An ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is used to identify each track. An ISRC consists of 12 characters and is made up of the following components:
Country code (2 characters): Indicates the country in which the code was issued (e.g. "DE" for Germany)
Registrant code (3 characters): Identifies the issuing label or artist
Year code (2 digits): The last two digits of the year in which the ISRC was issued
Recording number (5 digits): A consecutive number for the recording
Example: DEZC62412355
A GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) is a number linked exclusively to your album, EP or single. EAN (European Article Number) is the predecessor of GTIN. UPC (Universal Product Code) is the corresponding counterpart from the USA.
To convert a UPC with 12 digits to a GTIN with 13 digits, simply add a 0 in front of it. If the UPC already contains 13 digits, no 0 needs to be added.
These numbers allow your product to be clearly identified worldwide. A barcode further allows these numbers to be machine-readable.
Each album, EP or single requires these individual numbers. There are two options for generating these codes:
a) Do you already have corresponding numbers you would prefer to use? Just go ahead and enter those numbers into the corresponding fields.
b) You have no such numbers you’d like to use? No problem - codes are generated automatically if none are entered. This service is free!
You can also generate your barcode for free on the Internet, i.e. here (simply copy the GTIN of your release, which is located to the right of your release in, ‘My Music,’ select desired format and download the barcode).