The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

We have had a few enquiries recently about the new data protection regulations –GDPR– due to take effect from May 2018. It is good to know that groups are thinking about this.

Most people like to know that any data someone holds on them is safe, and used in a fair way. If you are running a music group it is reasonable that anyone you work with would expect the same of the data you hold on them.

So considering how you collect and use data is a good thing to be doing in general - and GDPR is an excellent opportunity to review your practices.

We will of course help with this. We are digesting the new guidance at the moment and will be providing more information in the New Year.

As it stands we think the new regulations will mean at least some small changes in how you work with data – the nature and extent of the changes will vary from group to group.

However, our initial assessment is that if you are following current data protection guidelines and acting in a fair and reasonable way, the impact of GDPR will not be significant – so no need to man the panic stations.

We will keep you updated as we produce more guidance but there are some things you can be doing now to help minimise the impact come May 2018. We have updated our current guidance to explain more about this.