What Are ISRC Codes for Music CD Manufacturing?

At CDwest.ca we have seen a large increase in clients who are creating their own Master Content and Masters, and many questions arise about ISRC Codes. For example, "What are they?" "Where do I get them?" "How do I add them to my songs?" etc.

Some answers:

The ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is the international identification system for sound recordings and music video recordings.

Each ISRC is a unique and permanent identifier for a specific recording which can be permanently encoded into a product as its digital fingerprint. Encoded ISRC provide the means to automatically identify recordings for royalty payments.

The ISRC system is the key to royalty collection for recordings in the digital information age. ISRC is a unique, reliable, international identification system. ISRC provides a unique tool for the purpose of rights administration. ISRC is a useful identification tool in the electronic distribution of music. ISRC coding is compatible with standards developed in the field of consumer electronics and is readable by hardware already used in the recording industry.

ISRC is cost effective - it can be put into operation without requiring special investment in equipment or technologies. The ISRC consists of twelve characters:

• Country (2 characters)
• Registrant (3 characters)
• Year of reference (2 digits)
• Designation (5 digits)

Important: The four elements should be separated by hyphens and the letters ISRC should always precede an ISRC code.

ISRC Elements

• The code elements appear in the following order:
• Country Code: represented by two letters eg (CA) which identifies the country of residence of the registrant at the time the ISRC is allocated.
• Registrant Code: represented by three digits eg (AA2) assigned in sequence from the AVLA database that are unique for each record label/master owner. This code does not change if ownership of the recording changes or if licensed to another repertoire owner.
• Year of Reference: represented by two numbers eg (08) identifies the year in which the ISRC is allocated to the recording which will usually be the year in which the full mastering process for the recording is finalized.
• Designation Code: five digits assigned by the producer/owner as they choose eg (00001).

[READ MORE - additional information and where to get ISRC in Canada]

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