---
sidebar_position: 2
title: Why TrackForge?
description: Why catalogue owners, lawyers, and buyers need deterministic royalty-leakage ratings instead of generic metadata scores.
keywords:
  - why TrackForge
  - royalty leakage
  - music catalogue rating
  - AAA-D
---

# Why TrackForge?

Royalty leakage is not an abstract metadata quality problem. It is money blocked by specific infrastructure failures: registrations not made, works not matched, societies missing identifiers, rights chains breaking, or claims never reaching the payer.

TrackForge exists to recover that money and prevent future loss.

## The Rating Agency Model

TrackForge provides a deterministic AAA-D rating for catalogue or track state under a named methodology. Every production rating event pins:

- The rules used.
- The evidence snapshot assessed.
- The direct UK/US scope currently certified.
- The leakage taxonomy version.
- The Merkle root and proof state.

That gives buyers, lawyers, and owners a repeatable record instead of a trust-me score.

## The Operational Model

Every finding is money at risk. Every deliverable is a fix. The rating is useful because it is tied to the same evidence and workflow that produce remediation outputs.

## Where To Start

- **[What is TrackForge Rating Certification?](./what-is-certification)** - How ratings and proofs work.
- **[Scope & Legal Positioning](/docs/certification/for-lawyers/certification-scope)** - What the certificate does and does not claim.
- **[Reading Your Certificate](/docs/certification/for-catalogue-owners/reading-your-certificate)** - How to interpret rating fields.