# Terms of Service > Terms of service for TrackForge, the music catalogue intelligence and rights rating platform. *Published by [TrackForge](https://trackforge.studio)* **TrackForge Certification -- Self-Service** Effective Date: 2 October 2026 | Last Updated: 5 October 2026 --- These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of the TrackForge certification platform and of the free public tools TrackForge offers, including the ISRC Lookup, the CWR Workbench, the public API and the MCP server (together, the "Service"), provided by Adaptive Intelligence, a company incorporated in England and Wales, trading as **TrackForge** ("we", "us", "our"). By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, you must not use the Service. ## 1. The Service ### What TrackForge Does TrackForge is a **rights rating agency** for music catalogues. It provides a standardised, independent, and cryptographically verifiable measure of catalogue quality -- analogous to how Moody's or S&P rate bonds. Every rating is anchored to the Bitcoin blockchain via OpenTimestamps and can be independently verified by any third party without contacting or trusting TrackForge. TrackForge operates at two levels: - **Track-level rating evidence** -- Track-level rows can be derived from the current rating event so buyers can inspect which recordings are affected by agreement-binding, ISWC, registration, and leakage risks (see Section 5). - **Catalogue-level grade** -- Catalogue ratings are issued on the AAA-D scale from frozen evidence snapshots and leakage-taxonomy state (see Section 5). For self-service users, TrackForge is a timestamping and evidence-processing service. The current certificate-facing methodology is versioned and cryptographically pinned; legacy medal labels may appear only in historical records and compatibility APIs. ### What TrackForge Certifies Each certification attests to **process fidelity** -- that a defined, documented process was followed and that the metadata was in the stated condition at the stated time. Full scope details: [Certification Scope](https://trackforge.studio/certification/for-lawyers/certification-scope) ### What TrackForge Does NOT Certify Certification does not constitute: - Legal proof of copyright ownership, authorship, or royalty entitlement - An assertion that writer splits are settled or binding - A guarantee against future contradictory claims - A warranty that upstream source databases are error-free - Legal advice or a legal opinion of any kind - A substitute for formal title searches or independent legal counsel ## 2. Account Registration - Accounts are opened by invitation: TrackForge sets up your account and gives you your sign-in details. The free public tools need no account. - You must provide accurate and complete registration information. - You must be at least 18 years old with legal capacity to enter a binding agreement. - If registering for an entity, you represent authority to bind that entity. - You are responsible for maintaining account credential confidentiality. ## 3. Your Warranties By submitting metadata for certification, you warrant that: - **Right to submit** -- you have the necessary rights, licences, or permissions - **Accuracy** -- the metadata is, to the best of your knowledge, accurate and complete - **No misrepresentation** -- you are not submitting data you know to be false - **No infringement** -- submission does not infringe third-party rights - **Lawful purpose** -- you will use certification for lawful purposes only ## 4. Certification is Permanent and Non-Refundable > **Important:** Once a certification is anchored to the Bitcoin blockchain, it is **permanent** and cannot be removed, altered, or revoked. The blockchain is a public, decentralised, immutable ledger. This permanence is a fundamental feature, not a deficiency. - Errors may be addressed via re-certification (new version linked to original), but the original remains. - Fees are non-refundable once the blockchain anchor is confirmed. - A confirmation screen is presented before each certification is submitted. ## 5. Rating Scale and Methodology ### AAA-D Rating Scale Current certificate-facing ratings use the `TRACKFORGE_AAA_D` scale under the published methodology version in force at certification time. The current M58 public methodology label is **v1.1**. | Grade | Meaning | |-------|---------| | AAA | Minimal active leakage risk under the declared workflow and scope | | AA / A | Low active leakage risk, with remaining issues documented | | BBB / BB / B | Mixed or material leakage risk requiring remediation or diligence review | | CCC / CC / C | Severe leakage risk across material parts of the population | | D | Critical leakage risk or very low deterministic coverage | ### Methodology Inputs Current M58 ratings are calculated from frozen evidence snapshots, not from mutable cleaned catalogue rows. Inputs include: - Leakage-taxonomy findings and revenue-pathway materiality - PRS/SearchWorks WACD agreement binding where PRS/MCPS scope is in play - ISWC coverage and conflicts where work identity affects registration resolution - Rating input hash, leakage-vector hash, Merkle root, methodology version/hash, workflow version, taxonomy version, and proof state Full methodology: [Rating Scale & Methodology](https://trackforge.studio/certification/methodology/golden-record-selection) ## 6. Rating Independence TrackForge may provide both enrichment services (modifying catalogue data for a fee) and rating services (independently assessing catalogue health) to the same catalogue. To prevent conflicts of interest, enrichment and rating are structurally separated at three levels: - **Application architecture** -- The rating engine is a pure function with zero imports from enrichment modules. It receives data and produces a deterministic verdict. There is no code path through which the rating can modify data. - **Database access control** -- The rating engine connects via a dedicated read-only PostgreSQL role. INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE are denied at the database level. - **Immutable criteria** -- Rating criteria are global constants applied identically to all catalogues. There is no per-client configuration of thresholds or modifiers. Every rating output includes a mandatory conflict-of-interest disclosure. The methodology version is recorded on every rating, enabling independent re-verification. Full details: [Rating Independence](https://trackforge.studio/certification/for-lawyers/rating-independence) ## 7. Conflicting Certifications Two different users may hold certifications for the same ISRC with different metadata. - **Both stand.** Each is a valid record at its certification date. - **Conflicts are flagged.** Both parties are notified. - **TrackForge does not adjudicate.** Resolution is a matter for the parties or the courts. Full policy: [Conflicting Certifications Policy](https://trackforge.studio/certification/for-lawyers/conflicting-certifications) ## 8. Acceptable Use You agree not to: - Submit metadata in bad faith or for recordings you do not control - Submit data you know to be false or fabricated - Use certification as proof of copyright ownership or royalty entitlement - Misrepresent the rating, methodology version, proof state, or verification depth - Interfere with, disrupt, or circumvent the Service or blockchain anchoring - Use automated tools to abuse the Service beyond fair use - Reverse-engineer the Service - Use the Service for any unlawful purpose ### Free Public Tools, API and MCP Server The free ISRC Lookup, CWR tool, public API and MCP server may be used by people and by software acting for them, including AI assistants, without an account. When you use them: - Stay within the published limits (see [auth.md](https://trackforge.studio/auth.md)); do not rotate sessions, addresses or identities to get around them. - Do not use them to copy, rebuild or resell TrackForge's data, or to harvest registration data at scale. - Only submit a report request for yourself, or for someone who has agreed to be contacted by TrackForge. We may change, limit or withdraw these tools at any time. ### Findings, Not Advice Answers from the free tools are findings from third-party registration data (such as The MLC's bulk data feed) as of the date shown with each answer. Registrations and matches made after that date are not reflected, and the underlying data may contain errors. An answer is not a statement of who owns or controls a work or recording, is not permission to use it, and is not legal advice. The tools are provided as they are, without any warranty of accuracy or completeness. ## 9. Liability Limitations - **What these limits do not cover:** Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that the law does not allow us to limit or exclude. - **Cap:** Total liability shall not exceed fees paid in the preceding 12 months, or GBP 100, whichever is greater. - **Excluded:** Indirect, consequential, or special losses; loss of profits, revenue, business, or anticipated savings; loss of goodwill or reputation. - **Upstream errors:** We are not liable for errors in data from upstream sources (Spotify, MusicBrainz, PRS, MLC, etc.). - **Reliance:** We are not liable where any person relies on a certification without independent legal advice. - **Blockchain immutability:** We are not liable for inability to alter or revoke an anchored certification. Full details: [Liability & Risk Framework](https://trackforge.studio/certification/for-lawyers/liability-risk) ## 10. No Legal Advice TrackForge does not provide legal advice. The Service is a rights rating agency and certification platform, not a law firm. Nothing in the Service or these Terms constitutes legal advice. You should not rely on a certification or portfolio grade as a substitute for independent legal advice, formal title searches, or legal due diligence. ## 11. Privacy Your use of the Service is subject to our [Privacy Policy](https://trackforge.studio/privacy). The Bitcoin blockchain anchor contains only the Merkle Root hash -- a 64-character hexadecimal cryptographic digest. No personal data is written to the blockchain. The public verification page operates without cookies, tracking, or analytics. Certification privacy details: [Data Handling & GDPR](https://trackforge.studio/certification/for-lawyers/data-handling-gdpr) ## 12. Intellectual Property - **Your data:** You retain all rights to metadata you submit. - **Our licence:** You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to process your metadata solely for the Service. - **Our IP:** We retain all rights to the TrackForge platform, algorithms, and methodology. - **Certifications:** You may use, reproduce, and rely on your certifications for any lawful purpose. The embedded disclaimer may not be removed. ## 13. Termination - You may close your account at any time. Existing certifications remain valid. - We may suspend or terminate for acceptable use violations or fraud. - Post-termination: certifications persist and remain verifiable via the blockchain. You retain download access for 90 days. ## 14. Governing Law These Terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction. UK consumer residents retain statutory rights to bring proceedings in their country of residence. ## 15. General - These Terms, with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement. - Invalid provisions do not affect remaining Terms. - We may modify these Terms with 30 days' notice. Changes do not affect prior certifications. - No third-party rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. ## 16. CWR Workbench The CWR Workbench is a free toolset for working with Common Works Registration files: a Validator (structural analysis against the CISAC CWR specification), an Inspector (field-level file viewer), a Generator (form-based .V21 file creation, currently in beta) and an ACK Parser (society acknowledgement response reader). ### What We Keep Files you check, open or read with the CWR Workbench are sent to our server and processed there. We do not keep the files. We keep the result of a check, including the work titles, writer and publisher names, IPI numbers and shares read from the file, for 30 days so that its link can be opened and shared, and then delete it. Section 12 of the [Privacy Policy](https://trackforge.studio/privacy) has the details. ### Generator: Saved Sessions If you choose to save your progress in the Generator, we store your form inputs (work titles, writer names, share percentages) and the email address you give, so that you can resume within 30 days. Generated CWR output files are never retained on our servers. ### Beta Disclaimer The Generator is currently in beta. Output may be incomplete or inaccurate. Always review and validate CWR files before submitting to collecting societies. We recommend using the Validate tab to verify generated output. This tool does not guarantee acceptance by any specific society or PRO. ## Contact Adaptive Intelligence (trading as TrackForge), 128 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX. Email: legal@trackforge.studio --- *This document does not constitute legal advice. See the full [legal framework documentation](https://trackforge.studio/certification/for-lawyers) for detailed certification scope, methodology, and risk analysis.* *Copyright Adaptive Intelligence. All rights reserved.* --- Source: [https://trackforge.studio/terms](https://trackforge.studio/terms)