PRS for Music says that the new online portal will also provide links between works and recordings identifiers. For the first time, metadata attributed to over two million works will be published, with plans to release millions more over the following 12 months.

PRS for Music notes that the recent Digital Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee’s enquiry into the Economics of Streaming highlighted the need for greater availability and transparency of industry metadata. The enquiry also highlighted how improvements to the current systems were needed to accelerate the flow of royalties to music creators. By releasing this information PRS for Music says that it is “determined to remove key barriers to the flow of royalties worldwide, ultimately improving the matching of sound recordings and musical works and increasing the speed and accuracy of royalty payments”.

PRS for Music explains that the online tool will give songwriters, composers and music publishers greater visibility and increased control over their data, with the ability to search and download key data about their works. Importantly, it will also allow them to highlight any discrepancies. The new tool will give Digital Service Providers (DSPs) access to writer information, facilitating more songwriter credits on streaming services.

Central to the new initiative is publishing the links between the ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) and ISWC (International Standard Musical Work Code) identifiers, which is an essential element in identifying musical works online. PRS for Music says that trust and visibility in these key identifiers are “critical to improving the claiming and distributing of royalties to songwriters, composers and publishers”.

The portal will give access to vital works data, including writer and composer names, the musical work and recording title(s), the ISRC, the ISWC, the Interested Parties Identifier (IPI) numbers, as well as the Tunecode (PRS for Music’s unique identifier).

PRS for Music has also convened a consortium of industry experts, including DSPs, record labels, music publishers and other rights management organisations, to support the design and implementation of the new service.

The portal will launch early 2023 and will be free to access. To read PRS for Music’s announcement in full, click here.