Last Updated: 12 August 2026
Welcome to The Riff Report Blog.
Weโre an independent Welsh rock and metal publication built around music, festivals, gigs, bands, reviews, interviews, entertainment and the glorious chaos that comes with being part of the alternative music community.
We want The Riff Report to be a welcoming place where music fans, artists, photographers, promoters, festivals, PR teams and fellow riff addicts can enjoy and interact with our content.
Basically: enjoy the music, join the conversation, support the scene and donโt be a knob. ๐ค
This Acceptable Use Policy explains what is and is not acceptable when accessing or interacting with The Riff Report Blog, its website, community features and associated services.
By using our website, you agree to follow this policy.
1. Respect Other People ๐ค
The rock and metal community is made up of people from all walks of life, and everyone deserves to be treated with respect.
When interacting with The Riff Report, you must not post, submit, send or distribute content that:
- Threatens, harasses, intimidates or abuses another person.
- Encourages violence against individuals or groups.
- Contains hateful or discriminatory material.
- Deliberately targets someone with sustained personal abuse.
- Contains malicious personal attacks.
- Encourages bullying or harassment.
- Attempts to deliberately disrupt discussions or community spaces.
Disagreement is absolutely fine.
Arguments about whether Load is underrated are practically compulsory.
Personal abuse isnโt.
Keep the chaos friendly, butt.
2. Illegal Activity
You must not use The Riff Report website or its services to promote, organise, facilitate or encourage illegal activity.
This includes, but is not limited to:
- Fraud or scams.
- Theft.
- Distribution of illegal material.
- Sale or distribution of prohibited goods.
- Attempts to gain unauthorised access to systems or accounts.
- Malicious hacking or cybercrime.
- Deliberate distribution of malware.
- Copyright infringement.
- Impersonation intended to deceive others.
Any activity we reasonably believe may be illegal may be removed and, where appropriate, reported to the relevant authorities or service providers.
3. Donโt Attack the Website ๐ป
The Riff Report may be loud.
Our server would prefer not to be set on fire.
You must not deliberately attempt to damage, disrupt, overload or interfere with the operation or security of The Riff Report website.
This includes:
- Introducing viruses, malware or malicious code.
- Attempting unauthorised access.
- Circumventing website security.
- Deliberately overwhelming our servers.
- Conducting denial-of-service attacks.
- Attempting to access restricted areas of the website.
- Exploiting vulnerabilities.
- Interfering with other visitorsโ ability to use the website.
If you discover a genuine security vulnerability, please contact us responsibly rather than attempting to exploit it.
4. Spam and Dodgy Promotion ๐ซ
Nobody wants to open a comments section and discover 400 messages advertising suspicious cryptocurrency schemes and questionable sunglasses.
Please donโt use The Riff Report to distribute:
- Unsolicited advertising.
- Repetitive promotional messages.
- Affiliate spam.
- Scam links.
- Phishing links.
- Misleading promotions.
- Automated spam.
- Irrelevant commercial promotions.
Bands, promoters and PR companies are absolutely welcome to contact us about genuine music-related news, releases, gigs, festivals and opportunities.
Thatโs part of what we do.
Just donโt send us the same email seventeen times before breakfast.
5. Comments and Community Contributions
Where The Riff Report allows comments, submissions or other community contributions, we reserve the right to moderate them.
We may edit, hide or remove contributions that:
- Break this policy.
- Contain spam.
- Contain malicious links.
- Are deliberately disruptive.
- Include personal information without permission.
- Contain illegal material.
- Contain excessive abuse or harassment.
- Impersonate another person or organisation.
- Are completely unrelated to the discussion.
We may also restrict or block users who repeatedly abuse community features.
Moderation decisions are made at our discretion to protect the website and its community.
6. Copyright and Other Peopleโs Work ๐ธ
Please respect creators.
Do not submit or upload material to The Riff Report unless you own it, have permission to use it, or otherwise have the legal right to provide it.
This includes:
- Photographs.
- Artwork.
- Videos.
- Music.
- Articles.
- Reviews.
- Graphics.
- Logos.
- Recordings.
- Written material.
If you submit photographs, artwork, press releases or other materials to The Riff Report for publication, you confirm that you have the appropriate rights or permission to provide those materials.
Where material belongs to someone else, appropriate credit should be supplied wherever possible.
Rock responsibly. Respect creators.
7. Band, Artist and PR Submissions ๐ธ
We love hearing from bands.
Especially new bands.
Especially Welsh bands.
Actually, send us the riffs.
Artists, labels, managers, promoters and PR representatives may submit material for potential coverage.
However, submitting something does not guarantee publication.
We reserve complete editorial discretion over:
- What we publish.
- When we publish it.
- How it is presented.
- Whether we review a release.
- Whether we cover an event.
- Whether submitted material is suitable for The Riff Report.
Unless specifically agreed otherwise, submitting material for editorial consideration does not create any contractual obligation for The Riff Report to publish it.
8. False or Misleading Information
Do not deliberately provide false information with the intention of misleading The Riff Report or its readers.
This includes deliberately fabricated:
- News.
- Quotes.
- Event information.
- Band announcements.
- Ticket information.
- Competition entries.
- Artist identities.
- Press credentials.
- Claims of representation.
We understand that information changes โ particularly festival line-ups, tour dates and the wonderfully unpredictable world of rock โnโ roll.
An honest mistake is different from deliberately trying to mislead people.
9. Impersonation
Do not pretend to be someone youโre not.
You must not falsely impersonate:
- Artists.
- Bands.
- Musicians.
- Promoters.
- Festival organisers.
- Journalists.
- Photographers.
- Record labels.
- PR representatives.
- Members of The Riff Report team.
- Other individuals or organisations.
Parody and obvious humour are one thing.
Trying to convince us youโre Dave Grohl because youโve got a Gmail account is another.
Nice try, though.
10. Personal Information and Privacy ๐
Do not publicly submit another personโs private or sensitive information without their permission.
This may include:
- Home addresses.
- Private telephone numbers.
- Personal email addresses.
- Financial information.
- Login details.
- Private correspondence.
- Other information that could create a genuine privacy or security risk.
Please also think carefully before sharing your own personal information publicly.
The internet has a very long memory.
11. Automated Access and Scraping
You must not use automated systems to access, scrape, copy or extract substantial amounts of content from The Riff Report where doing so:
- Places unreasonable demand on our website.
- Circumvents technical restrictions.
- Republishes our content without permission.
- Infringes copyright.
- Interferes with normal website operation.
Normal search engine indexing and legitimate services operating within applicable permissions are not intended to be prohibited by this section.
12. Reusing The Riff Report Content
Unless otherwise stated, original articles, reviews, features, graphics and other original material published by The Riff Report are protected by applicable copyright law.
Please donโt nick our stuff and pretend you wrote it.
Sharing links to our articles? Absolutely.
Sharing short extracts with clear credit and a link back where legally permitted? Lovely stuff.
Copying an entire article onto another website without permission? Not so tidy.
For republication or licensing enquiries, please contact The Riff Report.
13. External Links
The Riff Report may link to third-party websites including:
- Band websites.
- Festival websites.
- Ticket providers.
- Streaming platforms.
- Social media platforms.
- Merchandise stores.
- Record labels.
- Other publications.
We donโt control every external website we link to and cannot guarantee its continued availability, security, accuracy or content.
Following an external link is therefore at your own discretion.
14. Ticketing, Competitions and Promotions ๐๏ธ
Where The Riff Report promotes competitions, giveaways or special promotions, additional terms may apply.
Users must not:
- Manipulate competition systems.
- Use automated entries where prohibited.
- Submit fraudulent entries.
- Create multiple identities to circumvent entry restrictions.
- Attempt to interfere with competition results.
Where specific competition terms conflict with this general policy, the specific competition terms will apply to that promotion.
15. Editorial Independence
The Riff Report is an independent publication.
Providing us with press releases, review copies, guest-list access, accreditation, promotional materials or other editorial opportunities does not automatically guarantee positive coverage.
Our opinions are our own.
Sometimes weโll absolutely love something.
Sometimes weโll think it sounds like a washing machine falling down the stairs.
Thatโs music journalism, mun.
Any commercial relationships or sponsored arrangements will be handled in accordance with applicable requirements.
16. Enforcement
If we believe someone has breached this Acceptable Use Policy, we may take appropriate action.
Depending on the circumstances, this could include:
- Removing content.
- Deleting comments.
- Restricting access.
- Blocking users.
- Rejecting future submissions.
- Reporting malicious activity to our hosting or service providers.
- Taking further action where reasonably necessary to protect The Riff Report, its readers or others.
Serious or repeated violations may result in permanent restrictions.
17. Reporting Problems
If you spot content or activity on The Riff Report that you believe breaches this policy, please contact us.
When reporting something, providing relevant information such as the page, article, comment or URL involved will help us investigate.
Please donโt start a digital witch hunt on social media first.
Give us a chance to look at whatโs occurring.
18. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Acceptable Use Policy occasionally to reflect changes to:
- The Riff Report website.
- Community features.
- Technology.
- Applicable laws or regulations.
- The services we provide.
The latest version will be published on The Riff Report website with an updated revision date.
Continued use of the website following an update means the revised policy will apply from its effective date.
19. Contact The Riff Report
Questions about this Acceptable Use Policy can be directed to The Riff Report Blog through the contact details provided on our website.
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. ๐๐ค
The Riff Report exists because we bloody love music.
We want this corner of the internet to remain somewhere bands, fans, photographers, promoters, festival veterans and first-time gig-goers can celebrate the music they love.
So join the conversation.
Share the riffs.
Support the bands.
Respect each other.
And if somebody asks whether Motรถrhead should be played louder, the answer is obviously yes.
The Riff Report Blog
Louder. Weirder. Always Backstage.
