The Musical Form Institute

Independent certification for sound recordings

Beyond fidelity to the signal
Fidelity to the act

Each submitted recording is independently reviewed against a published standard, and every certified recording is listed in a public registry.

Recently certified

Choose a cover to listen.

View the full registry

Submit your recording

What you hear took lifetimes. We make that labor visible.

The Certificate of Embodied Production certifies recordings made without grid correction, pitch correction, or generative AI used to create, supply, replace, or reconstruct musical or lyrical content.

A YouTube Music album link works best (music.youtube.com, Share, Copy link). Only on Bandcamp or Subvert? Paste that link.

By default, your recording will not be sent to a third-party AI-content screening service.

What does this mean?

Preliminary review will proceed without routine AI screening. If the recording advances, certification will rely on your signed attestation. If an analyst determines that AI screening is needed to complete the review, we will contact you and explain why before anything is submitted. Your recording will not be sent for AI screening without your permission. If you decline, MFI may be unable to complete certification. Uncheck this option if you permit routine third-party AI-content screening as part of preliminary review.

Not on streaming yet? Upload your master

Your first two submissions are free.

After your first two submissions (singles, EPs or LPs, or any combination), $2 per song, invoiced before analysis. Payment is for the analysis and does not guarantee certification.

What certification gives a recording

Each certified song gets a public registry entry, a signed certificate, access to the certification mark, and a card to share. These examples use actual certified recordings.

A card to share

Social Kit
The certificate for The Red-Headed Man by The Daniil Kharms, CEP-000049

A signed certificate

For The Red-Headed Man by The Daniil Kharms, CEP-000049: a signed PDF for each certified song, sent to the artist.

Its registry entry
Certificate of Embodied Production certification mark

The certification mark

For the certified release, its Bandcamp page, and the artist’s posts.

Badge kit

How music is made shapes how we live together

Submit your recording

Questions? Email us or read the FAQ.