I only played on one song. Still worth it?

Before you send stems or takes to an artist or producer, timestamp the exact files. TimeBinder^® makes a fingerprint in your browser. The files stay on your device. You get a checkable Proof of Time Certificate that shows each exact file existed no later than a recorded time. It does not show who performed, who owns the recording, or that you must be credited. Free to start. Format detail for WAV stems is in prove WAV stems existed before a date.

The routine: timestamp before you send the stems
Work-for-hire, buyouts and credits
What to keep
What a TimeBind shows, and what it doesn’t
Frequently Asked Questions

The routine: timestamp before you send the stems

Export the takes you are delivering (dry stems, comps, or a zip the producer asked for).
Optional. Spot-check with the free SHA-256 hash checker.
Timestamp the delivery set (up to 10 files, or one zip). Your first Pooled TimeBind is free, with no credit card required.
Save the Proof of Time Certificate with your copy of the stems.
Then send via the link or drive the artist uses.
Punch-ins or replacement takes are new files. Timestamp them before you send the update.

How to timestamp a file has the steps. See also protect your music before sending.

Work-for-hire, buyouts and credits

Session deals vary. Some are flat buyouts; some include royalties or credit. A timestamp does not choose the deal. It dates the files you delivered so you can show what left your machine and when. Keep the email or contract that states the fee and the rights. If you also write on the song, fill a split sheet for the composition side and timestamp that too.

What to keep

Your delivery stems and the certificate.
The brief or playlist of what they asked for.
Invoice and payment record.
Any revised takes you sent later, each with its own date.

What a TimeBind shows, and what it doesn’t

A TimeBind shows that this exact file existed no later than the recorded time. It does not show authorship, ownership or copyright, and it does not force a credit. Keep contracts and correspondence. This is general information, not legal advice.

Keep those dated stems even after a release is live. If an unexpected listing later appears on an official profile, the free unexpected track on your artist profile checklist is a list of what to capture and report. It cannot detect a fake track.

Your file’s fingerprint, anchored to a global network secured by real electricity and cryptography.

Editing a file—including with AI—changes its fingerprint, not its existing network record.

How this works

Your file’s SHA-256 fingerprint, a short code worked out from its exact contents, is made in your browser, and the file itself stays on your device. A cryptographic commitment to that fingerprint, which may be combined with others, is then anchored in a block on the Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin is secured by proof of work: computers around the world spend real electricity to add each block, and changing an earlier block would mean redoing that work faster than the rest of the network. Until that block is confirmed, your proof is pending. Once the Bitcoin anchoring is confirmed, you can verify the proof against that recorded commitment. The confirmed record can then be checked; Pooled TimeBinds are checked through TimeBinder, while ASAP TimeBinds can also be checked independently. If you check the file later and its fingerprint still matches, that shows the file existed no later than the recorded time. The record doesn’t show who made the file, whether AI was used, or that its contents are true.

Your filestays on your device
FingerprintSHA-256
Network timestampon Bitcoin

Frequently Asked Questions

I only played on one song. Still worth it?

Yes if you care about proving what you sent. One TimeBind covers that song’s stems.
The producer will bounce again anyway.

Timestamp what you send. Their later bounce is a different file.
Should singers timestamp vocal comps?

Yes. Comp and dry takes you deliver are the files to date.
Can I timestamp a whole session day as one zip?

Yes. Keep that exact zip; re-zipping later usually changes the fingerprint.
What does it cost?

Your first Pooled TimeBind is free, with no credit card required. After that, from US$5; ASAP is US$15. See plans and pricing

Timestamp your stems before you send

Show that this exact file existed no later than a recorded time. Files stay on your device. Get a checkable Proof of Time Certificate. Free to start. Open TimeBinder

Inna Hall

Inna Hall is an Australian lawyer admitted to the Supreme Court of Queensland and the High Court of Australia in 2013. She has worked across government and private legal practice and is the director of TimeBinder, focusing on document authenticity, evidentiary risk, and blockchain-based proof of existence.