Highlights
- Founded Songproof to help artists prove they created a song first
- Inspired by years of legal work with musicians
- Designed for independent artists without big budgets
- Uses blockchain to lock songs with date and time stamps
When entertainment lawyer Hina Rizvi kept hearing artists say, “I made it first, but I can’t prove it,” she knew something was broken in the music world.
After years of dealing with disputes over stolen melodies, lyrics and credits, she decided to build something that stopped problems before they reached court. That idea became Songproof.
Seeing the problem before finding the solution
Rizvi realised nearly a decade ago that musicians lacked fast and affordable proof of authorship. Back then, there was no clear answer. Most artists only acted after a dispute had already begun.
Songproof was built to change that — giving artists a way to protect their work the moment it is created.
Why Songproof lives on your phone
Most ideas are born in random places: bedrooms, buses, studios, kitchens. Rizvi knew any serious tool had to be in an artist’s pocket.
The app lets users:
- Record ideas live
- Upload existing files
- Save rough demos and melodies
One tap is enough to turn a voice note into proof.
How her Indian roots shaped access and fairness
Rizvi, who grew up in Canada and trained in London, says her Indian background shaped how she thinks about access.
In India, she met both famous singers and unknown newcomers facing the same fears: slow copyright systems, expensive lawyers and endless court cases. She saw the same pattern across Africa, the UK and North America.
Songproof was built for those without money, teams, or legal protection.
What blockchain really does for artists
Rizvi describes blockchain as a universal post office.
When a song is uploaded, its details and ownership are locked onto one blockchain, and the date and time are stamped onto another. The file becomes permanent — it cannot be edited, deleted or changed, not even by Songproof itself.
Each upload gets a unique digital fingerprint, and the audio file is attached to its certificate, so the sound itself is always part of the proof.
Privacy, even from the founder
Songproof is built so that even Rizvi cannot listen to users’ songs unless they choose to share them.
Artists control who hears their work. The company cannot access it, copy it or change it. For Rizvi, this was non-negotiable.
“Protection has to include privacy,” she says.
What success really looks like
For Rizvi, success is not just about big numbers.
It looks like:
- Fewer fights over credit
- Fewer stolen songs
- More confident young artists
If even a few musicians avoid losing their work because of Songproof, she says, it has already done its job.
