The present invention relates to deriving and utilizing content signatures. A content signature is a representation of a content item, which is derived from the content item itself. According to the invention, a method of generating a content signature for a signal is provided. The method includes the steps of: i) dividing the signal into at least one set; ii) transforming the set into a frequency-based domain; iii) determining features of the transformed set; and iv) grouping the features so as to form a content signature of the set.