TheInternational Standard Recording Code (ISRC) is an international standard code for uniquely identifying sound recordings and music video recordings. The code was developed by the recording industry in conjunction with theISOtechnical committee 46, subcommittee 9 (TC 46/SC 9), which codified the standard asISO 3901 in 1986, and updated it in 2001.
An ISRC identifies a particularrecording, not the work (composition and lyrical content) itself. Therefore, different recordings, edits, and remixes of the same work should each have their own ISRC. Works are identified byISWC. Recordingsremastered or revised in other ways are usually assigned a new ISRC.[1]
ISO 3901 was completed in 1986. In 1988, theIFPI recommended that its member companies adopt ISRCs for music videos. In 1989, the ISO designated the IFPI as theregistration authority for ISRCs. The IFPI, in turn, delegated part of the administration of ISRCs to several dozen national agencies, which allocate ISRCs to bothrecord companies and individuals.[2] The national agencies began assigning ISRCs for music videos in August 1989.
The Japanese recording industry began encoding ISRCs onaudio CDs in November 1989. The IFPI and theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA) then developed detailed recommendations for this practice, and for ISRC assignment in general. The IFPI adopted the recommendations in March 1991 and they went into effect for IFPI members on 1 January 1992.
ISRC codes are always 12 characters long, in the form "CC-XXX-YY-NNNNN". The hyphens are not part of the ISRC code itself, but codes are often presented that way in print to make them easier to read. The four parts are as follows:[3]
Example:
A recording of the song "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" by American composerKevin MacLeod has been allocated the ISRC code USUAN1400011:
ISRC may be embedded in most file formats asmetadata. Example formats include MP3, M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGG, and WAV for audio and MP4, M4V, or MKV for video.[7]
Metadata formats are not generally interchangeable as format converters may fail to translate the data. As a result, it is recommended to perform the embedding separately for each format.
The provision of ISRCs is overseen by appointednational ISRC agencies. These national ISRC agencies issue codes directly to the public and may also utilize authorized ISRC Managers to issue ISRCs. In the United States, the appointed agency isRIAA. ISRC codes can be obtained in large blocks directly from RIAA for an administrative fee ($95 at time of this publication), in quantities as little as 1 fromISRC.com ($2-$5), or in conjunction with other music-related services from other authorized ISRC managers.[8] In territories where there is no national ISRC agency, users can obtain ISRC codes directly from IFPI or fromISRC.com,Quansic andSound Credit.[9]
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ISRC (P1243) (seeuses)