ISRC, ISWC, IPI, UPC: the four codes that decide whether you get paid

Every stream, broadcast and sale is reported as a row of data. Whether that row turns into money for you depends on four codes and on whether they agree with each other. None of them is hard to understand. They go wrong because they are issued by different bodies, at different times, often by different people on the same song.

What does each code identify?

ISRC: the recording. The International Standard Recording Code identifies sound recordings and music videos, and the agency says plainly that it is not used for compositions, products or performers. It is 12 characters: a five-character prefix allocated by an ISRC agency, two digits for the year the code was assigned, and a five-digit designation code from the registrant. You get one from your national ISRC agency, through an appointed ISRC Manager, or by assigning codes online as a self-releasing artist. The FAQ also notes that if your distributor assigns the code, it "may or may not" enter the data into the international ISRC database.

ISWC: the song. The International Standard Musical Work Code identifies the musical work as a creation, separate from any recording or sheet music. It looks like T-034.524.680-1: the letter T, nine digits and a check digit. Since a 2020 modernisation every ISWC is assigned centrally, with local registration agencies (usually your collecting society) handling the paperwork. You cannot create your own; it is assigned when the work is registered, and only once all of its creators have been uniquely identified. Arrangements and translations get their own ISWC, linked to the original.

IPI: you, as a rights holder. The Interested Party Information system gives a unique identifier to each person or company with an interest in a work, such as a writer or publisher. CISAC says it is administered by the Swiss society SUISA, under CISAC and BIEM standards. It identifies people, not songs. Base numbers are allocated automatically from notifications to the IPI Centre, so if you don't know yours, ask your society.

UPC: the release. The barcode identifies the product: the single, EP or album. GS1 US describes the GTIN-12 as always 12 digits and synonymous with UPC, mainly used in North America, while the 13-digit GTIN-13 (EAN) is the norm elsewhere. If you buy one yourself, GS1 US sells a single GTIN for $30 with no annual renewal.

Put simply, one album has one UPC. Each track on it has its own ISRC, each song on it has its own ISWC, and every writer and publisher on those songs has an IPI.

Where the money gets lost

The recording and the song are never linked. Recording money and song money travel through different pipes. In the US, the law requires The MLC's public database to hold, for each matched song, the owners, their percentage shares and, where reasonably available, the ISWC and the ISRCs of recordings that use it. The MLC's Matching Tool exists to connect recordings (ISRCs) to songs. Its help centre says new recordings typically appear there about two to three months after release. A self-released track with an ISRC from the distributor and no registered work behind it is the classic orphan. Our Music Modernization Act explainer covers what happens to US song money that stays unmatched.

Splits that don't add up. The MLC has a dedicated Overclaims Tool for songs where the shares claimed by all members exceed 100 percent. One common cause, in our view, is two co-writers registering from memory at different societies.

A co-writer with no IPI. Because an ISWC is only allocated once every creator is uniquely identified, one unregistered collaborator can hold up the code for the whole song. In our view that is the most underrated cause of missing song metadata on indie releases.

ISRCs reused or reissued. The agency is strict both ways. A remix, an edit or a version with a different playing time is a new recording and needs a new ISRC. But the same recording on a deluxe edition, a compilation licence or a different format keeps its original code, and once assigned an ISRC must never be reused. The FAQ says remasters usually keep the original code too. Changing distributor and letting the new one issue fresh ISRCs for old masters splits a track's history in two.

A worked example

Two writers, Asha and Ben, write a song. They agree 60/40 in a voice note. Asha releases it through a distributor, which issues an ISRC and a UPC. Asha registers the work at her society at 60/40. Ben, a member of a different society, registers it at 50/50 a month later and forgets to list Asha's IPI.

Here is the result. The shares claimed now total 110%, Ben's registration doesn't uniquely identify every creator, and nobody has linked the ISRC to the work at The MLC. Each of those is a reason for a royalty line to stall. None of them is visible on the distributor dashboard, where the streams look perfectly healthy.

The fix is cheap and belongs before release: a one-page split sheet with both legal names, both IPIs, both societies and the agreed percentages, sent to everyone who registers anything.

Release-day checklist

• Split sheet signed by every writer and producer with points: legal names, IPI numbers, societies, publisher (if any), and percentages that total 100%.
• Work registered with your society, or your publisher, so an ISWC can be allocated. Check every co-writer is identified.
• ISRC per recording, written down against each mix and edit. Reuse existing codes for reissues; never let a new distributor re-code old masters.
• UPC per release, recorded with the ISRCs it contains.
• Same title spelling and writer names everywhere: distributor, society and The MLC.
• The MLC: search its database first (the Songwriter Hub shows every way your name appears) and claim your share if the work is already there. Register each song individually (not the album as one work), using the first date it came out on streaming services.
• About three months later, look for your ISRCs in The MLC's Matching Tool and link any it missed.
• Keep one master sheet per release: UPC, then ISRC, ISWC, writers, IPIs and splits for each track.

What we think

These codes were designed by different bodies for different jobs (a recording industry federation, a federation of authors' societies, and a barcode standard built for retail), and nothing forces them to agree. The systems that join them up assume someone has done the linking. For labels and publishers, that someone is a paid data team. For a self-releasing artist, it is you, usually months after the session, from memory.

That gap matters most to the people with the least leverage. A major's catalogue arrives with clean splits and linked codes. An indie co-write between two friends at two societies is exactly where the 110% overclaim and the missing IPI happen. The cost isn't even. When song money goes unmatched, it waits, and the people best placed to claim it are the ones with the staff to check.

The real fix is upstream: capture the credits when the music is made, not when the distributor form asks. A tool that keeps credits and splits attached to the session from the first bounce is one way to do that. A shared spreadsheet started on the day of the session works too. What doesn't work is relying on the distributor's ISRC to carry the song's metadata, because it was never built to.