ISRC

An ISRC identifies a recording — not a song, not a release, one specific recorded performance. It is the identifier the entire recording side of the industry reports against, from streaming statements to chart registration to neighbouring-rights collection.

The code is twelve characters in four parts: a two-character country code for the registrant, a three-character registrant code identifying who assigned it, a two-digit year of reference, and a five-digit designation code that the registrant allocates. It is normally written with hyphens for readability — the hyphens are presentational and not part of the code itself.

The rule that causes the most trouble is the one about when to assign a new code. Each distinct recording gets its own ISRC, permanently. A radio edit, an instrumental, a live version, a remix and a remaster are all separate recordings and each takes a new code. The same recording reused on a single, an album and a compilation keeps the one code it was given. Codes are never reused for a different recording, and an ISRC once issued stays with that recording even if ownership changes.

Codes are issued through national ISRC agencies to registrants, who then allocate their own designation codes. Distributors and labels commonly assign them on the artist's behalf, which is convenient and worth checking: it means the registrant code in your catalogue may belong to a company you later leave.

An ISRC is not a UPC and not an ISWC. The UPC identifies the release as a product; the ISWC identifies the underlying composition. Linking recordings to compositions — ISRC to ISWC — is what allows composition income from streaming to be matched to the right writers, and is where a large share of unmatched royalties originates.