What is TrackForge Rating Certification?

TrackForge identifies royalty leakage and produces the deliverables that fix it: CWR files, spreadsheets, evidence packets, briefs, and proof bundles. Rating certification is the cryptographic record of the catalogue or track state assessed at a specific time.

A TrackForge rating is not a mutable scorecard. It is a point-in-time event:

rating_event =
  f(methodology version,
    methodology hash,
    taxonomy version,
    workflow version,
    jurisdictional scope,
    evidence snapshot,
    leakage vector,
    materiality rules,
    aggregation rules,
    snapshot time)

The current certificate-facing rating scale is AAA-D. Legacy Gold/Silver/Bronze/Declared fields may still appear in historical exports or compatibility APIs, but they are not the current public rating contract.

The Current Process

1. Catalogue intake - TrackForge receives catalogue metadata and maps the relevant entity scope.
2. Workflow execution - The current direct certification workflow checks UK and US registration, repertoire, and revenue pathways.
3. Evidence packet snapshot - Evidence is frozen into deterministic packet JSON with a packet hash.
4. Agreement and ISWC risk inputs - PRS/SearchWorks WACD agreement binding and authoritative ISWC coverage are projected where they are in scope.
5. Leakage taxonomy projection - Active, inactive, and not-applicable leakage conditions are projected from the frozen evidence.
6. AAA-D rating event - Materiality and aggregation rules produce a catalogue or track rating.
7. Canonical hashing - The rating event, methodology, and evidence snapshot are pinned by hashes.
8. Merkle tree construction - Evidence packet hashes are combined into a deterministic Merkle root.
9. OpenTimestamps anchoring - The proof state records whether the root or methodology hash is pending, confirmed, failed, or local-only.
10. Proof bundle - The owner receives the rating event data, proof files, verification instructions, and methodology artefacts.

What The Rating Means

The AAA-D rating describes royalty-leakage exposure under the declared methodology and scope.

Rating	Meaning
AAA	No active leakage conditions under the current workflow and scope.
AA	No material active leakage; only minor remediable or informational issues.
A	Low leakage exposure with bounded operational impact.
BBB	Moderate active leakage; remediation should precede a clean operational claim.
BB	Elevated leakage exposure across material registration or identity pathways.
B	High leakage exposure across one or more material revenue pathways.
CCC	Severe leakage exposure; catalogue or track state is materially compromised.
CC	Critical leakage exposure; collection pathways are structurally unsafe.
C	Near-failing state with pervasive active leakage or missing rights state.
D	Failing state under the methodology; not collection-ready.

The rating is deterministic. If the same methodology, workflow, taxonomy, evidence snapshot, and rating rules are used, the same input produces the same rating event.

For UK composition pathways, the rating includes whether works are explicitly bound to the relevant PRS/SearchWorks WACD agreement in the client's account. Revenue can still flow without that explicit binding, but the route is weaker because the claim is more exposed to dispute and manual society resolution. ISWC coverage is also part of the rating input because it affects composition identity, registration resolution, and downstream correction work.

Current Scope

The current direct certification scope is United Kingdom and United States registration, repertoire, and revenue pathways. UK/US defects can affect downstream international collection, but the current certificate does not claim direct validation of French, German, Japanese, or other non-UK/US society records.

Global society expansion is roadmap scope. Future methodology versions may add direct checks for additional societies when the operational data and proof contracts are ready.

What You Receive

• Catalogue rating event summary using AAA-D.
• Track-level leakage vector and evidence snapshot references where applicable.
• Methodology version and methodology hash.
• Taxonomy version, workflow version, and declared jurisdictional scope.
• Evidence packet hashes and Merkle root.
• OpenTimestamps proof state and proof files where available.
• Verification instructions that do not require trusting TrackForge after issuance.

What Certification Proves

Certification proves that a defined process was followed and that the certified data, methodology, and proof artefacts existed in the stated form at the stated time. It does not prove legal ownership, guarantee future collection, or substitute for legal advice.

The useful analogy is a rating agency or title-search record: the value is the documented, repeatable, independently verifiable process, not a claim that no unknown future contradiction can ever appear.

Next Step

If you need a defensible rating event for a catalogue transaction, audit, or remediation programme, request a certification review and confirm the intended scope before relying on any certificate-facing output.