Music
There is an International Standard that provides a means of identifying the many thousands of musical works - from Beethoven to Britney Spears - by use of a musical work code.
The benefit of the international standard musical work code is that it can function as an international passport for the work that it identifies. It allows information on the use of musical works to be tracked, reported, and exchanged more efficiently.
The standard provides a unique, permanent and internationally recognized reference number for the identification of every musical work, published or unpublished, newly created or already existing, irrespective of its copyright status. It specifies a means of uniquely identifying a musical work, in the same way that an ISBN number is a unique identifier for books and ISSN for magazines.
One of the key functions of ISO 15707:2001 is to make it easier, faster and more efficient to administer rights and payments for musical works on a global basis. Collecting societies will be able to make more efficient use of automated processes because the ISWC (International Standard Musical Work Code) ensures faster and more precise identification of a musical work.
Each ISWC is a unique number, which is permanently assigned to a musical work and permits that work to be identified with precision across language barriers and national boundaries. It also removes any ambiguity as to the work being dealt with whenever information about musical works is stored or exchanged.
More information: On ISO 15707 including the ISWC International Agency can be found on the ISWC Web site, www.iswc.org
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