The administration of the ISMN is not centralized, but is operated by agencies in each participating country or region. The local agencies assign the publisher IDs to the publishing houses and, on request, single item IDs (including check digit) to the music publications. Major publishers allocate the item IDs themselves. The agencies can provide a full list of correct numbers for a publishing company to build up its own register.

In order to make the rules of the standard known to the public in their respective country or region, the agencies publish a translation of the Users' Manual in the respective language. With the help of this manual, local agencies in all parts of the world are able to monitor the system and keep records of all the ISMNs which have been allocated to music prints.

For specific information on the local agencies, the dissemination of the ISMN in their country or region and reports on local particularities of the application of the ISMN please refer to the following pages: