The International Standard Recording Code

ISRC International Agency Bulletin 2006/02
Access to ISRC Registrant Codes

6 April 2006

The International ISRC Agency reminds National ISRC Agencies that they should not normally disclose Registrant Codes to third parties.

The Registrant Code is the element of the ISRC which is assigned by the National ISRC Agency to the entity that wishes to allocate ISRCs to recordings. Its role is to ensure that every allocated ISRC is unique, without the need for a central database of allocated ISRCs.

The Registrant Code does not have any significance once the ISRC has been allocated. The ISRC Handbook states:

...when the [ISRC] code is being used, it is the whole [code] that represents the sound or music video recording and no significance should be accorded to any one element. In particular, the Registrant Code cannot be assumed to identify a current rights owner as the recording may have changed hands since code allocation.

It is unhelpful to allow third parties access to records of assigned Registrant Codes as this will tend to reinforce a false perception that the current owner of a recording can be inferred from the Registrant Code that was used when the ISRC was allocated.

However, National ISRC Agencies should obviously respond to legitimate court orders and if there are circumstances where they feel that disclosure of the identity of a Registrant would be beneficial, they should approach the International ISRC Agency for assistance.