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How to prove a beat is yours

A beat you sent around shows up in someone else's song, and all you have is a folder of files. Here is what counts as proof that you made it, and when, and what to start keeping today.

Updated September 25, 20265 min read

This page explains; it is not legal advice. For your own situation, ask a lawyer.

Tape reels on a vintage reel-to-reel recorder.

Copyright starts when you make the beat

An original beat is protected by copyright from the moment you make it. Some countries, like the United States, also ask for it to be fixed, saved in a file or a recording, which a beat is as soon as you save it.

You don't have to register anything for that protection to exist. That's the rule in the more than 180 member countries of the Berne Convention: protection can't depend on any formality.

What you may need is proof. If someone uses your beat without a licence, or says they made it, you may have to show that you made it, and when. That proof comes from what you keep while you work.

  • Protected from the moment you make it
  • No registration needed for the protection to exist
A woman working on a laptop under a desk lamp at night.
“The enjoyment and the exercise of these rights shall not be subject to any formality”
Berne Convention, Article 5(2). Read it on WIPO Lex

What counts as evidence

The strongest case is usually several pieces that tell the same story, some of them dated by someone other than you.

Your project files

The project in your DAW, with its saved versions and backups, and the stems you bounced from it. Someone who ripped an MP3 of your beat doesn't have your project.

Dated exports and messages

Your exports, and the emails and DMs where you sent the beat to someone. A message kept by an email or messaging service has a date you didn't set yourself.

An official registration

Your work registered with your collecting society, or with a copyright office in the countries that have one, like the US Copyright Office.

A timestamp with a fingerprint

A dated record of the file's fingerprint, kept by someone other than you. It shows that this exact file already existed at that date.

What a SHA-256 fingerprint is

A fingerprint, or hash, is a string of 64 letters and numbers calculated from every bit of a file. SHA-256 is a standard way to calculate it, published by NIST, the US standards agency.

Change the file at all, even by one bit, and the fingerprint comes out different. In practice nobody can make a different file with the same fingerprint, and the fingerprint doesn't contain your beat: you can't rebuild the audio from it.

So a fingerprint on a dated record shows that this exact file existed at that date. It says nothing about who made the beat, which is why you keep the rest of your evidence too.

Keep the exact file that was fingerprinted. A new export of the same beat can come out with a different fingerprint.

On vvault

What vvault's timestamp certificate records

On every plan, vvault can make a timestamp certificate as a PDF for any beat you upload. You can add a ZIP of your project and screenshots, each with its own fingerprint, and the people who made the beat with you, with their splits: the next certificate includes them.

It's dated evidence, kept by vvault. It isn't a copyright registration or a filing with a collecting society, and it can't stop anyone from copying your beat. It shows that this exact file was in your vvault account at that date: your project files and messages are what show you made it.

  • The date and time of the deposit, in UTC
  • The file's name, size and SHA-256 fingerprint
  • Your name as the depositor, and the creation date you declare
A vvault timestamp certificate: proof ID, UTC timestamp, the file's name, type and size, its SHA-256 hash, then the depositor's name and declared creation date.

In the United States, registration comes before a lawsuit

In the US, registering with the Copyright Office is voluntary, and your beat is protected without it. But to sue someone for infringing a US work, you generally have to register it first.

Registering early matters too. If you register before an infringement, or within three months of publishing, you're eligible for statutory damages and attorney's fees. Statutory damages are an amount the court sets within limits in the law, instead of the losses you'd otherwise have to prove.

Outside the US, the rules differ from country to country. Check how registration works where you live, or ask a lawyer.

If your beat shows up in someone else's song

Before anything else, check it isn't a lease you sold and forgot about.

  1. Keep a record

    Save the link, the date and a screen recording of where you heard it. On Pro and Ultra, WaveMatch can also look for your beats in released songs and show you the ones it recognises. And if nothing comes up, that doesn't prove nobody used your beat.

  2. Check your sales

    Look for a lease or an exclusive that artist bought, on vvault or anywhere else you sell. If they have a licence, check they stayed within its limits.

  3. Gather your proof

    Your project, your stems, dated exports, the messages where you sent the beat, and any certificate or registration. Put it all in one folder.

  4. Talk first, then report it

    Write to the artist or their team first, calmly, with your evidence. If that goes nowhere, report it to the platform where the song is up, and for a real dispute, see a lawyer.

Questions

Do I have to register my beats for them to be protected?

No. In the more than 180 countries of the Berne Convention, copyright exists without registration. In the United States, you'll generally need a registration before you can sue over a US work.

Is emailing a beat to myself proof?

It leaves a dated trace worth keeping with the rest, but on its own it may not weigh much. The US Copyright Office says the law has no provision for this “poor man's copyright”, and that it is not a substitute for registration.

Does a timestamp certificate replace a copyright registration?

No. It's dated evidence that a file existed, made by a private company. Where registration exists and matters, like in the US before a lawsuit, you still need it.

Does a producer tag protect my beat?

It makes your beat easier to recognise and harder to use without anyone noticing, but a tag can sometimes be cut or covered, and it doesn't prove you made the beat. Keep your project files too.

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Photos: cottonbro studio, Oktay Köseoğlu, Kindel Media, Raul Ling and Nathan Thomas on Pexels