraw consent at any time (withdrawing stops further analytics, clears the Google analytics cookies, and reloads the page once so the analytics tag is fully removed). You can also use your browser’s tracking protections, block googletagmanager.com / google-analytics.com, and manage cookies. Avoid clicking outgoing affiliate links if you prefer not to be eligible for affiliate attribution.
• Request deletion or correction: contact us and describe what you want removed or corrected. If it’s within our control, we’ll act promptly.
• Third-party data: if the data is held by a retailer, affiliate network, or analytics provider, we may not have direct access. In that case we can point you to the correct place to make the request.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy as the site evolves. The "last updated" date at the top of this page will reflect any changes. Continued use of the site after changes constitutes acceptance.

9. Contact

Questions about this privacy policy? Reach us via the GitHub profile linked in the footer.

10. Data Retention & Security

We keep data retention simple: if we don’t need something to operate the site or respond to you, we don’t try to collect it.

If you contact us directly, we retain the message thread long enough to respond and handle follow-ups, and we delete it on request when it’s practical to do so.

We use reasonable safeguards appropriate for a small informational website, such as keeping the public site static, limiting the number of third-party scripts we load, and keeping links and embeds simple. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, so we can’t guarantee absolute security.

• Data minimization: if you allow analytics, we minimize what is sent — one pageview per consented page (the page path only; the referrer is not sent; no arbitrary free text or uncontrolled fields) and a small set of reviewed, low-detail events restricted to prescribed non-personal values (for example the merchant and category). We do not send raw destination URLs, search terms, or free-text fields in those events. We do not, however, fully control the standard GA4 telemetry Google collects, and Google sets its first-party _ga / _ga_9MG87ETLPT cookies. Data minimization is not a guarantee that personal data can never reach Google.
• Third-party caution: outbound links may have their own tracking; we avoid embedding third-party widgets unnecessarily.
• Practical deletion: if you send us information you want removed, tell us what it is and where you sent it, and we’ll do our best to delete it.

Browsing with minimal tracking: if you want the strictest approach, these are practical steps that work on most modern browsers:

• Use a private/incognito window for shopping sessions.
• Block third-party cookies, then clear cookies/site data for retailers if needed.
• Use built-in tracking protection (or a reputable content blocker) to reduce third-party scripts.
• Prefer copying product names and searching directly rather than clicking outgoing links.