Disclosure

As an Amazon Associate, SoundPretty earns from qualifying purchases.

What that means

Some of the product links on this site, mostly the accessories and starter instruments we point to, go to Amazon with a tracking tag. If you buy after clicking one, Amazon pays us a small commission. It costs you nothing extra, and the price you pay is the same as if you'd typed the address in yourself.

Those links carry rel="nofollow sponsored noopener" and open in a new tab, and the tracking tag is visible in the URL. Every page that includes one shows the Amazon Associate line above the first link, so you always know when a link earns us anything.

Donner and Eastar

Some product links go to Donner Music instead of Amazon, through the Impact affiliate network. Donner also owns Eastar, so the student trumpets, violins, clarinets and harmonicas sold under that name are the same relationship. Those links say Donner in the link text, carry the same rel="nofollow sponsored noopener", and every page using one repeats the disclosure above the first link.

Two limits on where they appear, both deliberate. A Donner link only shows up on a page about something Donner actually makes, checked against their live catalog rather than assumed, which is why most instruments on this site have no Donner link at all and never will. And it never replaces a more honest answer: where the right advice is to rent, to buy used, or to spend more on a better instrument, that is still what the page says.

Why it doesn't bend the numbers

The cost figures on this site come from makers' pages and major retailers, not from whatever happens to pay a commission. We price instruments we can't even earn on, and we routinely tell readers to buy used, to rent instead of buy, or to skip a cheap listing that isn't a real instrument. A commission has never decided a recommendation here, and it isn't going to.

What we don't do

We don't sell instruments, take paid listings, run sponsored posts, or let anyone pay for placement or a better review. No brand or shop has bought its way onto this site, and none can.

Required notice

This page is provided in line with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR Part 255 guidelines on endorsements, and with the Amazon Associates Operating Agreement.