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For SoundExchange filers

ISRC codes for
SoundExchange

Have a play log or catalog with only artist and title? Resolve every line to its ISRC, album, and record label — then export a SoundExchange-ready CSV in one click.

What it does

From artist + title to a filing-ready file

SoundExchange pays digital performance royalties by matching reported plays to recordings — and it does that best when every line carries an ISRC. Most play logs and catalog exports don't.

SonoVault's Bulk Lookup closes that gap. Paste a list of tracks with just the artist and title, resolve them against a catalog of 90M+ recordings, and download a SoundExchange CSV — Artist, Song_Title, Album_Name, Marketing_Label, and ISRC — ready to attach to your Report of Use or repertoire submission.

Open Bulk Lookup

The SoundExchange CSV export lives in the Bulk Lookup tool in your SonoVault dashboard. A free account includes 1,000 lookups a month — no credit card needed.

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Background

Why SoundExchange runs on ISRCs

When a track airs on internet radio, SiriusXM, or another non-interactive digital service, U.S. law owes a royalty on the master recording— separate from the songwriter's royalty. Those services report their plays to SoundExchange, which matches each play to a recording and pays the featured artist and rights owner.

That match is only as good as the metadata. A title and artist name are ambiguous — dozens of recordings can share them. An ISRC is not: it identifies one specific recording anywhere it appears. Submitting ISRCs (and clean release and label data) up front is what makes reported usage land on the right account instead of the unmatched pile.

The gap most filers hit:radio automation exports and old catalog spreadsheets carry artist, title, and play counts — but rarely the ISRC and record label SoundExchange wants. That's the one thing this tool fills in.

Step by step

How it works

  1. 1

    Paste your artist + title list

    Drop in a column of tracks — a station play log, a setlist, or a catalog export — one per line, up to 1,000. Or import a CSV and map the Artist and Title columns.

  2. 2

    Resolve to ISRC + label

    Press Resolve. Each line is matched to a canonical recording and its ISRC, album, and record label — the fields SoundExchange uses to identify a recording.

  3. 3

    Download the SoundExchange CSV

    Open the Download menu and choose “SoundExchange CSV”. You get a file with Artist, Song_Title, Album_Name, Marketing_Label, and ISRC columns — ready to attach to your filing.

The export

What's in the SoundExchange CSV

One row per track, with both the preferred ISRC identifier and the album + label fallback in the same file.

ArtistThe featured artist, cleaned to its canonical spelling.
Song_TitleThe recording's title, normalised against the catalog.
Album_NameThe release the recording appears on — the album/single fallback identifier.
Marketing_LabelThe record label, used with the album when an ISRC is unavailable.
ISRCThe 12-character recording code, upper-cased — SoundExchange's preferred identifier.
Two ways to identify a recording

ISRC — or album + label

SoundExchange accepts either identifier. The export gives you both, so a track without an ISRC still files cleanly.

ISRCPreferred

One 12-character code that names the exact recording — the studio cut, the radio edit, the remaster all have their own. It is the cleanest, highest-match way to file, and the identifier SoundExchange asks for first.

Album + LabelFallback

When a recording has no ISRC, SoundExchange accepts the album (release) name together with the marketing/record label instead. SonoVault returns both, so rows without an ISRC still identify cleanly.

Who it's for

Common uses

Webcaster Report of Use

Your automation log lists artist, title, and play counts but not ISRCs. Resolve the unique tracks once and export the identifiers SoundExchange asks for.

Register your repertoire

Rights owners submitting recordings need Artist, Title, and ISRC per track. Pull the ISRCs for your whole catalog in one pass instead of chasing them down individually.

Station or venue play list

Have a spreadsheet of what aired or was performed? Turn a plain artist/title column into a filing-ready file with ISRC, album, and label attached.

Fill the gaps a distributor left

Missing ISRCs on older or third-party recordings? Match them against a 90M-recording catalog and recover the codes you don't have on file.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

SoundExchange collects digital performance royalties for sound recordings and pays them to the featured artists and rights owners. To pay the right recording, it matches reported plays to repertoire using metadata — and the ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is the single most reliable identifier, because it names one exact recording no matter where it played. When your play log or catalog carries artist and title but no ISRC, matching is slower and more likely to miss, which is why ISRCs are worth adding before you file.
Yes. That is exactly what this tool is for. Paste a list of artist + title pairs (or import a CSV) into SonoVault's Bulk Lookup, resolve them, and each line comes back with its ISRC, album, and record label. Every version of a song — radio edit, extended mix, remaster — has its own ISRC, so the match is made against the specific recording, not just the song name.
The SoundExchange CSV has five columns: Artist, Song_Title, Album_Name, Marketing_Label, and ISRC. The ISRC is the preferred identifier; the Album_Name and Marketing_Label are there as the fallback SoundExchange accepts when an ISRC is unavailable. ISRCs are normalised to upper-case, and any line that couldn't be matched keeps the artist and title you pasted, so nothing is dropped from your list.
SoundExchange lets you identify a recording either by ISRC or, when the ISRC is unavailable, by album name plus record label. The SoundExchange CSV includes both paths — so a row we couldn't resolve to an ISRC can still file cleanly using the Album_Name and Marketing_Label columns.
Up to 1,000 lines per run. Paste a bigger list and it processes the first 1,000 — run it again for the rest. Each resolved line costs one API credit; a free SonoVault account includes 1,000 credits a month, and paid plans include far more.
No. It is a point-and-paste tool in your SonoVault dashboard — no code, no API calls to write. If you would rather script it, the same resolver is available as the POST /v1/tracks/resolve API endpoint, so you can build an automation-log-to-Report-of-Use pipeline of your own.
No. SonoVault is an independent music metadata service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to SoundExchange. We provide the ISRC and label data and a convenient export format; you are responsible for your own filing and for confirming SoundExchange's current requirements.

Build your SoundExchange file free

A free SonoVault account includes 1,000 lookups a month. Paste your artist + title list, resolve it, and export the SoundExchange CSV — no credit card, no code.

Open Bulk LookupLook up a single ISRC →