ISRC

• The first two characters identify the country where the member is based (eg, ‘UK’ represents ‘United Kingdom’). Please note, as each country code has a limited number of possible registrant codes, this may vary. We may allocate you a stem with a GB, GX or alternative prefix.
• The next three characters identify the recording rightsholder. We allocate these three letters and numbers – they are specific to you as the rightsholder. (Please note that this code does not imply permanent ownership of the recording or video. The code will not change if the recording is later licensed to a different owner.)
• The next two characters identify the year in which the specific recording was given an ISRC.
• The last five characters are the choice of the rightsholder when allocating recordings with an ISRC. These characters are always numbers. The easiest way to organise this section of the code is to give the first recording ‘00001’, the second ‘00002’, etc. The sequence can be reset to ‘00001’ when a new year of reference (section three, detailed above) is applicable.

You can request an ISRC stem when you join PPL as a recording rightsholder member. During the registration process, you will be asked “Do you already have an ISRC First Registrant Code (e.g. GB-AN1)?” Please answer “No, please provide me with one” and we will allocate you a code.

If you want an ISRC stem but do not wish to join PPL for royalty collection, please select “I want an ISRC but do not wish to register as a PPL member” from the list of registration options here.

Please note you only need to apply for a new ISRC registrant code when there is a completely new rightsholder. A new track owned by the same rightsholder, or rightsholders, can keep using the same first five characters with the additional seven digits identifying this as a unique track.