About
1. If you have applied as a rights owner, you should only use
your Registrant Code to assign ISRCs for recordings that you own. If you are
working on behalf of someone else, you cannot use this Registrant Code, and you
should ask the owner of the recordings to apply for a Registrant Code
themselves so that they can assign ISRCs.
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Separate arrangements are available where you can get a Registrant Code for use
with other people's recordings (see above ISRC Manager information)
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We also have provisions in place to allow for the assignment of ISRCs for
content that you license. This is available only for licensees who have tried
to, but cannot, obtain an ISRC from the licensor.
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If you have applied as a non-rights owner, you may refer to the guidelines you
reviewed prior to being allocated your Registrant Code. This rule does not
apply.
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Additional details can be obtained by making an inquiry to:
isrc@riaa.com
2. An ISRC should remain with its recording for the life of the
recording regardless of changes in ownership, licensing, territory or method of
distribution. The rights may vary territory by territory but the ISRC remains
the same.
3. You should take particular care to ensure that you (i) never
assign the same ISRC to two different recordings and (ii) never assign an ISRC
to a recording that already has an ISRC issued.
4. You should keep good records of the ISRCs that you assign
using this/these code(s). As a minimum you should store the information
necessary to distinguish one ISRC from another but you will probably find that
you need much more than this for your own purposes.
5. Although you do not need to inform us of the ISRCs that you
assign, we recommend that you register the recordings and their ISRCs with the
local performance rights organization that deals with sound and/or video
recordings (as distinct from the organization that deals with songwriters
rights - who you may also want to contact if you are the songwriter). In the
US, this organization is Soundexchange. This should help you if you are
eligible for royalties from public performances, for example on satellite
radio.
6. You should review the ISRC Handbook and other information on
the ISRC web site at www.ifpi.org/isrc,
and you should be very careful to comply with all the ISRC rules. New
information is posted to that site from time to time and you should look for
it.
7. You should comply with the relevant copyright law. Normally
this will require you to have permission for the owner for any recorded
material included in your recording.
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