Music technology company VeriTune has launched SonicMark, an audio watermarking and fingerprinting tool designed to help creators protect unreleased music before it reaches streaming platforms.
VeriTune was founded by Wes Pendleton, who previously co-founded the sample label Soul Surplus, later acquired by Splice. Pendleton is also a former Splice employee, bringing experience from both creative production and music technology to the venture.
SonicMark embeds a unique, inaudible digital identifier directly into an audio file.
The identifier cannot be heard by listeners but remains embedded within the track, allowing ownership data to stay attached even if the audio is extracted from a video, reposted, or shared via direct message.
The launch addresses a growing concern among independent artists and producers whose unreleased material circulates online before formal distribution.
In some cases, unauthorized uploads to digital streaming platforms or content identification systems can result in copyright disputes or false infringement claims.
According to VeriTune, SonicMark is built to ensure that the fingerprint travels with the file and survives common forms of compression and sharing across social platforms.
The company says the tool can generate verifiable proof of ownership by extracting the embedded identifier and linking it to the creator’s registered data.
“Inaudible fingerprinting gives creators a way to lock ownership data into their audio before it hits streaming platforms,” said Wes Pendleton, Founder of VeriTune. “I have been closely watching how Nike is using fingerprinting on shoes to guarantee authenticity.
Inaudible Fingerprinting Gives Creators A Way To Lock Ownership Data Into Their Audio Before It Hits Streaming Platforms
Wes Pendleton, Founder of Veritune
It made me think about how we could apply a similar concept to unpublished music and protect it at its most vulnerable stage.”
Audio fingerprinting and watermarking technologies have long been used in broadcast monitoring and rights management.
VeriTune’s approach focuses on early stage protection, particularly during the period when artists are sharing demos, snippets, and works in progress online.
