What Is an ISRC Code?

Example code: US-S1Z-26-00001, written without dashes as USS1Z2600001. Rules from the US ISRC Agency’s guidance, checked October 2026.

What is an ISRC code?

Take a song called Hello. Adele has one, Lionel Richie has one, Evanescence has one, and so do thousands of others. Titles and artist names are a poor way to tell recordings apart, and the same song can exist as an album version, a radio edit and a live take.

An ISRC solves that. It is a unique and permanent code attached to one recording. No two recordings share an ISRC, and the code stays with the recording whatever format it appears on: stream, download or CD. When a service reports plays, it reports them against the ISRC, which is far more reliable than matching artist and title.

ISRC meaning: International Standard Recording Code

ISRC stands for International Standard Recording Code. It is an ISO standard (ISO 3901), first published in 1986. The International ISRC Agency, run by IFPI, oversees the system, and national agencies hand out prefixes in each country.

A code assigned in one country is recognized everywhere. It applies to sound recordings and music video recordings only. Compositions have a separate code, the ISWC.

ISRC codes explained: the structure

Every ISRC has 12 characters in four parts, shown in the table at the top of this page:

1. Agency code, 2 letters. It used to be the country code, but today it only shows which agency issued the prefix. The US agency, for example, issues prefixes starting with US, QM, QZ or QT.
2. Registrant code, 3 letters or digits, unique to the registrant. Together with the agency code it forms the 5-character prefix.
3. Year of reference, 2 digits: the year the code was assigned.
4. Designation code, 5 digits chosen by the registrant, unique within that year.

You will often see ISRCs written with dashes for readability. In metadata they go in without them.

One caution from the US agency: an ISRC is a “dumb” number. Rights can change hands, so the prefix doesn’t tell you who owns a recording today, and the year doesn’t tell you when it was made. Getting an ISRC doesn’t register a copyright either.

One recording, one ISRC

Once a recording has an ISRC, use that same code everywhere it is released. The code stays even if the recording is sold to a new owner or you later switch distributors. A code must never be moved to a different recording, even if the first one was never released.

A new ISRC is needed when the recording itself changes through creative input:

• a remix or an edit, including a radio edit;
• a change in playing time of more than 10 seconds;
• a live version, an acoustic version or a re-recording;
• a music video, which gets its own ISRC even when its audio is the same as the single.

A remaster normally keeps the original ISRC, because it is still the same recording. A new code is appropriate only if the remastering adds significant new creative input.

ISRC vs ISWC vs UPC

Three different recordings of the same song share one ISWC and have three ISRCs. A single and the album it later appears on have different UPCs, but the track keeps one ISRC on both. More on who owns what in what are my musical rights.

What is ISRC code used for?

The ISRC is how the music business keeps track of a recording:

• distributors require it for every track they deliver to Spotify, Apple Music and other services;
• streaming services and stores use it in their usage and sales reports;
• royalty organizations use it to match plays to recordings. In the US that includes SoundExchange, which pays royalties from internet streaming and satellite radio;
• chart and sales data companies use it to count streams and downloads of each version.

Do I need ISRC codes for my CD?

Yes. On a CD the ISRC of each track is written into the disc’s subcode during pre-mastering, together with the release barcode (UPC or EAN). That means the codes have to go into the CD pre-master or DDP image before it goes to the pressing plant. If you’re having a CD master made, send the ISRC list with your files to whoever handles the mastering.

How do I get an ISRC code?

There are three ways:

1. From your distributor. DistroKid, TuneCore, CD Baby and the other major music distribution services assign an ISRC to each track when you upload, usually at no extra cost. If a track already has an ISRC from an earlier release, give them that code instead of taking a new one.
2. From an ISRC Manager. These are companies approved by a national agency to assign codes for recordings they don’t own, typically alongside recording, mastering or distribution.
3. With your own prefix. If you own the recordings, you can apply to your national agency and assign codes yourself.

Can I make my own ISRC code?

Yes, once you have your own prefix. You can’t just invent a code: the first five characters come from the agency, and only the year and the last five digits are up to you.

• US: apply through usisrc.org. The prefix costs a one-time $95, is yours for life and covers up to 100,000 ISRCs a year. You don’t need to be an RIAA member.
• UK: codes are issued by PPL.
• Elsewhere: find your national agency on the IFPI list of ISRC agencies. Where there is no national agency, contact the International ISRC Agency at IFPI directly.

After that, keeping a record of every code you’ve assigned, and which recording it belongs to, is your job.

How to find the ISRC of a song

For your own releases, look in your distributor’s dashboard: each track’s ISRC is listed there. For other recordings, try ISRC Search from IFPI or SoundExchange’s ISRC lookup. If the file itself carries metadata, a tag editor will show the code too.

How ISRC codes are embedded into a recording

For streaming, what counts is the ISRC in the metadata you give your distributor. That is where services read it from, and distributors fill it in for you.

You can also write the code into the file. MP3 and MP4 files carry it in the ID3 tag, and free tag editors such as Mp3tag or Kid3 can add it. For CDs, as above, the ISRC goes into the pre-master.

If your release needs it, we embed the ISRC codes you give us into the mastered WAV files during mastering, and we can deliver a DDP image with ISRCs for CD replication.

Getting the release ready? Our mastering is $50 per song, and mixing and mastering starts at $133 per song. Both take 2–3 days per song with 6 revision rounds included.