The Global Release Identifier (GRid) is a system to identify
release
Release may refer to:
* Art release, the public distribution of an artistic production, such as a film, album, or song
* Legal release, a legal instrument
* News release, a communication directed at the news media
* Release (ISUP), a code to ident ...
s of
digital
Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits.
Technology and computing Hardware
*Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals
**Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...
sound recording
Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording te ...
s (and other digital
data
In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted ...
) for electronic
distribution Distribution may refer to:
Mathematics
*Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations
* Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...
. It is designed to be integrated with identification systems deployed by key
stakeholders from across the
music industry
The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...
.
(GRid should not be confused with the Global Repertoire Database (GRD), a system to track ownership and control of musical works, which was planned from 2008–2014 but ultimately failed.)
Basic construction
A GRid consists of 18
alphanumeric
Alphanumericals or alphanumeric characters are a combination of alphabetical and numerical characters. More specifically, they are the collection of Latin letters and Arabic digits. An alphanumeric code is an identifier made of alphanumeric ch ...
al
character
Character or Characters may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
* ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
s (
numerical digit
A numerical digit (often shortened to just digit) is a single symbol used alone (such as "2") or in combinations (such as "25"), to represent numbers in a positional numeral system. The name "digit" comes from the fact that the ten digits (Latin ...
s and
capital letters
Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...
as defined in
ISO/IEC 646
ISO/IEC 646 is a set of ISO/IEC standards, described as ''Information technology — ISO 7-bit coded character set for information interchange'' and developed in cooperation with ASCII at least since 1964. Since its first edition in 1 ...
:1991-IRV, which is identical to
ASCII
ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...
) that are grouped into four elements as follows:
;Identifier Scheme element (2 characters): “
A1” denotes a GRid.
;Issuer Code element (5 characters): A unique identifier of the organisation responsible for allocating the GRid, issued by the International GRid Authority (i.e., the
IFPI
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 19 ...
).
;Release Number element (10 characters): Uniquely identifies the specific bundle of digital resources compiled by the issuer, where “a digital resource is a digital fixation of an expression of an abstract work, such as a sound recording, an audio-visual recording, a photograph, software, a graphic image or a passage of text.”
;Check Character element (1 character): The
check character is computed according to
ISO 7064:1983 Mod 37, 36.
When a GRid is written, printed or otherwise visually presented, the four elements of the
GRid should be separated from each other by a
hyphen
The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. ''Son-in-law'' is an example of a hyphenated word. The hyphen is sometimes confused with dashes (figure d ...
. For clarity, it can also be
prefix
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...
ed with “GRid:”. Neither the hyphens nor the “GRid:”-prefix form part of
the GRid. It is recommended that when a GRid is visually presented, the font used should
clearly distinguish between the
digits ‘
1’ and ‘
0’ on the one hand, and the
letter
Letter, letters, or literature may refer to:
Characters typeface
* Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet.
* Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...
s ‘
I’ and ‘
O’ on the other hand.
The following character
strings all denote the same GRid:
*
A12425GABC1234002M
*
A1-2425G-ABC1234002-M
*
GRid:A1-2425G-ABC1234002-M
Where:
*
A1 – Identifier Scheme element
*
2425G – Issuer Code element
*
ABC1234002 – Release Number element
*
M – Check Character element
Registration
GRid codes can be registered through becoming a GRid issuer with the
IFPI
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 19 ...
[ or by using the GRid generator contained in the ]Sound Credit
Sound Credit is a music credits platform with computer software applications for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. It includes the Sound Credit Publisher cross-platform desktop application, the Tracker cross-platform digital audio workstation ( ...
desktop application.[
]
See also
* International Standard Recording Code
The International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) is an international standard code for uniquely identifying sound recordings and music video recordings. The code was developed by the recording industry in conjunction with the ISO technical committ ...
(ISRC)
External links
GRid home page
of the IFPI
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 19 ...
Grid Standard V2.1
References
{{reflist, refs=
[{{cite web , title=What is GRid? , author= , url=https://www.ifpi.org/resource/grid/ , website=IFPI , publisher=IFPI , access-date=2020-11-27]
[{{cite web , title=ISRC and GRid Codes for Music Receive Top Quality Tech , author= , url=https://blog.sound.credit/post/ISRC-and-GRid-Codes-for-Music-Receive-Top-Quality-Tech , website=Sound Credit , publisher=Sound Credit , access-date=2020-11-27]
Unique identifiers