How to Prove an Ableton Project Existed Before a Date

If a collaborator, a beat buyer or a stranger online claims your track, the Ableton project is the most convincing thing you have: it shows the parts, the arrangement and how the track was built. What it does not show well is when it existed. Here is what Live records, what is weak, and how to freeze a project so the date can be checked.

Disclosure: I’m Inna Hall, co-founder of TimeBinder, the file timestamping tool this guide uses. This page is general information, not legal advice.

What Ableton records about time

• The Live Set (.als). A compressed XML file describing tracks, clips, devices and automation. It stores file paths to audio, not the audio itself.
• The Backup folder. Since Live 10, each save puts the previous version of the Set into the project’s Backup folder, named with the date and time. Live keeps the most recent 10 and removes older ones.
• Recordings and samples. Audio you record lands in the project’s Samples folder with its own file dates. Samples from elsewhere stay where they were unless you collect them.
• File dates on the project folder and its contents.

Why that is easy to challenge

Every one of those dates comes from your computer’s clock. Backup names and file dates can be changed, the Backup folder only keeps 10 versions, and a project that points to samples on another drive may not even open on someone else’s machine. In a dispute you want a record of the exact files that someone else can check.

What to freeze

• The collected project. Use File > Collect All and Save so external samples are copied into the project, then zip the project folder.
• A bounce of the current arrangement (WAV or MP3), so the record can be listened to.
• Stems if you are sending parts to a singer, producer or mix engineer.
• Lyrics and a split sheet if others contributed. The free split sheet generator makes one in a few minutes.

Zip the folder once and keep that exact zip. Zipping the same folder again later can give a different file, because zip archives store their own dates.

A simple routine

1. At each milestone (first idea worth keeping, before sending to anyone, final), run Collect All and Save.
2. Zip the project folder and export a bounce.
3. TimeBind the zip, the bounce and any stems or lyric files together in TimeBinder.
4. Keep the certificate with the zip, and back both up somewhere other than your music drive.

Which plan fits

The free plan gives you 1 Token a month, which is one Pooled TimeBind of up to 10 files. No credit card is required for the free plan. A Pooled TimeBind is usually recorded within 24 to 48 hours, and often sooner, depending on Bitcoin network activity; an ASAP TimeBind costs 3 Tokens and gets its own Bitcoin transaction straight away.

For more milestones, Essential is US$20 a month for 5 Tokens (5 Pooled, or 1 ASAP plus 2 Pooled). Expert is US$50 a month for 15 Tokens (15 Pooled or 5 ASAP), and unused Tokens roll over. Verification is free. See pricing.

What a timestamp does and doesn’t do

TimeBinder anchors each file’s SHA-256 fingerprint to Bitcoin and gives you a Proof of Time Certificate. That is verifiable evidence of when a file existed: it shows the file existed no later than the anchor date, and any later change to the file is detectable. An ASAP TimeBind can be checked directly on the Bitcoin blockchain without relying on TimeBinder; a Pooled TimeBind is verified through TimeBinder. Your file is hashed in your browser and never uploaded.

It doesn’t show who made the work or who owns it, it doesn’t stop copying, and it doesn’t cover a version you didn’t timestamp. Who owns a co-written track depends on what you agreed. See prove a beat is yours before sharing it and music copyright proof.

Plan details were checked against timebinder.io/pricing on 29 October 2026.