Official Song Codes

There are two main codes associated with songs/performance. The first is known as ISWC (International Standard Musical Works Code.). This identifies the song itself - the musical composition (lyrics and melody). The second is the ISRC (International Standard Rercording Code) which identifies a particular sound recording of the song. So, if you are lucky to have three acts record one of your songs, there would be only one ISWC but each recording would have its own ISRC.

Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) is the official UK ISRC agency. It is possible to register with them and be given a registrant code. iThis allows you to generate your own ISRCs for your songs. This would be something like :

• • GB-ABC-25-00001 where GB stands for Great Britain, 25 is the year 2025, ABC woul be replaced by your registrant code and the 00001 woulds be for your first registration in 2025.

    If you have registered your song for copyright or royalty reasons, you should then update that record with the ISRC code.

When you then distribute a fecording of your song you use the ISWC to identyify it. Any recording of your song will be issued with a ISWC to identify the specific recording/performance. The organisation you are using to collect royalties (SoundCloud, TuneCore, etc) monitor radio, streaming services and performance venues to identify when your song is played. The ISRC identifies who gets paid perfomance royalties; the ISWC identifies who gets paid songwriter royalties.