Overview

SourceAudio Detect provides you with complete placement data when your tracks hit the air on any of the broadcast television channels that we monitor.

SourceAudio Detect subscribers receive both real-time on-air data, as well as complete, thorough, quality-controlled data on the exact usage of the track stating whether it was featured in a program, or listing the exact advertisement the track aired on. Our monitoring systems accurately identify your licensed music in programs, commercials, promos, and trailers with no missed detections or mismatches.

Head to our channel list for the complete list of the channels we monitor 24/7.

Want to get started? Head to your Admin Panel → SourceAudio Detect for pricing and click to sign up!

If you have any problems or questions, please contact us at support@sourceaudio.com

How It Works

SourceAudio Detect works by placing unique watermarks on each of your tracks, which are then detected when a track airs.

We utilize Digimarc‘s industry-best watermarking solution to ensure identification of your music even in very short duration and ultra-heavy mix usage scenarios.

Watermarking vs. Fingerprinting

The watermarking system we employ is the most reliable method for detection available.

Fingerprinting-based solutions require features extracted from the detected audio track to be matched against a database of stored features to determine the identity of the track. These solutions rely on the probability of the match between a piece of audio and what is stored in the database. With SA Detect, a unique, robust, and inaudible digital identity (watermark) is redundantly embedded directly into the audio itself.

Different audio tracks can have similar features (e.g., use the same drum/instrument loops) thus making fingerprinting solutions prone to false positive identification, i.e., confusing one track with another and reporting the wrong track. With SA Detect, there is never any guesswork or doubt about track identity because a truly unique code is woven into the fabric of each audio file that travels with it indefinitely. That code will only reference the true identity given to it by its owner or authorized licensor.

Short Duration and Mixes

Short duration detection and clarity through a hectic mix allows for accurate detection through even the most stubborn industry tropes.

Until now, comprehensive monitoring of production music has been difficult since tracks are often used for very short durations and  in dense “dirty” mixes. These realities present significant identification challenges for prevailing fingerprinting technologies. The watermark that powers SA Detect (Digimarc) was designed for reliable yet speedy detection in noisy conditions, and is therefore well suited to the challenges of monitoring production music. This reliability leads to accurate reports by addressing the uncertainty associated with missed detects and false matches present in other fingerprinting-based solutions.

SA Detect can make a positive identification in as little as 0.2 seconds unlike fingerprinting-based solutions, which typically require at least 5 seconds of audio to begin making accurate detections.

Short duration detection and clarity through a hectic mix allows for accurate detection through even the most stubborn industry tropes.

SA Detect can make a positive identification in as little as 0.2 seconds unlike fingerprinting-based solutions, which typically require at least 5 seconds of audio to begin making accurate detections.

Re-titles

No detection solution can tell the difference between the same re-titled track, but unlike fingerprinting, with SourceAudio Detect different listings can have different watermarks, even if the track audio is exactly the same.

Fingerprinting can never distinguish between two or more re-titled versions of a track because the fingerprint is the same for both. With SA Detect, multiple re-titled versions of the same recording can have their own unique, embedded identifiers, which can reference as many non-exclusive, re-titling distributors as are authorized to license the track.

A System for the Real World

SourceAudio Detect holds up against noise, compression, and other alterations in track fidelity.

The Digimarc technology was designed for robust ambient detection in noisy real-world environments. The robustness has been validated through rigorous tests involving transcoding across multiple file types, “lossy” compression, and low-fi speaker output/microphone capture in high noise conditions. This same robust design easily ensures the reliability required for monitoring production music on broadcast and cable television.

Your Files

The digital watermark code is the only information embedded in your audio file.

The watermark in its simplest explanation is a digital code that indisputably references identifying information such as track title, ownership and/or licensing authority. Since these attributes often change in today’s dynamic music licensing marketplace, they are stored in a database that can be easily updated. This way the watermark can be re-directed as needed to the right copyright owner or payee.

Watermarks are completely inaudible to everyone except the detection software.

Digimarc uses advanced psychoacoustic methods that model the nuances in human hearing and these methods are used to place the watermark inaudibly into the audio track. Double-blind tests with music industry experts – including sound engineers, recording engineers, and producers – confirm that the watermark doesn’t distort the audio.

The watermark encoder supports sample rates of 48k and below.

For the time being, audio with higher sample rates cannot be watermarked. You will receive an error notification with options to either re-upload your files at an acceptable sample rate or for SourceAudio to down-convert your files for you.

Who Should Use SA Detect

Anyone with all the appropriate rights, who are getting or expecting to get placements on our monitored channels should watermark with SA Detect. Only music copyright owners (music labels and publishers) or non-exclusive (retitling) distributors should watermark their owned or represented tracks.

Sub-publishers do not need to re-watermark tracks with their own set of watermarks. Sub-publisher attribution will be obtained from the reference database and does not require separate watermarks.

Creating Watermarked Files

The watermarking process is triggered and goes into action immediately after signing up for Detect from your Admin Panel.

Once you opt-in, all audio files present on your site will be watermarked, as well as all newly uploaded tracks. Encoding newly added tracks to your library is automatic and seamlessly integrated into the process of publishing your audio files and metadata on your SourceAudio site. A progress bar and automated messaging will alert you on the status of encoding as it occurs.

The best way to get watermarked tracks to clients and other third parties is with an FTP or file delivery set up.

For large catalogs, please contact support@sourceaudio.com to set up credentials for downloading your watermarked files using an FTP client such as FileZilla. For all other catalogs, our File Delivery Preset is the way to go. First, go to the “File Delivery” tab in your admin panel and click the button on the right to add a new recipient. In the “Preset” drop-down, select the “Watermarked File Download” preset. Then simply put the recipient’s email address or FTP information in so we know where to deliver the files. Lastly, select the content you want to deliver and you’re good to go!

Viewing Detections

Upon enrolling in Detect, access broadcast monitoring reports within your Admin Panel. Just go to the “SourceAudio Detect” tab where you signed up.

Your reports are available through a convenient, interactive dashboard with useful drill-down capabilities, intuitive sort and view functionality, and options for quickly and easily exporting reports into common formats.

Reports provide the date, time, and name of the program (i.e., episode, film, or sports event) your music occurred in, as well as the broadcast, cable or local channel that aired it. If your music was used in a commercial within a program, the name of that commercial will be identified as well. Commercials include brand advertisements, station promos, and theatrical film trailers.

Real-time data comes in continuously, while detailed data comes in in weekly increments.

Track detection and program-level data are updated in real-time. For example, if your music is detected today in an episode of a television series, that detection will appear in your report as it occurs along with the corresponding show title and episode title.

Commercial level data, including names of ads, promos, and movie trailers, is updated weekly. If the aforementioned detection actually occurred within a commercial spot within that TV episode, you will see this additional identifying information in your reports when you check back a week later.

As you distribute your watermarked tracks to licensees and those watermarked tracks hit the air, detections will come in instantly.

Watermarking inherently involves adding new information to your audio files. As such, newly watermarked music must be distributed to program producers, synched in their programming, and that programming aired before detections can occur.

Head to your Admin Panel → SourceAudio Detect for pricing info and click to sign up!