How To Get ISRC Codes & Report Music Sales for Charts to Luminate

Understanding ISRC codes is crucial for tracking performance and reporting music sales for chart inclusion accurately. Learn how to get ISRC codes and report music sales for charts to Luminate.

How To Get ISRC Codes and Report Music Sales for Charts to Luminate

by Joseph Longo via Bandzoogle

Are you gearing up to release a new album or single into the world? Excellent! You’re approaching the final steps, after a lot of work. There’s still preparation to be done before you sell your album online — learning about ISRC codes is an important piece in the puzzle of your release.

As an independent musician, you’ll want to sell music through your website. This way, the most money goes directly to you, the artist, with no commission taken by a third party. With enough sales, your release might chart with Luminate (formerly SoundScan), the company that powers the Billboard charts. This can generate buzz for your career and get you media and industry attention.

To report sales made through your own music website to Luminate for the Billboard charts, you’ll need to get ISRC codes for each song. Reporting sales to Luminate is a built-in feature if you have a Bandzoogle website and opt for the Pro plan.

Now let’s address some questions you might have, including where to get ISRC codes, how to apply them to your tracks, and how to be sure your music sales are getting reported to Luminate:

What is Luminate (formerly SoundScan) and why is it important for my music?

Luminate is a tracking system that reports to the Billboard music charts. They track sales of music across more than 50 genres in 48 markets. To have your music considered for Billboard charts, your tracks must each have an associated ISRC code.

While it’s certainly not necessary, getting your song onto a Billboard chart is definitely a nice measure of success, and one that’s achievable by independent artists more than ever before.

Proving that you can sell music will goes a long way towards booking shows and garnering buzz for your band. This, in turn, can generate interest in your music from the media, potential sponsors, management and record labels, and other music industry professionals.

What is an ISRC code, and why do you need it?

ISRC stands for International Standard Recording Code. It’s a unique —and permanent—identifier for a sound recording, and is used to measure sales.

Which music tracks are eligible for reporting?

Any music product that carries an ISRC code is eligible to be tracked by Luminate. However, in addition to having a valid ISRC code, your track must sell for at least $0.69 USD, and your album must sell for $4.99 USD or higher.

Who can apply for an ISRC code?

If you own the rights of the track, you can apply for its ISRC code.

How do I get ISRC codes for my songs?

If you’re using a digital distributor such as DistroKid to distribute your music to streaming platforms, there’s a very good chance that you already have ISRC codes. Check your DistroKid account to retrieve the ISRC codes for your tracks.

If you do not have your music distributed through an aggregator, but would like to submit your sales to Luminate, you’ll need to purchase ISRC codes. You can head over to https://isrc.ifpi.org/en/contact/national-agency-contacts to look for agencies in your area and get your codes.

In the United States, check out http://www.usisrc.org to either obtain a Registrant Code (which allows you to assign ISRC codes) or to look for an ISRC manager that can assign codes for you. You could also look at using a service such as www.isrc.net.

In Canada, go to http://connectmusic.ca and apply directly.

Once you get an ISRC code for a track, it’s permanent for the life of the track. Think of it like a digital fingerprint — you only have to get it once.

How do I apply ISRC codes to my tracks on my website?

Add ISRC codes to your tracks through your Bandzoogle website to be sure your digital sales are reported to Luminate. These are the steps to follow:

• In your ‘Edit Content’ tab, click ‘Add feature’ and select a music feature (Single / Album / Track List / Compact Player / Music)
• Upload your new track, or select an existing track from your account, or import an existing track from SoundCloud
• Add your code in the ISRC code field in the ‘ID3 tags’ section
• Click the ‘Save track’ button

When do online music sales through my website get reported to Luminate?

We automatically submit music sales reports daily to Luminate for charting.

If you have set up a pre-order and make sales prior to your release date, all of the sales are reported once your music is released.

How do I report sales made at live shows?

If you want to report sales of your music from live shows to Luminate, a service such as ‘atVenu‘ provides live venue sales reporting.

You can also encourage fans at the show to grab a copy of your latest release from your website directly. Use QR codes to direct them back to your site seamlessly to make the purchase.

Are my music streams reported to Luminate?

While Luminate does track streaming stats, we report sales data only. So if you’re looking to chart in the streaming category, you’ll want to make use of a digital distributor like DistroKid to make sure your music is available on as many streaming platforms as possible.

Still have more questions about Luminate? Check out our Help article: Reporting Sales to Luminate.