Open Proof of creation (also at proof.aden.space), drop the song, beat or project file, and press Stamp. Your browser works out the file's SHA-256 fingerprint, a qualified EU timestamp authority signs it with the time, and you download a certificate showing that this exact file existed at that moment. It proves when, not who, so keep your project files, drafts and stems too: together with dated stamps, they are the evidence that you made it.

Do you need to copyright a song?

Not to own it. In the more than 180 countries of the Berne Convention, copyright exists as soon as you create the work, and it cannot depend on registration or any other formality. In the United States a work is protected once it is fixed in a tangible form, such as a recording or a written lyric sheet. The hard part is proving it later.

Registration is a separate, optional step, and it only exists in some countries:

• United States. Registering with the US Copyright Office is voluntary, but you need it before you can sue for infringement of a US work. Registering before an infringement starts, or within three months of publishing, also lets you claim statutory damages and legal fees.
• United Kingdom. There is no official copyright register at all. Your evidence is what you keep.
• Elsewhere. Copyright is automatic. Some countries offer an optional register, many do not. Registering a work with your collecting society records who claims to have written it, but that is not copyright registration.

A song is also two works, the composition and the recording, each with its own copyright: see master rights vs publishing rights.

What is poor man's copyright?

Poor man's copyright is the old habit of mailing a copy of your song to yourself, on paper or a CD, and keeping the envelope sealed so the postmark dates what is inside. It is weak evidence:

• No law gives it any weight. The US Copyright Office says plainly that copyright law has no provision for it and that it is not a substitute for registration.
• The postmark dates the envelope, not the contents. An envelope can be mailed unsealed or empty, then filled and sealed later, or steamed open and resealed.
• A CD proves even less. It can be burned at any time, and file dates are easy to change.

Emailing the file to yourself or keeping it in a cloud drive is better, since a third party records the date, but those services are not built as evidence and may not keep the record.

What is a file fingerprint?

A fingerprint, or hash, is a short code worked out from every byte of a file. Proof of creation uses SHA-256, which gives a 64-character code. Two things make it useful as evidence:

• The same file always gives the same fingerprint. Anyone can work it out again later and compare.
• Any change gives a completely different one. Here are the fingerprints of the word "Afterglow" with and without its capital letter:

Afterglow  cf211d20e13aa62b15d69075027d94475e9f1b03b4b9b6d1a35e6cebaa900bfc
afterglow  7b381cef795b79f66c19723c5430604ab8209058a8360ec6437b733feb0cd4d4

You cannot rebuild the file from its fingerprint, so a fingerprint can be sent and stamped without sending the song.

The practical rule: a stamp covers that exact file. A new export, a different bitrate or a trimmed edit has a different fingerprint, and so does the same file after you edit its title or artist tags, because tags are stored inside the file. Keep the file you stamped exactly as it is, beside its certificate.

What is a qualified timestamp under eIDAS?

A timestamp authority is an independent service that signs a fingerprint with the current time. A qualified one is supervised under the EU's eIDAS regulation (Regulation (EU) No 910/2014) and listed on the EU trusted list.

Article 41 of eIDAS says a qualified electronic timestamp is presumed accurate in the date and time it shows and in the integrity of the data it covers, and that it is recognised as qualified in every EU member state. In practice, the date is taken as correct and the file as unchanged unless someone proves otherwise.

Proof of creation uses the Belgian Federal Government's time-stamping service, which is on the EU trusted list. Outside the EU, the stamp is still a signed record anyone can check, but the presumption is EU law, so its weight is up to the court.

What does the certificate prove, and what does it not?

The optional title and names go on the certificate exactly as you type them, and nobody checks them. The proof is of the file and the time.

Stamp a demo before it goes out to a label, a collaborator, a beat buyer or a playlist curator. Your proof then predates anything a recipient could claim.

How to build evidence that you made a song

1. Stamp as you go. A trail is harder to argue with than one file: the voice memo, the first demo, the project, the lyric sheet, the master. Zip a project folder first, because a stamp covers one file.
2. Keep the project files and their versions. A project shows how the song was built, track by track. See how to version and back up a DAW project.
3. Write down who did what. Agree on credits and splits with your co-writers and producers in writing, ideally before the song is released.
4. Register where it counts. In the United States, that means the Copyright Office. Register the composition with your collecting society too, so it can pay you; see do you need a PRO?

This guide explains how the evidence works. It is not legal advice; for a real dispute, talk to a lawyer in your country.

How to use Proof of creation

1. Open Proof of creation, at tools.aden.space/proof or proof.aden.space. You do not need an account.
2. Drop a file, or press Choose a file. It can be anything: a song, a beat, a project, lyrics, artwork. Its fingerprint shows under its name; click it to copy the whole thing.
3. Optionally, open Title and names and add a title and who made it.
4. Press Stamp. The time appears once the authority has signed.
5. Press Download certificate. Nothing is kept on Aden's side, so download it before you leave the page. The zip holds three files: certificate.pdf, the readable record; manifest.json, the exact text that was stamped; and timestamp.tsr, the authority's signed timestamp.

Only the fingerprint, with the file's name and size, leaves your browser; the file never leaves your device. It is free without an account for ten stamps a day and five an hour. For audio, Save to Aden keeps the song in Aden, where every version you upload is stamped by itself with its credits, session and project.

You can also use it in ChatGPT or Claude as Proof of creation by Aden (mcp.aden.space/proof-of-creation).

How do I check a file against its certificate later?

On the Proof of creation page, drop the file and its certificate zip (or its manifest.json), together or one after the other. Dropping a certificate switches the page to Check a certificate by itself, and it tells you whether the fingerprints match and when a match was stamped. It works for certificates from a version in Aden too, all in your browser.

Anyone can check it without Aden too:

1. Work out the file's SHA-256 and compare it with the one in the certificate and in manifest.json. On Linux, run sha256sum your-file. On macOS, shasum -a 256 your-file. On Windows, certutil -hashfile your-file SHA256.
2. Download Belgium Root CA6 from repository.eidpki.belgium.be (its SHA-256 fingerprint is printed on the certificate), then check the authority's signature over the manifest: openssl ts -verify -in timestamp.tsr -data manifest.json -CAfile belgium-root-ca6.pem

The first step ties your file to the manifest, and the second ties the manifest to the authority's time.

FAQ

Is poor man's copyright legal proof?

Not in any special way. Mailing a copy to yourself creates a postmark on an envelope, which says nothing reliable about what was inside or when it was sealed, and the US Copyright Office states that it is no substitute for registration. A fingerprint stamped by a qualified timestamp authority is far stronger evidence that a specific file existed at a specific time.

Does a timestamp certificate prove I own the copyright?

No. It proves that an exact file existed at the time shown and has not changed since. It does not prove who made it, and it is not a copyright registration. Proving you made it rests on your evidence as a whole: drafts, project files, stems, written agreements with co-writers and, where it exists, registration.

Do I need to register a song to own the copyright?

No. In the more than 180 countries of the Berne Convention, copyright exists as soon as the work is created. Registration is a separate step that only some countries offer. In the United States it is voluntary, but you need it before you can sue for infringement of a US work.

Is my song uploaded when I stamp it?

No. Your browser works out the file's SHA-256 fingerprint, and only that, with the file's name and size, is sent to be stamped. The file never leaves your device, and nothing is stored on Aden's side, so download the certificate before you leave the page.