ISMN is the International Standard Music Number, ISO Standard 10957. It is a unique number for the identification of all notated music editions from all over the world. The edition can be in printed or digital format and be for sale, for hire or distributed free of charge; whether a part, a score, or an element in a multi-media kit.

Everyone who comes in contact with notated music publications needs an ISMN. Its usefulness is recognized internationally by composers, music publishers, music traders, libraries and rights organizations.

The International Standard Music Number is an efficient organizational and simplification tool wherever notated music publications are produced, distributed, sold and lent. The ISMN gives added value to the entire music industry chain.

The key benefit is the ability of the ISMN to accurately identify and track products through their lifetime. Tracking allows capturing of critical information, follow-up of products, use of the worldwide supply chain, monitoring and synchronization. Other gains are improved stakeholder communication, greater interoperability of systems, increased opportunities to automate processes, better management of data, improved ordering and sales, online information exchange, transparency in the field of copyright, streamlining of royalty payments, simplification of legal deposit in libraries and more efficient and effective cataloguing.

There is sometimes the question whether the ISMN is really useful to countries with a small music production.

There are indeed advantages:

• Bibliographical control over published material including music
  It is necessary to list and preserve the national production of publications – usually the responsibility of national libraries which issue national bibliographies. If notated music is left out a possibly small but significant part of the publications would be neglected and would not be preserved. Bibliographic resolution is usually managed by international standard numbers, in the case of music by the ISMN.
• Making music publications internationally more visible
  While music publications of large publishers and organisations are easy to find those from small music countries would not be included in databases and bibliographic catalogues without ISMN to allow easy record management. If not to be found in such catalogues the publications are considered non-existent or not available.
• Facilitating identification, especially also those in less common languages
  ISMN allows easy identification and overcomes the obstacles of foreign languages and scripts and can be read and used by anybody.
• Allowing including of titles in music catalogues and music in print publications
  As the ISMN is designed for notated music it filters out music items from the big amount of other publications and makes searches fast and manageable.
• Facilitating ordering and distribution, especially internationally
  International standard numbers are the identifiers used by the trade for ordering and distribution. Items without these numbers cannot be processed automatically and are neglected.

For the composer the ISMN helps timely and accurate royalty payments and lifelong unquestionable ownership of the piece of music.

The number helps music publishers, traders, libraries and right organisations in managing the supply chain through close tracking of a products movements, enhanced communication, greater interoperability of systems, automated workflows, exact data management, increased visibility, streamlining of accounts payable and smoother progress of an outsourcing workflow.

Using an unique ID for each product creates a smoother and more efficient ordering and selling process and information exchange in the own company and in the supply chain. The use of a barcode scanners simplifies the actual handling of the items in stock and in the delivery and sales processes with suppliers and customers.

The number is deemed most useful in the simplification of the title registration process, tracking and close follow-up of music usage, transparency in copyright issues and streamlining of royalty payments.

The number is esteemed for its usefulness in the simplification of the acquisition and legal deposit process, inclusion in library catalogues and comprehensive data structuring.

Depending on the context conjuncted standards may be

• International Standard Musical Work Code (ISWC) – identifies a musical work
• International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) – identifies a music recording
• International Standard Audiovisual Number (ISAN) – identifies a film

No, the ISMN and ISBN are separate numbering systems; ISBN is the International Standard Book Number which identifies text-based publications and ISMN is the International Standard Music Number which identifies notated music publications. They are also distinguished from each other through different specializations, different supply and distribution channels, access to global markets, hiring and ordering processes and global directories.

There are a number of very good practical reasons and important differences that speak in favor of this solution. In the end it is neccessary for music to have with the ISMN an independent and own identifier. Here are just a few aspects:

• Music is relatively specialized and international, independent of languages.
• The music sector (publishing, trade, libraries, rights, musicians) seems to have similaraties superficially, but in detail there are many differences to the book sector; supply and distribution channels often are not the same; the demand and need for music publications is mostly very different; Music is more specialised and the sortiment has a great depth; Music rarely has mass market items offered in high volumes, but if a specific music is excisting (composed and published), the musicians should be able to find it.
• Libraries often have specific departments or separated music libraries for music publications.
• Rights associations for book publications and for music publications are often (mostly) separated organizations.
• Depending on a countries tradition, the cultural relevance and a national promotion of the art and cultural heritage can be quite different – literature and music are not the same thing (obviously).
• Music is clearly excluded from ISBN in the text of the standard.
• Some ISBN agencies, libraries and those connected with private companies, refused to cover music publications, owing to lack of experience in this field. Sharing contingents of numbers within one country would easily lead to confusion.
• Not all people (staff) can read and thus work with music. Futhermore, they do not know enough about “how music is performed” to understand which music publications are needed for a performance. All this is an important factor in handling in trades and in other facilities and organisations with music publications. Even now when so much can just be processed in automatic ways, there is need for a certain knowledge about music and how it works in pracitce. In addition, lots of music is produced in small editions by composers, church communities etc. and this is still manually.
• There are distribution forms which do not exist in the book-trade, e.g. hire materials.
• By means of the ISMN music publications can be easily filtered out of the huge amount of other publications . The quality “it is music” is directly connected with the ISMN. Customers do not have to search the needle in the haystack, namely music among millions of non-music items.
• In contrast to Books in Print, Music in Print should be an international directory.

The national agency of your country will provide you with an International Standard Music Number for your publication. A list of the agencies may be found here. 

The cost of obtaining an ISMN varies from country to country. Please contact your national agency for exact fees.

If you wish to obtain an ISMN, please contact your national ISMN agency. The local ISMN representative will give you further information about the procedure of the ISMN assignment.

In this case, please contact the International ISMN Agency in Berlin. 

No.

Yes, you need a new ISMN for a new title.

Yes, this is a new title and you need a new ISMN for any new publication if there is a change in the content, format or any other main characteristics. The print version and the digital version are different items and thus need different ISMN regardless if the content is the same.

No. It is the country where the publisher is based which determines which national agency should assign the publisher ID, not the language of the text.

A (substantial) change requires a new ISMN.

No. The original number must be retained.

No. There is no change of text, format or binding which would justify a new ISMN.

No. A price change does not require a new ISMN.

An additional publisher ID can be assigned–allowing for a larger output if necessary. This is an additional ID, and not a replacement.

No. An ISMN identifies a given title, and its edition and binding for all time. Even if out of print it will still exist in some shops, and will certainly still exist in libraries.

The rules state that in a publication consisting of scores and parts, the full score, the set of parts as a whole, and each individual part (if available separately) must be assigned their own ISMN.

Not until reprinted under your own imprint, carrying your own name.

Yes. Braille music publications can be assigned an ISMN.

The publisher should continue to use these until they are exhausted. If the publisher ends music publication, the not yet assigned numbers remain unused.