The short answer
An ISRC — International Standard Recording Code — is a twelve-character identifier for a single recording. Not a song, not a release: one specific recorded performance of it. When Spotify counts a stream, when a radio station logs a play, when a TV show licenses a track, the ISRC is what tells everyone which recording earned that money.
Without one, a play can be counted but not attributed. Money exists and nobody knows whose it is.
How to read one
Take IN-A1B-26-00001. It breaks into four parts:
- IN — country code of the registrant. India is IN.
- A1B — registrant code, identifying who assigned it.
- 26 — year of reference, the year the code was assigned.
- 00001 — designation code, unique within that registrant and year.
You will usually see it written without the hyphens. They are there for reading, not for storage.
ISRC vs UPC vs ISWC
These three get confused constantly, and the confusion is expensive.
- ISRC identifies a recording. One per track. Your single has one; each track on your album has its own.
- UPC (or EAN) identifies a release — the product. Your single has one UPC covering it; your album has one UPC covering the whole album.
- ISWC identifies a composition — the underlying song, as written. If three different artists cover your song, there are three ISRCs and one ISWC.
A useful test: if you re-recorded the same song tomorrow, you would need a new ISRC, the same ISWC, and a new UPC for the release it goes out on.
When you need a new ISRC
You need a fresh code whenever the recording itself is different:
- A radio edit, an extended mix, an acoustic version, a remix — each is a separate recording.
- A remaster is a judgement call. If it is materially different, assign a new one.
- A live version, always.
You do not need a new one to put an existing recording on a new release. The same ISRC follows that recording onto the album, the compilation and the playlist forever.
How to get one in India
Two routes. Your distributor assigns one for free when you upload — this is how most independent artists get theirs, and the codes are exactly as valid as any other. Or you register as your own ISRC registrant through the national agency and assign your own codes from your own prefix, which makes sense once you are running a label with a real catalogue.
Revocle assigns ISRCs at no cost on every plan, including the free one. If you already have a code for a recording, use yours — never let a second one be assigned to a recording that already has one.
The mistake that costs money
The single most common error is reusing an ISRC across different recordings, usually because a code was copy-pasted between uploads. Two recordings sharing one code means streams get merged, royalty reports point at the wrong master, and untangling it afterwards means a takedown and a redelivery.
The second most common is the opposite: assigning a new ISRC to a recording that already has one, typically when moving distributors. Your streaming history is attached to the old code. Change it and your track starts from zero — playlist placements, algorithmic momentum, chart history, gone. When you migrate a catalogue, carry the ISRCs across.
Where to keep them
Keep your own record — a spreadsheet is fine — with the ISRC, the exact recording it belongs to, the release it first appeared on, and the date. You will need it when you switch distributors, register with a PRO, clear a sync, or answer a rights claim. Nobody else is going to keep this for you.