Understanding Your Certificate
This page walks through each field in a TrackForge Track Certificate, explaining what it means and why it matters. If you have received a certificate in HTML format, the same information is presented in a more readable layout, but the underlying data is identical.
Certification tier badge
Every certificate displays a tier badge indicating the depth of verification applied to the track. The badge appears prominently at the top of the certificate.
| Badge | Tier | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | Gold | The track has been independently verified across multiple authoritative sources, with complete writer ownership shares and human operator review. This is the highest certification standard. |
| Silver | Silver | The track has structurally complete metadata (ISRC, ISWC, duration, writer with IPI) verified through TrackForge's automated enrichment pipeline. |
| Bronze | Bronze | The track has partially enriched metadata meeting minimum certification requirements. Some gaps exist and are documented in the certificate. |
| Declared | Declared | The metadata was submitted by you (the catalogue owner) and cryptographically timestamped by TrackForge, but has NOT been independently verified. |
What determines the tier?
The tier is assigned based on how much verified data is available for the track. These four tiers (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Declared) are the public-facing groupings of TrackForge's underlying six-level metadata completeness model. The full criteria are documented in the Certification Tiers methodology page. In summary:
- Gold requires: ISRC + ISWC + duration + writer(s) with name, IPI, and role + shares summing to ~100% + corroboration from 2+ sources + human operator review
- Silver requires: ISRC + ISWC + duration + writer(s) with name and IPI
- Bronze requires: ISRC + duration + at least one of ISWC or writer with name
- Declared requires: ISRC present; metadata supplied by you
How to improve your tier
If your tracks are certified at a lower tier than you expected, you may be able to help improve them:
- Declared to Bronze: Provide additional metadata (writer names, ISWCs) or allow TrackForge to run enrichment against your catalogue
- Bronze to Silver: Supply missing ISWCs or writer IPI numbers. TrackForge can also attempt to resolve these through PRO database lookups
- Silver to Gold: Provide complete writer share breakdowns. TrackForge will corroborate against additional sources and apply human review
When a track is promoted to a higher tier, it is re-certified. The new certification links cryptographically to the previous one, preserving the full audit history.
Track identification
The first group of fields identifies the recording and the underlying musical work.
ISRC
The International Standard Recording Code — a 12-character identifier that uniquely identifies a specific recording. Every legitimate commercial recording should have one.
Example: GBAYE0100538
Verify that the ISRC on the certificate matches the ISRC in your catalogue management system. If they differ, it may indicate a data entry error in the original upload.
Title and Artist
The track title and performing artist as verified through TrackForge's multi-source enrichment pipeline. These are cross-referenced against Spotify, MusicBrainz, Discogs, and other authoritative sources.
ISWC
The International Standard Musical Work Code — identifies the underlying composition (the song itself, as distinct from the recording). Where available, this links the recording to its registered musical work.
Example: T-010.466.580-3
The presence of an ISWC is a strong indicator of proper registration with a collecting society. If the ISWC is present, it means TrackForge found a matching work registration in at least one authoritative source.
Writers
Each songwriter is listed with:
- Name — The songwriter's name as registered
- IPI — Their Interested Parties Information number (the global identifier for rights holders)
- Role — Their contribution (e.g. Composer, Author/Lyricist, Composer & Author)
- Share — Their ownership percentage of the work
Check that writer shares sum to approximately 100% (rounding may cause minor variations). Missing IPI numbers may indicate that a writer is not yet registered with a PRO, which could affect royalty collection.
The cryptographic proof
The next group of fields is the core of the certification — the cryptographic evidence that this metadata was verified and anchored at a specific point in time.
record_hash
A SHA-256 hash of the certified metadata. This is a 64-character hexadecimal string that acts as a unique fingerprint. If even a single character of the certified data were changed, the hash would be completely different.
Example: a1b2c3d4e5f6... (64 characters)
What it proves: The metadata has not been altered since certification. Anyone with the canonical data can recompute the hash and confirm it matches.
canonical_json
The exact data that was hashed to produce the record_hash. This is a deterministic JSON serialisation of the rights-determinative fields — the fields that matter for royalty collection and rights management.
Why it matters: The canonical JSON is included so that anyone can independently verify the hash. You do not need to trust TrackForge's hash — you can recompute it yourself from the canonical JSON using any SHA-256 tool.
The canonical JSON contains only rights-determinative fields (ISRC, ISWC, writers, duration, etc.). Cosmetic metadata like album art or genre tags is deliberately excluded — only data that affects royalty calculations is certified.
merkle_proof
A Merkle inclusion proof — a small set of hashes that proves this track's record_hash is included in the batch's Merkle tree without needing to see every other track in the batch.
The proof contains:
proof_hashes— The sibling hashes needed to walk up the treeproof_directions— Whether each sibling is on the left or right
What it proves: This track was part of the certified batch. The proof mathematically links the individual track hash to the batch-level Merkle root.
anchors
The blockchain anchor details. Each anchor records:
anchor_type— The anchoring method (e.g.opentimestamps)anchor_hash— The Merkle root that was anchoredblock_number— The blockchain block number containing the anchor (once confirmed)txid— The blockchain transaction IDanchored_at— The timestamp of anchoring
What it proves: The Merkle root (and therefore every track hash in the tree) existed at or before the time recorded on the blockchain. This cannot be forged or backdated.
If the anchor shows a block number, the certification is fully confirmed on the blockchain. If it shows pending, the OpenTimestamps proof has been submitted but not yet included in a block — this typically resolves within a few hours.
Administrative fields
certification_version
The version of TrackForge's certification methodology that was applied. This determines which enrichment sources were consulted, which quality thresholds were required, and which validation rules were enforced.
certification_tier
The tier assigned to this track: gold, silver, bronze, or declared. See the Certification tier badge section above for what each tier means.
certified_at
The timestamp when certification was issued. Combined with the blockchain anchor, this establishes the point in time at which the metadata was in the certified state.
batch_id and catalog_id
Internal identifiers linking this certificate to its certification batch and catalogue. The batch_id connects the track to the Catalogue Report and the shared Merkle tree.
verification_url
The URL where you can verify the certificate online. At this page, you paste the canonical JSON and the hash is computed in your browser — no data is transmitted to TrackForge's servers.
The disclaimer
Every certificate includes a disclaimer whose wording depends on the certification tier:
- Gold certificates state that the metadata was "independently verified across multiple authoritative sources, with human operator review and approval."
- Silver certificates state that the metadata was "verified through TrackForge's automated multi-source enrichment pipeline and quality gates."
- Bronze certificates state that the metadata is "partially enriched" with "documented gaps."
- Declared certificates state that the metadata "was declared by the submitting party" and that "TrackForge has not independently verified the accuracy of the declared metadata."
The full disclaimer text for each tier is documented in Certificate Wording & Disclaimer. The key point is the same across all tiers: TrackForge certification attests that a thorough, documented verification process was followed (at the depth indicated by the tier) and the metadata met all quality thresholds at the time of certification. It does not make legal claims about ownership — that is a matter for courts and contracts.
Think of it like a property survey: the surveyor attests to what they found using professional methods, but does not guarantee that no undisclosed issues exist.
When sharing certificates with potential buyers or legal teams, frame it as: "This is independent evidence of the metadata state, produced through a documented, auditable process." The tier badge communicates the verification depth at a glance. Do not present it as a legal determination of ownership.
What's next
- How to Verify Independently — Three ways to verify your certificate without relying on TrackForge.
- The Proof Bundle — The self-contained verification archive.