Media & Entertainment AI agent · Cue sheets
Music Cue-Sheet & PRO-Submission AI Agent
Build the cue sheet from the locked cut and the music documentation, resolve every work, writer and share by identifier, and hold the sheet for the music supervisor who certifies it before filing.
- Typical delivery
- 4–6 weeks
- Deployment
- Your stack
- Human certifies
- Before filing
- After launch
- Agent Care
What this agent does
Builds the sheet, not the decision to file
In
- 01
A cut is locked, and the cue list is read from the conformed EDL and the music editor's notes.
- 02
A cue is placed, and it resolves to a work by identifier, never by a title string two works share.
Reason
- 03
A cue is timed to the second from the conform, and the society's rate-class threshold is tested.
- 04
A cue is classified against the society's published usage definitions — feature, background, theme or logo.
- 05
A cue's writers and publishers are carried by IPI, and the shares are read from the executed agreement.
Decide
- 06
A cue whose shares do not sum, or whose split moved after the deal memo, is held back with a written reason.
- 07
A cue sheet is rendered to the format the receiving society accepts, per territory of exhibition.
Out
- 08
A cue is retained with what it was built from — the locked cut, the licences and the agreement behind it.
- 09
Execute write actions only inside the approval boundaries agreed during implementation.
Product statement
The agent builds and reconciles; a music supervisor certifies the sheet, and the distributor stays the party contractually obliged to file it.
Example workflow
One cue sheet, cut to certification
- 1Locked cut receivedConformed EDL, music editor's notes, licences and composer agreements
- 2Cues resolvedWorks, writers, publishers and identifiers, each with the document it came from
- 3Sheet builtWork, usage type, duration, shares and confidence
- 4Controls appliedShare-sum checks, identifier checks, rate-class threshold checks and confidence threshold
No human action required
Stages 1 to 4 run unaided, and nothing is filed at any of them — the agent is building, and the supervisor's lane opens at the confidence gate.
Goes to the music supervisor to certify.
Adds a music clearance read first.
Supervisor certification
The sheet is held with its documentation, its flagged cues and the confidence.
Certify · Amend · Send to music clearance
Certified — released to file
- 6Music systems updatedOnly where write access and approval policy allow it
- 7Outcome evaluatedAmendments, society queries, distribution timing and adjustment claims raised
Amendments
Every supervisor amendment is counted, including one made after the sheet was filed.
What should not run autonomously
Human approval stays in control
Outside the boundary — human approval required
8 items
- Filing or transmitting a cue sheet to a society.
- Certifying that a cue sheet is true and complete.
- Deciding the usage class where the picture is ambiguous.
- Agreeing or amending writer and publisher shares.
Automation boundary
Agent acts unaided
- ✓Build the cue list from the locked cut and the documentation.
- ✓Resolve each cue to a work, its writers and its publishers.
- ✓Time cues from the conform and test the rate-class threshold.
- ✓Flag discrepancies with a stated reason, and hold the sheet.
Any write happens inside the boundaries agreed at implementation, never ahead of certification.
- Raising an adjustment claim with a society.
- Clearing, licensing or re-licensing a piece of music.
- Accepting a delivery deadline for the production.
- Changes to resolution, usage or approval rules.
Example output
One cue on the sheet, annotated
Everything the agent builds is attached to the documentation it was drawn from.
Cue-sheet output · single cue
Illustrative example- Programme
- Episodic drama
- Cue
- Opening title music, resolved by identifier to the work
- Usage type
- Theme, visual instrumental
- Source of record
- Locked cut and cue notes
- Confidence
- 93%
- Shares
- Writer and publisher, from the agreement
As received
Taken from the locked cut and the executed agreements on file — nothing on this side is written by the agent.
Documentation used
- Conformed EDL
- Composer agreement
- Sync licence on file
Why this usage type
It is the music that identifies the programme at its opening and a person still decides.
What the score decides
Below the configured threshold the sheet picks up a music clearance read before it.
Action
CertifyAmendSend to music clearanceValue
Where AI adds value
The same four claims, placed at the point in the workflow where each one applies.
Where the value lands
Value 01 – 04
Every cue
From the locked cut
Build from the conformed picture
Read the cues that actually aired, and emit the society template alongside CISAC's AVR+ — published 18 June 2026 on Global Cue Sheet Standard 2.0, and still unproven.
No cue sheet, no payment
Performance royalties for audiovisual works are distributed from the cue sheet. There is no other trigger for a broadcast or streaming performance.
Put the clocks where they bite
The delivery agreement sets the filing clock and the society sets the quarterly cut-off. One major PRO also publishes an absolute bar on adjustment claims, running from receipt rather than discovery; no other society publishes an equivalent, and none should be assumed.
Build an evidence trail
The cue, the documentation it was built from and the supervisor who certified stay on the sheet.
Integrations
Typical integrations
Five system groups connect to the same agent. Which of them are in scope is decided in discovery.
Post and editorial
- Conform EDL and AAF
- Music editor's cue notes
Music and clearance
- Clearance and licence logs
- Library and sync confirmations
Society submission
- ASCAP
- BMI template
- CISAC AVR
- AVI
- AVR+
Agent
Cue sheets & PRO submission
- Reads the cut
- Builds the sheet
- Holds for certification
Rights and royalties
- Publishing administration
- Royalty statement systems
Observability & evaluation
- OpenTelemetry
- Langfuse
- Supported monitoring/evaluation sources
Integration availability depends on the client's existing systems and API access.
Agent controls
What sits between the model and a filed sheet
Six layers between the model and the sheet. What passes them all is set out in the map below.
L6 · Outermost — last line of defence
Inward → L1 · closest to the model
- L1 – L2
- Test whether a cue may stand
- L3
- Puts the certification in a person's hands
- L4 – L5
- Keep the cue and the documentation behind it
- L6
- Falls back to cue listing when signals degrade
How Nestack evaluates it
Evaluate the reconciliation workflow — not only the finished sheet.
Coverage runs the whole depth of the workflow, and every layer is cut by slice.
Surface — the sheet the society ingests
- E1Final-output evaluationDid every cue on the sheet appear in the conformed picture?
- E2Step-level evaluationDid the agent use the locked cut, the licences and the agreements?
- E3Tool evaluationDid it read the correct conform and write the correct society format?
- E4Confidence calibrationDo low-confidence cues actually attract more supervisor amendments?
- E5Slice evaluationHow does performance change across specific cue types?
- E6Business outcomeHow many cues needed an amendment, or an adjustment claim after filing?
Floor — the payment the composer receives
Failure modes
Where each failure originates in the agent
Seven failure modes, placed at the stage each one originates.
Agent lifecycle
Direction of processing →
01 · Retrieval
1 mode
- YQ-03
Superseded cut read
The cue list comes from a pre-conform version.
Stage gathers
Conform, cue notes, licences and agreements
02 · Reasoning
2 modes
- YQ-04
Usage class defaulted
A cue is scored background and nobody is asked.
- YQ-06
Share read from deal memo
An amendment to the split is never applied.
Stage proposes
Work, usage type, duration, shares and confidence
03 · Tool / write
2 modes
- YQ-02
Build taken as filing
A built sheet is treated as a filed sheet.
- YQ-05
Cue entered twice
One cue appears on the sheet in two rows.
Stage writes
Only where write access and approval policy allow it
04 · Output
1 mode
- YQ-01
Cue never resolved
A work, writer or publisher is left unidentified.
Stage returns
The sheet the society ingests and pays against
05 · Change / Version
1 mode
- YQ-07
Silent format drift
A model or format change alters what is emitted.
Stage tracks
Model, prompt, resolution rules and society formats
- Sev-1 · a sheet files past the boundary
- Sev-2 · a wrong cue reaches a distribution
- Sev-3 · source degrades, cue routes to review
Affected slices
No society publishes a cue-sheet error rate
A series-level resolution rate is published by no society, trade body or academic source, and the figures in circulation are vendors' own. Nestack reports the unresolved-cue rate by slice on your slate, not only in total.
Slice performance — reported separately, not only in aggregate
Illustrative example| Slice | Failure rate | Lift | Lift vs. threshold | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Library and production music | 6.8% | 3.6× | Review | |
| Late clearance replacements | 4.7% | 2.5× | Review | |
| Source cues under dialogue | 3.2% | 1.7× | Watch | |
| Recurring episodic underscore | 1.4% | 0.7× | Normal |
Bar: unresolved-cue-rate lift vs. recurring-underscore baseline · scale 0–4.0× · tick marks the 2.0× review threshold
2 of 4 slices over threshold
Evidence-linked improvement
A cycle is not closed by an explanation
A cycle ends when the unresolved cue is a case the next release has to catch. That suite is what the next sheet filed is measured against.
Improvement cycle · five stages
Switchback — the path turns at Improve and returns at Learn
- 01
Detect
Unresolved-cue rate rises in a cue slice.
- 02
Diagnose
The cue nobody could resolve, and the composer nobody paid, is traced back to the library ID that was keyed by hand.
- 03
Improve
The change leaves with a version, and the cues that found it attached.
- 04
Verify
Every touched cue case runs again, and one fail stops the release.
- 05
Learn
It is held permanently, and the cue rules shift alongside it.
Learn → Detect
The return edge. The next detection runs against a suite one unresolved-cue case longer.
Typical build scope
Twelve workstreams across six weeks
The build scope read against the delivery timeline. Week structure follows the six-week plan — discovery, sources, reconciliation workflow, evaluation, integration, then production validation and handover.
Workstream
Week 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6
- 01Cue-sheet workflow discovery and boundary work.Week 1
- 02Post and music source review.Week 1, Week 2
- 03Society format, usage class and share-rule mapping.Week 1, Week 2
- 04Conform ingestion and cue extraction.Week 2
- 05Work resolution and share binding.Week 2, Week 3
- 06Confidence scoring and flag routing.Week 3
- 07Supervisor certification workflow.Week 3, Week 4
- 08Music and society-system integration.Week 5
- 09Resolution and share cases.Week 4, Week 5
- 10Guardrails and filing controls.Week 4
- 11Cue-trail instrumentation.Week 5, Week 6
- 12Deployment, documentation and Agent Care handover.Week 6
12 workstreams · 6 weeks · bar shows the weeks a workstream is active — several run in parallel
Final scope and sequence confirmed in discovery
Engagement tiers
What each tier includes
Rows are the capabilities named in each tier's scope. Higher tiers include everything below them.
| Capability✓ in scope · — not at this tier | PilotOne series, one society | ProductionProduction music systems | AdvancedMultiple territories / societies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Introduced at Pilot | |||
| Sheets built to your documentation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Supervisor certification | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cue-resolution baseline | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Introduced at Production | |||
| Reporting by series | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Approval workflow in your systems | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Approved write-back | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Post and music-system integration | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Introduced at Advanced | |||
| Multi-society format sets | — | — | ✓ |
| Multi-stage clearance approvals | — | — | ✓ |
| High cue volume | — | — | ✓ |
| Multi-society submission controls | — | — | ✓ |
| Build price | From $5,000 | From $8,000 | Custom quote |
- Final build price
- Confirmed after discovery based on integrations, workflow complexity, transaction volume, approval controls and deployment requirements.
- Separate from build
- Build pricing is separate from recurring Agent Care, which covers managed monitoring, evaluations, incidents and verified improvements after launch.
What we need from you
What you bring, and what we build with it
Each input maps to a piece of build scope and a week in the delivery timeline.
You bring
We build with it
01Your delivery agreements and their filing clocks
→Conform ingestion and cue extraction
Week 102Cue sheets you have already filed
→Resolution baseline and share-binding checks
Week 203Your composer agreements, licences and library terms
→Society format, usage class and share-rule mapping
Week 104Access to relevant APIs, feeds or exports
→Post and music source assessment, then integration setup
Week 205Sheets you would not want filed
→Adjustment cases and failure-mode testing
Week 406What no cue may be filed without
→Confidence scoring, flag routing, guardrails and filing controls
Week 307Named supervisors to certify the sheet
→Supervisor certification workflow, then pilot and production validation
Weeks 5–6
Nothing else is required
Deployment, documentation and Agent Care handover are ours.
Delivery timeline
Four phases across six weeks
Bands are drawn from the delivery calendar, which is why the fifth holds two phases.
Phase
W1
W2
W3
W4
W5
W6
- DiscoveryW1
- BuildW2 – W3
- EvaluateW4 – W5
- Pilot & LaunchW5 – W6
Week focus
W1Cue-sheet workflow discovery, rule mapping and the automation boundary
W2Post and music integration and the resolution baseline
W3Reconciliation workflow, confidence logic and filing controls
W4Evaluation suite, share and threshold checks and failure-mode testing
W5Society-format integration, pilot episodes and targeted corrections
W6One delivery season run under the music supervisor, then Agent Care handover
- Reading the band
- Each bar covers only the weeks its work is named in. The week 5 overlap is real work, not padding.
- At the end of W6
- With the season validated, the running agent passes to Agent Care.
- Duration
- Six-week plan shown · typical delivery 4–6 weeks depending on scope confirmed in discovery.
Next step · Media & Entertainment AI agent
Build a cue-sheet agent around the documentation the sheet rests on.
Show us your conform, your music documentation and who certifies. Not a payment delayed — a payment extinguished: one major PRO publishes an absolute bar on adjustment claims that runs from receipt, not from discovery.
- Typical delivery
- 4–6 weeks
- Deployment
- Your post and music stack
- Human certifies
- Before filing
- After launch
- Agent Care available
Nestack Agents · Music cue sheets
AGT-ME-17 · Agent Care available after launch