ISRC stands for International Standard Recording Code, it is a unique identifier that gets applied to each song, video or version that you release. It needs to be unique for that particular piece of content, worldwide.

For example, if you release a song called ‘Music is Life’ then you release a music video for that song and then you get a remix done and also release the instrumental, each one of those content items will be assigned a unique ISRC.

An ISRC in South Africa looks something like this ZA-K40-23-00001 and will be assigned to each content item in an assending numerical order. If we use our example above, the original song will get the code ZA-K40-23-00001, the music video will get ZA-K40-23-00002, the remix will get ZA-K40-23-00003 and the instrumental will get ZA-K40-23-00004.

The code is used to identify sales for the content that it is assigned to, so if your content is used anywhere in the world, they will track the sale with the ISRC and report back, so that you get paid for the consumption of your content.

You cannot distribute your music without an ISRC. To apply for your own ISRC’s, you can contact the Recording Institute of South Africa (RISA) – See link below. 

Alternatively, contact your distributor and request if they can assign their own ISRC’s to your release.

As a side note, an ISRC is not the same as a barecode or Universal Product Code (UPC), the UPC is a unique identifier for the entire product, not just 1 piece of content.

LINK FOR SOUTH AFRICA: https://www.risa.org.za/website/isrc/