Data Standards

Oneoftheinitialconsiderationsregardingmanagementofreliableandup‐to‐date copyrightinformationformusicalworksandsoundrecordingcopyrightsistheuseof standardidentifiers. Fortunately,themusicindustryalreadyemploysavarietyof standardidentifiersrecognizedbytheInternationalOrganizationforStandardization (“ISO”),theinternationalstandard‐settingbody. TheISOhasestablishedtwokey standardsfortheidentificationofworksthemselves—theInternationalStandardMusic WorkCode(“ISWC”)formusicalworks,andtheInternationalStandardRecording Code(“ISRC”)forsoundrecordings.293

TheISWCrepresentsaunique,permanent,andinternationallyrecognizedreference numberfortheidentificationofmusicalworks. Thestandardwasdevelopedbythe InternationalConfederationofSocietiesofAuthorsandComposers(“CISAC”). Inthe U.S.andCanada,ASCAPistheappointedagencythatassignsISWCs,andworkswith

inordertomeetconsumerexpectationsandbecommerciallyviable.”). Notably,therecently launchedstreamingservice“TheOverflow”offersalimitedcatalogof“Christianmusic”and relatedgenres. GlennPeoples, David Beside Goliath: New Christian Music Streaming Service The Overflow Points to a New Strategy,BILLBOARD(Jan.05,2015)http://www.billboard.com/articles/ business/6429451/overflow‐christian‐subscription‐streaming‐music‐service;THEOVERFLOW, http://theoverflow.com(lastvisitedJan.20,2015)(reportingonrecentlylaunchedstreaming serviceTheOverflow,whichoffersalimitedcatalogofChristianmusicandrelatedgenres).

291_{DAVIDTOUVE,MUSICBUSINESSASSOCIATION,THEINNOVATIONPARADOX:HOWLICENSING}

ANDCOPYRIGHTIMPACTSDIGITALMUSICSTARTUPS6‐7(2012)(“TOUVE”); see also JohnSeabrook,

Revenue Streams: Is Spotify the Music Industry’s Friend or Its Foe?,NEWYORKER(Nov.24,2014),

available at http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/24/revenue‐streams(reportingthat Spotify’sU.S.licensingeffortstooktwoyears).

292_TOUVEat5.

otherrepresentativesofsongwritersandpublisherstoassignISWCs. Asrelevanthere, toobtainanISWC,apublishermustprovidethefollowingminimum:atleastone originaltitleforthework;allsongwritersoftheworkidentifiedbytheirInterested PartiesInformation(“IPI”)code(discussedbelow);andwhethertheworkisderived fromanexistingwork.294 _{OnesignificantissuewithISWCs,then,isthattheycannotbe}

assigneduntilallthesongwritersonamusicalworkareidentified. Thishasthebenefit ofassuringthatdataarecompletebeforeanidentifierisattached. Butitalsoleadstoa substantiallagtimebeforetheISWCforaparticularmusicalworkcanbeassigned— unfortunately,thiscanoccurwellafterarecordisreleased,sothatdigitalfiles embodyingtheindividualtracksoftenwillnotincludeISWCsidentifyingthe

underlyingmusicalworks.295 _{ASCAPandBMI—whichalsouseproprietarynumbering}

systemstotrackworksinternally—addISWCstotheirdatabasesasthosecodesare assigned.296

TheISRCwascreatedasaunique,permanent,andinternationallyrecognizedreference numberfortheidentificationofsoundandmusicvideorecordings. ISRCsareassigned atthetrack—ratherthanalbum—level. TheISOhasappointedIFPIastheinternational ISRCagency. IFPIinturn,designatesnationalorregionalagenciestomanagethe issuanceofISRCswithinaspecificcountryorregion. TheU.S.ISRCagencyisRIAA. RIAAauthorizesindividualrecordlabelstoassignISRCstotheirownrecordings.297

ISRCsarerequiredtobeincludedondigitalfilesprovidedfortheiTunesstoreandby manyotherdigitalplatforms.

TherearesomeshortcomingswiththeISRCsystem. First,thereisnosingledefinitive U.S.databaseforISRCs. Instead,eachsoundrecordingownermustmaintainitsown ISRCrecordsandmetadata.298 _{Notably,however,SoundExchange,iscurrently}

compilingadatabaseofsoundrecordingsperformedunderthesection112and114

294_{What is an ISWC,ISWCINTERNATIONALAGENCY,http://www.iswc.org/en/iswc.html(last}

visitedJan.9,2015).

295_{Tr.at334:13‐337:20(June23,2014)(AndreaFinkelstein,SME;JacquelineCharlesworth&}

SarangDamle,U.S.CopyrightOffice);Tr.at343:2‐344:16,346:17‐21(June23,2014)(Lynn Lummel,ASCAP).

296_{ASCAPSecondNoticeCommentsat11(“Itshouldbeunderscoredthateachworkwillhave}

twoidentifiers—theISWCaswellasthePRO’sowninternalWorkIDnumber.”).

297_{Obtaining Code,USISRC,http://www.usisrc.org/about/obtaining_code.html(lastvisitedJan.25,}

2015). RIAAalsoauthorizes“ISRCmanagers”toassignISRCstosoundrecordingsproducedby artistsandlabelsthatdonotwishtomanagetheirownISRCassignments. Id.; see also Registration Fees,USISRC,http://www.usisrc.org/faqs/registration_fees.html(lastvisitedJan.25,2015).

298_{PipelineProject2014,BelmontUniversity’sMikeCurbCollegeofMusicBusinessand}

Entertainment(“PipelineProject”)SecondNoticeCommentsat7; see also Types,USISRC, https://www.usisrc.org/applications/types.html(lastvisitedJan.25,2015).

licenses,andexpectstohavegoodidentificationandownershipinformation,including ISRCs,forapproximately14millionrecordingsintherelativelynearterm.299

Inaddition,inthecaseofmultipleowners,ISRCsdonotrequireacompletelistof ownersbeforeassignmentofISRCs. Instead,theISRCwebsiterecommendsthat multipleownerssimplydesignateoneoftheownerstoassigntheISRC.300

TheISOhasadoptedtwoothercodestoidentifytheindividualsorentitiesassociated withparticularworks. TheIPIcodeallowsamusicalworktobeassociatedwiththe variouspartiesthatareinvolvedinitscreation,marketing,andadministration. IPI codesapplytocomposers,authors,composer/authors,arrangers,publishers,

administrators,andsub‐publishers. ThecodesareassignedbyCISACandarenecessary toobtainanISWC.301

TheInternationalStandardNameIdentifier(“ISNI”)isakintotheIPI,butwhiletheIPI schemeislimitedtomusicalworks,ISNIisdesignedtobeaglobalidentificationsystem forcreatorsofall typesofcopyrightedworks,includingauthors,songwriters,recording artists,andpublishers. TheISNIInternationalAgencywasfoundedin2010todevelop thestandard,withthegoalofeventuallyreplacingexisting,disparateidentification standards,includingtheIPI.302 _{ISNIsareassignedbyaninternationalnetworkof}

registrationagencieswhichrelyuponacentralizeddatabasetoassignandtrackISNI identifiers.303 _{Over8millionidentitieshavebeenregisteredsofaracrossmultipleclasses}

ofcreatorsandworks.304 _{Atthemoment,however,itappearsthatmostISNIsarebeing}

assignedtoliteraryauthorsinEurope. Italsoseemsthatthenumberofregistration agenciesgloballyremainslimited,withonlyoneagencysofarintheUnitedStates.305

299_{SoundExchangeSecondNoticeCommentsat4‐5.} 300_{PipelineProjectSecondNoticeCommentsat7.}

301_{The IPI System,IPISYSTEM.ORG,http://www.ipisystem.org/SUISASITES/IPI/ipipublic.nsf/}

pages/index1(lastvisitedJan.9,2015).

302_{See JenniferGatenby&AndrewMacEwan, ISNI: A New System For Name Identification,}

INFORMATIONSTANDARDSQUARTERLY,Summer2011,at4‐5, available at http://www.niso.org/ publications/isq/2011/v23no3/gatenby;JenniferGatenby&JoepKil, ISNI From Development to Operations,ISNI,www.isni.org/filedepot_download/58/95.

303_{See Gatenby&MacEwan, ISNI: A New System For Name Identification at4‐5.} 304_{ISNI,http://www.isni.org(lastvisitedJan.9,2015).}

305_{PipelineProjectSecondNoticeCommentsat5. Bowker,anaffiliateofProQuest,assignsISNIs}

andtrackstheassignmentandusageofthem. See Bowker Becomes First ISNI Registration Agency in the U.S.,BOWKER(June21,2012),http://www.bowker.com/en‐US/aboutus/press_room/2012/ pr_06212012a.shtml;Bowker, Use of ISNI Is Growing Fast Among Authors, Says New Bowker Analysis,YAHOOFINANCE(May7,2014),http://finance.yahoo.com/news/isni‐growing‐fast‐

ThemusicindustryalsoemploysidentifiersnotassociatedwithISO,including UniversalProductCodes(“UPC”). Inthemusiccontext,aUPCisasetofnumbers, alongwithacorrespondingbarcode,thatidentifyafinishedmusicproduct. Adifferent UPCisusuallynecessaryforeachproductorversionofaproducttodistinguishamong, forexample,albums,digitalsingles,orremixedversionsofsoundrecordings. UPCsare generallyrequiredbymostmajorphysicalretailers,andarenowrequiredbytheiTunes storeandotherdigitalplatforms. RecordlabelsgenerallyacquireUPCsfromGS1US,a nonprofitgroupthatsetsstandardsforinternationalcommerce. UPCscanalsobe obtainedforfreeoratanominalcostfromamusicdistributorsuchasCDBabyor TuneCore.306

Inadditiontostandardsthathavebeenorarebeingdevelopedbyinternational standard‐settingentities,therearealsoprivateinitiativesforidentifyingmusicandits owners,forexample,throughtheuseofdigitalacousticfingerprintingandsimilar technologies. ExamplesincludeGracenote,Shazam,andTheEchoNest—andperhaps mostnotably,YouTube. Anacousticfingerprintisadigitalrenderingoftheacoustical propertiesofaparticularsoundrecording,typicallyoneembodiedinadigitalfilesuch asanmp3file. Thatfingerprintcanbestoredandsearchedformatchestootherdigital musicfiles.307 _{Anacousticfingerprintdoesnot,onitsown,provideownershipor}

authorshipinformation,butitcanbeassociatedwithmetadata—suchasthe

standardizedidentifiersdiscussedabove—thatdoes. Oneadvantageofusingdigital fingerprintsisthatwhileitisrelativelytrivialtostripmetadatasuchasISRCsand ISWCsfromindividualmusicfiles,itisarguablymoredifficulttoalterafile’sacoustic fingerprintwithoutchangingthequalityoftheaudio.308