What Is An ISWC? Music Industry - 5 Mins or Less

Welcome to our “Music Industry - 5 Mins or Less” video series.  These short bites are designed to help everyone understand the basics of the music industry and how it all fits together.

 

Many people have heard of an ISRC, but do you know what an ISWC is?

Click on these links for more information about this topic:

https://exploration.io/what-is-a-composition/#importantmetadata

https://www.themlc.com/preparing-2021

 

In This Video: The ISWC (International Standard Musical Work Code) is a unique, permanent and internationally recognized reference number for the identification of musical works.

 

And ISWC is a 10 digit code that starts with the letter T is assigned by the PRO of a given territory where the song was written.  For example if you are a songwriter in Japan, then when you register your song with JASRAC,, they will assign the ISWC code to your song.  In the United States, the PRO designated to assign ISWC codes is ASCAP.  Even if you are a BMI or SESAC writer, ASCAP will still assign the ISWC code.

 

The ISWC was first developed in 2002 by the France-based International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) in collaboration with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

The ISWC contains the following data:

Song title

Songwriter(s)

Music publisher(s)

Music publisher(s) ownership share(s)

The ISWC was created to help with tracking the usage of any given composition, which helps in the collecting of and distribution of royalties for a songwriter, publisher (if a songwriter is signed to a publisher), or performing rights society (depending upon the territory where they are primarily based).

 

No matter how many sound recordings are made of your song - it will always have the same ISWC code.