ISRC (International Standard Recording Code)
The unique 12-character identifier assigned to every sound recording worldwide. ISRCs are how streaming platforms, PROs, and rights monitoring systems track plays and pay royalties.
What is an ISRC?
An ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is a unique 12-character alphanumeric identifier assigned to a specific sound recording — not a song, but that particular recording of it. It is the global standard used to track plays, collect royalties, and manage rights data across streaming platforms, broadcasters, and collecting societies.
An ISRC follows the format CC-XXX-YY-NNNNN: a two-letter country code (e.g. GB for the UK), a registrant code assigned to the label or distributor, a two-digit year of reference, and a unique five-digit designation number.
Why ISRCs Matter for Rights Holders
ISRCs are the backbone of music rights tracking. Every time a recording is played on Spotify, Apple Music, or a broadcast platform, the ISRC identifies whose recording it is and who should be paid. Without a correctly embedded ISRC, royalty payments can fall into "black box" funds — unclaimed money held by collecting societies that may never reach the rights holder.
For rights holders monitoring brand use of their music, ISRCs enable cross-platform identification of a specific recording, even when audio is modified, pitch-shifted, or played at a different volume.
ISRCs and Social Media
Social platforms handle ISRCs inconsistently. YouTube Content ID uses audio fingerprinting rather than ISRCs to identify recordings. TikTok and Instagram use their own proprietary identifiers. A rights holder may hold the ISRC for a recording used in thousands of brand posts — but without cross-platform monitoring, those uses remain invisible.
Trakr uses ISRCs alongside audio fingerprinting to identify unlicensed brand use of specific recordings across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, X, and LinkedIn.
Related terms: Audio Fingerprinting · Content ID · Neighbouring Rights · Sync Licensing · ISWC
