In order to avoid a shortage of remaining CA code designations, the ISRC country code for Canada was expanded recently to include CB as well as CA. Any new ISRC Registrant codes issued in Canada will begin with CB as of June 1, 2021. This change will not affect any ISRC registrants who were previously assigned an ISRC code starting with CA. Both CA and CB designated ISRC registrant codes remain valid.
Programs Capable of Embedding ISRCs
This list is only a small example of products with ISRC capabilities. It is by no means an exhaustive list of all ISRC capable applications.
CONNECT Music Licensing takes no position on the products or services listed here. Their inclusion on this list is in no way an endorsement, approval or certification. These applications have not been tested by CONNECT Music Licensing or the author of this document. CONNECT Music Licensing assumes no responsibility for any damage or harm that may be caused by the use of these applications.
| Product | PC/MAC | Link |
| Apple – Logic Pro | MAC | https://www.apple.com/logic-pro/ |
| Avid – Pro Tools | BOTH | https://www.avid.com/pro-tools |
| Cakewalk – Bandlab | PC | https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk |
| Roxio – Creator | PC | https://www.roxio.com/en/products/creator/ |
| Roxio – Toast | MAC | https://www.roxio.com/en/products/toast/ |
| Steinberg – WaveLab | BOTH | https://new.steinberg.net/wavelab/ |
If you aware of any other products with ISRC capabilities or have any feedback regarding this list please contact us.
The ISRC Registrant code process can take up to two business days to assign. If you have an upcoming release that requires a new registrant code, we recommend you apply as early as possible to avoid delays.
For professional mastering, at the final stage of audio mastering your mastering engineer will embed the ISRCs you have created into the data of your masters.
For digitally distributed formats, the ISRC of each track should be included in the metadata of the song file if possible. Some digital file formats do not easily support metadata such as .WAV files, so it is important to always provide ISRCs when uploading audio or video recordings to digital services or retailers. Most will require that an ISRC be submitted for tracking purposes. The MP3 format allows some rights management information to be included but is not often used. It is possible and recommended to embed ISRCs in the ID3 tags. While it is not part of the international standard, it does allow for the encoding of ISRCs.
There is no official way to embed an ISRC into a video, but your video editor should be able to include the ISRC in the metadata of your video file. As with audio, it is important to keep a detailed record of the ISRCs you assign and to provide a video ISRC to any service, retailer or other organization that requests it from you.
Yes, where distributors can assign codes on your behalf, they have been given permission from the ISRC Agency in their country to do so. A Registrant code does not indicate ownership of the sound recording it is assigned to. If at a future date you choose to apply for your own Registrant Code, please be aware that once an ISRC has been assigned to an audio recording or video, it remains with that recording forever and only new recordings can be assigned an ISRC using your unique Registrant Code.
The Registrant Code should be assigned to whoever owns the master rights. In some cases that is the individual artist or band, while in others it is the record label. (Check your recording contract if you are signed to a record label and you are unsure).
No, each master rights owner is supplied with one ISRC Registrant Code. This is a permanent code for everything released by each master owner. The last 5 digits (the Designation Code) of the ISRC change for each individual track released, and with each new year you change the year of reference, and reset the designation code to 00001.
No, you only need to apply once. You should use your Registrant Code to create the individual ISRCs for all of the recordings to which you own the master rights.
CONNECT does not require each registrant to provide us with a list of all full codes assigned. The registrant is solely responsible for keeping an up-to-date record of the ISRCs that have been assigned to their recordings, and providing them to any agencies that use them (i.e. iTunes, CD Baby, etc).
No, please do not fill out another application. If you made an error in any part of your application, please email all corrections to isrc@connectmusic.ca
The ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is the international identification system for sound recordings and music video recordings. Each ISRC is a unique and permanent identifier for a specific recording which is assigned as its digital fingerprint. ISRCs provide the means to track and identify recordings and are used widely by digital services and retailers. CONNECT acts as the Canadian administrator for ISRC codes on behalf of Music Canada.
For additional information, please visit: https://isrc.ifpi.org/en/isrc-standard/handbook