Overview#

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

Each International Standard Recording Code is a Unique Identifier and permanent identifier for a specific recording, independent of the format on which it appears (CD, audio file, etc) or the rights holders involved. Only one International Standard Recording Code should be issued to a track, and an International Standard Recording Code can never represent more than one unique recording.

ISRCs are widely used in digital commerce by download sites and collecting societies. An ISRC can also be permanently encoded into a product as its digital fingerprint. Encoded ISRC provide the means to automatically identify recordings for royalty payments.

International Standard Recording Code consists of 4 segments:

• COUNTRY CODE: The two characters allocated to you by the US ISRC Agency (US, QM or QZ). (These are ISO 3166-1 alpha-2)
• REGISTRANT CODE: Portion allocated to the Registrant by a National Agency (3 alphanumeric characters).
• YEAR OF REFERENCE: The 2-digit year in which the ISRC was assigned to the recording.
• DESIGNATION CODE: The code assigned to the sound recording by the registrant. This code may not be repeated within the same calendar year (5 digits).

Example: ISRC US-_ _ _-18-00001 (QM-_ _ _-18-00001) (QZ-_ _ _-18-00001)

More Information#

There might be more information for this subject on one of the following:

• ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
• ISO 3901
• ISRC