Why You Should Timestamp Your Music Before Every Release
One simple habit can protect you from ownership disputes before they start. Here's why timestamping your music before release is essential.
The most common mistake independent artists make is waiting until after something goes wrong to think about proof of ownership. By then, it's too late to create a pre-release record — any documentation you create after a dispute begins is immediately suspect.
The right time to timestamp your music is before you share it with anyone — before you send it to a label, before you post a preview on social media, before you release it on streaming platforms. A pre-release timestamp creates a clear chronological record that predates any other claim.
Upload a track to AI.SONIQ to create a dated file record. Its fingerprint and server UTC timestamp support evidence that you held the exact file at that time, not ownership or authorship. Records remain while your account exists; public access depends on visibility settings.
Think of it like dating a document before you sign it. The timestamp doesn't replace the signature — it establishes when it happened. For music, that 'when' can make all the difference in an ownership dispute.