📌 Introduction
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If you distribute your music online: here we answer the most frequently asked questions about ISRC, Content ID, and usage reporting.

✔ The ISRC code (International Standard Recording Code) is a unique identifier assigned to each audio or video recording, providing a standardized system to ensure the uniqueness of recordings, identifying them internationally.
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🔍 How to obtain an ISRC?
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✔ You can obtain an ISRC code:

📌 Note: The ISRC code helps ensure that your track is correctly tracked on digital platforms, thus facilitating royalty collection.

✔ Yes, Soundreef still collects your royalties, but keep in mind that the ISRC is a very useful tool for more effective usage tracking; it facilitates detection and reporting from digital platforms and YouTube.
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✔ For YouTube in particular, make sure to enter the ISRC and activate Content ID, as this allows for more precise recognition of your tracks in videos uploaded to the platform.

✔ YouTube's Content ID is a system that allows copyright holders to automatically identify and manage their content on the platform.
✔ YouTube creates a unique digital fingerprint for each track, which is compared with the platform's database: if a match is found with an uploaded video, YouTube notifies the rights holders.
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✔ The track owner can choose from three options:

🔍 How to check if Content ID is active for a track?
✔ If you have distributed your music through a digital distributor that includes Content ID activation, your track might already be in YouTube's database.
✔ If you have received a copyright notice on a video uploaded to your channel, it means the system has detected a match with your track.
✔ You can also manually check in the YouTube Studio section of your account.
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📌 Note: The activation of Content ID depends on YouTube. If your track is already managed by a distributor offering the service, no further requests are necessary.

✔ Reporting from digital platforms, excluding YouTube, starts 6 months after the end of the music usage quarter.
✔ YouTube has quarterly reporting.
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📌 Example: If your track was listened to on Spotify in January, reporting will start from the pay day of October 30th of the same year.

📌 Additional Note:

These timelines apply to usages made and collected in Italy and across Europe. In the case of uses abroad, royalties are collected by local collecting societies under reciprocal agreements. The corresponding royalties are then transferred to Soundreef for distribution to the rights holders. In such cases, reporting and payment timelines are determined by the local societies and are not managed by Soundreef.

✔ No, changes made to the artist name in your Soundreef account do not automatically reflect on digital platforms.
​✔ Soundreef and digital distributors operate separately.
✔ If you need to update the artist name on Spotify, Apple Music, or other DSPs, you will need to contact your distributor directly.
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📌 Note: You can still update the artist name within your Soundreef repertoire independently by accessing your account, section Tracks.

🔹 Do I need to have an ISRC to register with Soundreef?
No, it is not mandatory, but it is highly recommended to improve online tracking and royalty collection.

🔹 Is Content ID active on all my tracks?
Only if your distributor provides it. Soundreef does not directly activate Content ID: it is managed by YouTube and your distributor.

🔹 Does the artist name on Soundreef update on Spotify or Apple Music?
No, changes in Soundreef do not reflect on DSPs. To update data on streaming platforms, you need to contact your distributor.

To facilitate effective tracking of your online usage, it is important to correctly register tracks with Soundreef, and it is very useful to include the ISRC.