ISRC in one paragraph
ISRC stands for International Standard Recording Code, defined in the ISO 3901 standard. Each one identifies a single recording — not a song, not an album, but one specific recording of one performance. When Spotify reports a stream, YouTube matches a video or a collection society logs a radio play, the ISRC is what ties that use back to your recording.
How an ISRC is built
Every ISRC has twelve characters, usually written with hyphens for readability:
| Part | Example | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Country code | SE | The country of the registrant that issued the code — not where the recording was made |
| Registrant code | 5DA | Three characters identifying the organisation that issued it |
| Year | 26 | The year the code was assigned, not the year the recording was made |
| Designation | 00123 | Five digits, unique within that registrant and year |
When a track needs a new ISRC — and when it must keep its old one
The rule is simple: one recording, one ISRC, for life.
Keep the same ISRC when
- A single comes out again on an EP or an album
- You re-release the same recording with new artwork or on a new date
- You move your catalogue to a different distributor
Use a new ISRC when
- The audio is different: a remix, a radio edit, an extended mix, an acoustic or live version
- The recording has been remastered and the new master is meant to be told apart from the old
- It is a different performance of the same song, even by the same artist
Getting this wrong costs money. Two different recordings sharing a code merge their plays and their royalties; one recording with two codes splits its history in two, and stores treat it as a new track with no streams, no playlists and no saves.
ISRC, UPC and ISWC: three codes, three jobs
| Code | Identifies | Who needs it |
|---|---|---|
| ISRC | A recording (one track) | Every track on every release |
| UPC | A release (the single, EP or album as a product) | Every release |
| ISWC | A composition (the song as written) | Songwriters and publishers, through collection societies |
The ISRC pays the people behind the recording; the ISWC pays the people who wrote the song. A cover version has a new ISRC — it is a new recording — but the same ISWC as the original song. Composition royalties are collected through publishing administration.
How to get an ISRC
You can register as an ISRC registrant with your country's national agency and issue your own codes, but most independent artists never need to. Distributors issue them as part of a release.
On TempoDigital, ISRCs are free and unlimited: the platform creates one for each new track when you build a release. If your tracks already have codes from an earlier release, enter those instead — that is what keeps their streams and playlists attached when you switch distributors.
Never invent an ISRC or copy one from another track. A code that belongs to someone else sends your royalties to them.
Where to find the ISRC of a track you have released
- In your distributor account, on the release's track list — on TempoDigital, beside each track
- In the metadata sheet or delivery confirmation from whoever released it first
- From the label or distributor that released it, if it was not you
Keep a list of your ISRCs with the titles and versions they belong to. It is the single most useful document in a catalogue.