From our indie music corner:

What is the ISRC?

The ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is the international identification system for sound recordings and music video recordings. Each ISRC is a unique and permanent identifier for a specific recording which can be permanently encoded into a product as its digital fingerprint. Encoded ISRC provide the means to automatically identify recordings for royalty payments.

The ISRC system is the key to royalty collection for recordings in the digital information age. ISRC is a unique, reliable, international identification system. ISRC provides a unique tool for the purpose of rights administration. ISRC is a useful identification tool in the electronic distribution of music. ISRC coding is compatible with standards developed in the field of consumer electronics and is readable by hardware already used in the recording industry.

ISRC is cost effective - it can be put into operation without requiring special investment in equipment or technologies. The ISRC consists of twelve characters representing country (2 characters), registrant (3 characters), year of reference (2 digits) and designation (5 digits). It is divided into four elements separated by hyphens and the letters ISRC should always precede an ISRC code.

Please note however, that ISRC codes on a CD are of limited usefulness.  Only in Europe will you find ISRC codes used to track plays in radio stations.  In North America we use ISRC codes to track digital sales in places like iTunes, but distributors such as CDbaby, Tunecore and others will strip your ISRC codes and use their own.  So before you rush off and add ISRC codes, make sure your distributor uses your codes and not their own. 

YOU CAN GET YOURS HERE : 

USA 

CANADA

If you need more info call 1-800-557-3347

We are always happy to assist -

CDman : Delivering Media Merch Solutions since 1991