International Standard Recording Code

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The International 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 the ISO technical committee 46, subcommittee 9 (TC 46/SC 9), which codified the standard
as ISO 3901 in 1986, and updated it in 2001.

An ISRC identifies a particular recording, 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 by ISWC. Recordings remastered without significant audio-quality changes should retain their
existing ISRC, but the threshold is left to the discretion of the record company.

Contents
1 History
2 Format
3 Embedding ISRC in files
4 Obtaining ISRCs
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

History
ISO 3901 was finished in 1986. In 1988, the IFPI recommended that its member companies adopt ISRCs for
music videos. In 1989, the ISO designated the IFPI as the registration authority for ISRCs. The IFPI, in turn,
delegated part of the administration of ISRCs to several dozen national agencies, which allocate ISRCs to both
record companies and individuals.[1] The national agencies began assigning ISRC codes for music videos in
August 1989.

The Japanese recording industry began encoding ISRCs on audio CDs in November 1989. The IFPI and the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) then developed detailed recommendations for this practice,
as well as 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.

Format
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:

"CC" is the appropriate two-character country code for the ISRC issuer. The code is assigned according
to the ISO 3166-1-Alpha-2 standard. (High demand for ISRCs within the United States has caused the
supply of available registrant codes to become exhausted; after December 6, 2010, new registrants in the
U.S. use country code "QM".[2] The codes "CP", and "DG" are reserved for further overflow, and "ZZ" is
reserved for codes assigned by the International ISRC Agency.[3])
"XXX" is a three character alphanumeric registrant code of the ISRC issuer. (This number by itself does
NOT uniquely identify the ISRC issuer as the same 3-digit number may be used in various countries for
different issuers. To uniquely identify an issuer, the country code and registrant code should be used
together.)
 "YY" represent the last two digits of the reference year the year that the ISRC was assigned to the
recording. This is not necessarily the date the recording was made.
"NNNNN" is a 5-digit number that identifies the particular sound or video recording, unique within the
scope of the reference year.

An example, a recording of the song "Crazy Eyes" by the American duo Daryl Hall & John Oates has been
allocated the ISRC code USRC17607839:

US for United States

RC1 for RCA
76 for 1976
07839 is the unique id identifying this particular recording

The Red Book standard recommends the encoding of ISRCs onto CDs.

Embedding ISRC in files

The standard for the ID3v2.2 tag, that was designed for use in MP3 files, and was published on March 1998,
defined a way to embed ISRC in a 'TSRC' frame.

On August 2012, the European Broadcasting Union published a specification for embedding ISRC in Broadcast
Wave Format.

Obtaining ISRCs
The provision of ISRCs is overseen by appointed national 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 is RIAA. 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 from ISRC.net, or in conjunction
with other music-related services from other authorized ISRC managers.[4] In territories where there is no
national ISRC agency, users can obtain ISRC codes directly from IFPI or from ISRC.net.

See also
Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN), a 10-character alphanumeric unique identifier assigned
by Amazon.com and its partners for product identification within the Amazon organization
Global Release Identifier (GRid), a unique identifier for musical releases
International Article Number or EAN-13 (also known as European Article Number) the Media Catalog
Number code stored on an audio CD
International Standard Book Number (ISBN), a similar unique identifier for books
International Standard Musical Work Code (ISWC), a unique identifier for musical works such as songs
Universal Product Code (UPC), Universal Product Code

References
1. Resources ISRC Handbook (incorporating the ISRC Practical Guide) s321 (http://www.ifpi.org/conte
nt/library/isrc_handbook.pdf#Heading321)
2. http://www.ifpi.org/content/library/isrc_bulletin-2010-02.pdf
3. http://www.ifpi.org/content/library/isrc_bulletin-2012-01.pdf
4. "List of Approved ISRC Managers" (https://www.usisrc.org/managers/index.html). Recording Industry
Association of America. Retrieved April 15, 2014.

External links
 ISO 3901:2001
The International Standard Recording Code at Recording Industry Association of America's Website.
ISRC registration authority

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