Music Identifier Education

The complete guide to music credits — who gets credited on a song, how credits translate to royalties, and why accurate crediting is essential for every songwriter, artist, producer, and publisher.

How music credits identify every contributor to a song — songwriters, performers, producers, publishers — and determine how royalties are split. The complete guide to song credits and payments.

What music metadata is, the four types (descriptive, rights, identifiers, platform), why it matters for royalties, the metadata supply chain, and how to fix common problems.

International Standard Recording Code — the unique identifier for every sound recording and music video. Learn the format, how to get one, and why every recording needs an ISRC.

International Standard Musical Work Code — the unique identifier for musical compositions. Learn how ISWCs track songs across recordings, territories, and platforms.

Interested Parties Information code — the unique identifier for songwriters and publishers. Learn how IPIs connect rights holders to their works and royalties.

International Standard Name Identifier — the cross-industry identifier for creative contributors. Learn how ISNIs connect identities across music, books, film, and academic research.

Universal Product Code — the barcode that identifies music releases. Learn how UPCs work for albums, EPs, and singles across digital and physical retail.

What's the difference between an ISRC and an ISWC? A side-by-side comparison of recording codes and composition codes, with real examples.

What's the difference between an ISRC and a UPC? Learn how track-level identifiers relate to release-level barcodes.

What's the difference between an IPI and an ISNI? Compare the music-specific songwriter identifier with the cross-industry creative contributor identifier.

How musician credits work — songwriter vs performer roles, group memberships, share percentages, and how to explore any artist's complete catalog on Credits.fm.

Three ways to find the ISRC for any song — search Credits.fm, check Spotify for Artists, or look it up in your distributor's dashboard.

Find songwriter credits for any song — composer names, lyricist names, publisher chains, and ownership share percentages. Free lookup using MLC public data.

The Mechanical Licensing Collective explained — how it collects and distributes mechanical royalties from streaming, and what matched vs. unmatched means for songwriters.