This year the International Standard Music Number (ISMN) is looking forward to celebrating its 10th anniversary. The number of countries involved with the ISMN-system currently amounts to 41 and fortunately continues to grow. The new membership in the ISMN system of the following countries: U.S.A., Israel, New Zealand, Indonesia, Spain, Poland, Estonia, Kosova, Moldova, Armenia, and Georgia is evidence of the successful efforts of the International Agency to promote the standard and its merits on every possible occasion that presents itself.

In particular, the ISBN agencies in the countries in which the ISMN is not yet in use were targeted anew about the Music Standard and informed about the rationalising effects which would come with its implementation--and for good reason.Although they apply to printed products of different characters, the ISMN and the ISBN are very closely related to one another: The 10-digit format of the International Standard Music Number was intentionally adapted to the ISBN, which was already very successfully established in the market in 1993.

Above all, the U.S.A.'s participation may be viewed as an essential step towards a worldwide establishment of the ISMN. According to an estimation of the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) based on a census of 53 Regions, the U.S.A. and Germany covered over 60% of the worldwide turnover for printed music.

(see http://www.nmpa.org/nmpa/survey11/NMPA2002survey11thEdition.pdf).