ISRC Finder

An ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is a 12-character code that identifies one specific sound recording. It's defined by the ISO 3901 standard, and IFPI runs the system as the International ISRC Registration Authority, working with national ISRC agencies around the world.

The code belongs to the recording, not to the song as a composition and not to the release it appears on. If your track comes out as a single and then again on an album, both use the same ISRC. If you record a live version or a remix, that new recording gets its own.

Streaming services, distributors, collecting societies and chart companies use the ISRC to match plays and sales back to the right recording. When the code is wrong, those plays can end up attached to the wrong entry, or to none.

Take USUG11904206, the ISRC of The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights". It has three parts. The first five characters, USUG1, are the prefix code: they identify who assigned the code. Under ISO 3901:2019 the prefix is one block of two letters and three letters or numbers. Many prefixes still start with the issuing country's code, which is why this one begins with US.

The next two digits, 19, are the year of reference. That's the year the code was assigned, which isn't always the year the track was recorded or released. The last five digits, 04206, are the designation code, a number unique to that recording under that prefix and year.

You'll often see ISRCs printed with hyphens, like US-UG1-19-04206, to make them easier to read. The hyphens aren't part of the code. When a form asks for your ISRC, enter the 12 characters without them. This finder accepts both.

The fastest way is to paste the song's Spotify link into the finder above. It reads the ISRC straight from Spotify's catalog and shows it with its breakdown, the release's UPC, the label, the release date and the sound recording copyright line. Links copied from Spotify in other languages work too.

Don't have the link? Type the song name and artist and pick the right recording from the results. Every result shows its ISRC, which helps when a song exists in several versions.

It also works the other way. Enter an ISRC to see the recording it belongs to and every Spotify release that carries it. Enter a UPC, or paste an album link, to get the ISRC of every track on that release. You can copy them all at once or download a CSV.

For your own music, your distributor's dashboard is the other reliable place to look. Most distributors show each track's ISRC once a release is approved. IFPI's ISRC Search, which uses repertoire data submitted to SoundExchange, is useful for cross-checking, but it doesn't list every ISRC.

The ISRC identifies a sound recording. One recording has one ISRC, wherever it's released.

The UPC (or EAN outside North America) identifies a release as a product: the single, EP or album. A single and an album carrying the same recording have different UPCs but share that recording's ISRC. Distributors assign UPCs to your releases, usually alongside the ISRCs.

The ISWC (International Standard Musical Work Code, ISO 15707) identifies the composition: the melody and lyrics as written. A cover version and the original have the same ISWC but different ISRCs. ISWCs are assigned through collective management organisations such as performing rights organisations, under the system CISAC administers.

If you release through a distributor, you almost certainly don't need to do anything. Distributors such as DistroKid, TuneCore, CD Baby, Amuse and Ditto assign ISRCs for free when you upload a track without one. Most also let you enter an existing ISRC, which you should do whenever the recording already has one, though some only allow it on certain plans.

If you want to assign codes yourself, in the US you can apply to the US ISRC Agency, run by the RIAA at usisrc.org, for your own prefix. It costs a one-time $95 administrative fee and lets you assign up to 100,000 ISRCs a year. Other countries have their own national agencies, listed on IFPI's ISRC website.

IFPI also offers an Assign ISRC Online service for self-releasing artists: £15 plus VAT buys 30 credits, and each ISRC uses 3 credits. Stores and streaming services, on the other hand, aren't allowed to assign a new ISRC to a recording they receive.

The rule from the ISRC Handbook is one recording, one ISRC. A new code is needed whenever the recording itself is different: a live version, a remix, a re-recording or new take, a cover, an extended version, an edited or clean version that mutes or replaces lyrics, an instrumental released on its own, or a clip. A music video always gets its own ISRC, separate from the audio.

Cutting or adding sections, such as a radio edit that drops a verse, needs a new ISRC. A non-creative change, like a different fade, only needs one if it changes the length by 10 seconds or more. A remaster needs a new ISRC only when creative changes were made, not for level, EQ or noise clean-up applied across the whole track.

The ISRC stays the same when the same recording appears on a compilation, is released in a different format or quality, is licensed, sold to a new owner, or moved to a new distributor. Reusing the existing code in those cases is what keeps your streams and royalties attached to one recording.

SoundExchange, which collects US digital performance royalties for recordings, uses ISRCs to tell apart recordings with similar titles. Collecting societies that pay out radio and public performance money generally require them too.

Spotify applies its 1,000-stream royalty threshold per ISRC. That's one more reason the single and album versions of a track should share one code: split across two ISRCs, the same recording's streams are counted separately. Luminate, whose data feeds the Billboard charts, gets most of its ISRC data from streaming services and labels, and YouTube Content ID asks for the ISRC as part of a sound recording's metadata.

A wrong or duplicated ISRC usually doesn't cause an error message. It shows up later as missing royalties, streams split across two entries, or a chart position that doesn't add up. Comparing the codes here with the ones in your distributor's dashboard takes a minute, and it's worth doing on release day.

If one recording ended up with two ISRCs, the owner picks one, usually the earliest, as the preferred code and retires the other, then tells their distributor and partners. If two different recordings share one ISRC, one or both need new codes, because an ISRC is never reused for a different recording.

Small mistakes inside a code, such as the wrong year digits, don't require a new ISRC as long as it doesn't clash with another recording. Keep using it.

An ISRC also isn't proof of ownership. The prefix shows who assigned the code, not who owns the recording today, and getting an ISRC doesn't register your copyright.