ISRC and UPC codes, explained

Every song on Spotify carries an ISRC, and every release a UPC. Your fans never see them. The stores use them to know which song was played, and so whose money it is.

ISRC: one code per recording

The International Standard Recording Code is 12 letters and numbers, like IN-AB1-26-00001: the country, a code for whoever issued it, the year, and a number. Codes starting with IN are issued in India through the Indian Music Industry (IMI).

One recording keeps one ISRC for life, on every store. A remix, a live version or an unplugged take is a new recording, so it gets a new code.

UPC: one code per release

The UPC is the barcode of the whole release: the single, the EP or the album. It's 12 or 13 digits, and it's how a store tells your release apart from every other one with the same name.

Where do you get them?

For a new song on Nenco, you don't need to do anything: leave both fields empty, and the codes are assigned when your release goes to the stores. You'll see them on the release's page.

Never make up a code, and never reuse one from another song.

A made-up or borrowed code can get the release turned away, or send its plays to someone else's song. If you type in a code, Nenco checks that no other release on Nenco already uses it.

Your own codes

Labels that release a lot of music can apply to IMI for their own ISRC code, so every song they put out carries it. For an artist releasing a few songs a year, the assigned ones do the same job.