About ISRC

Obtaining Codes

If you are the Rights Owner of the recording…

Recording Rights Owners have two options to assign their own codes:

1. Rights Owner Code Pack – A Rights Owner Code Pack is a block of unique ISRCs that our system assigns to you. These unique codes are yours for life and and should be assigned to recordings owned by you. A Code Pack is recommended for rights owners releasing less than about 200 recordings per year (i.e., small labels, bands and individual artists).
2. Rights Owner Prefix – A Rights Owner Prefix allows the recording rights owner the ability to assign almost unlimited numbers of ISRCs (up to 100,000 ISRCs per year) to recordings that they own or control. A Rights Owner prefix would be recommended for labels releasing more than 200 recordings per year.

You may alternatively find it convenient to use the services of an ISRC Manager to assign codes on your behalf.

If you are NOT the Rights Owner of the recording…

If you need to obtain ISRCs for recordings owned by others, including those owned by clients, independent artists and people licensing to you, you should normally get the necessary ISRCs from the recording owner. Do not assign a second ISRC to the recording as this can cause problems in getting paid.

There are two instances in which an ISRC may be assigned by someone other than the recording owner:

• ISRCs can be assigned as a service, typically by studios and distributors. If you are thinking about assigning ISRCs for other people, you should become an ISRC Manager. Please read about our ISRC Manager scheme.
• If you need ISRCs for recordings you are licensing from other and cannot obtain ISRCs from them, please contact us for advice at isrc@riaa.com

ISRC Managers can assign ISRCs to recordings that they do not own. They typically do this as a service to their clients and are allowed to charge a fee for it. All ISRC Managers must confirm their intent to follow a set of procedures designed to avoid duplicate assignment and to respect the rights of the recording owner.

In particular, ISRC Managers must:

• ensure that an ISRC has not already been assigned for each track;
• only assign ISRC(s) as a value added service provided to the rights holder alongside other services such as recording, mastering, distribution or aggregation (unless otherwise agreed with the US ISRC Agency);
• ensure that they have specific permission from the recording rights holders to issue ISRCs on their behalf; and
• inform the rights holders of the ISRCs assigned on their behalf.
• There are two tiers of ISRC managers, depending on the type of business and expected volume of ISRC assignment:
• Low Volume ISRC Manager This is a solution for studios, engineers and producers who wish to assign ISRCs both to recordings that they own and to recordings owned by a small number of clients.Low Volume ISRC Managers may assign codes for themselves (for any recordings they own) and in limited volumes as a value-added service, typically for clients that use an ISRC Manager’s studio services to create their sound recording. A Low Volume ISRC Manager is limited to issuing 13,000 ISRCs per year, and the annual fee for this permission is scaled, depending on the number of ISRCs assigned each year.

• High Volume ISRC Manager High Volume ISRC Managers are typically online aggregators and digital distribution companies who wish to assign ISRCs as a value-added service for their clients.High Volume ISRC Managers may hold several Registrant Codes to allow them to assign over 100,000 codes per year.

The annual fee is determined by the number of codes that can be assigned in a year. We aim to keep this fee fair and equitable, and we try to ensure that it does not act as a prohibitive barrier for any organization.

Unless specifically agreed with the US ISRC Agency, ISRC Managers may not sell codes as stand alone units/services. Rather, they may only be assigned in connection with other value-added services necessary for the creation, content aggregation or distribution of music. ISRC Managers may be required to provide evidence (i.e. description of offerings, marketing materials or other similar information reasonably requested by the US ISRC Agency) of the value-added services they are providing in connection with codes assigned to others. If you wish to become an ISRC Manager or if you have questions, please apply here.