The International Standard Music Number or ISMN (ISO 10957) is a thirteen-character alphanumeric
identifier
An identifier is a name that identifies (that is, labels the identity of) either a unique object or a unique ''class'' of objects, where the "object" or class may be an idea, physical countable object (or class thereof), or physical noncountable ...
for
printed music
Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed books or pamphlets in English, Ara ...
developed by
ISO
ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization.
ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance
* Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007
* Iso ...
.
Overview
The original proposal for an ISMN was made by the UK Branch of
IAML (International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres), put forward by Alan Pope (Blackwell's Music Department, Oxford), Malcolm Lewis (music librarian in Nottingham) and Malcolm Jones (music librarian in Birmingham). A draft ISMN structure and application was presented at the 1987 IAML conference in Amsterdam, then after further discussions at the 1989 IAML conference in Oxford it was decided that the UK, French and German branches should, through their respective national standards bodies (BSI, AFNOR and DIN) file ISMN as an ISO work project. After meetings in Ottawa and Paris in 1993 the draft was finalized and published by ISO.
The original format comprised four elements: a distinguishing prefix M, a publisher ID, an item ID, and a check digit, typically looking like M-2306-7118-7. From 1 January 2008 the ISMN was defined as a thirteen digit identifier beginning 979-0 where the zero replaced M in the old-style number. The resulting number is identical with its
EAN-13
The International Article Number (also known as European Article Number or EAN) is a standard describing a barcode symbology and numbering system used in global trade to identify a specific retail product type, in a specific packaging configurati ...
number as encoded in the item's barcode. The 979
Unique Country Code
Unique primarily refers to:
* Uniqueness, a state or condition wherein something is unlike anything else
*In mathematics and logic, a unique object is the only object with a certain property, see Uniqueness quantification
Unique may also refer ...
prefix is known as "
Musicland
The Musicland Group, Inc. was an entertainment company that ran Musicland, Sam Goody, Discount Records, Suncoast Motion Picture Company, On Cue, and the Media Play Superstore Chains. The Musicland Group was purchased by Best Buy in 2001 at the he ...
".
The current format comprises four blocks: the prefix ''979-0'' reserved for ISMNs — at some future date they are expected to occupy the remainder of the 979 space which is shared with
ISBN
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.
An ISBN is assigned to each separate edition and ...
s, a block to identify the publisher, another to identify the item and one final check digit. The
TC 46/SC 9
ISO/TC 46 is Technical Committee 46 of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), responsible for Information and documentation.
Overview
The scope of the committee is 'standardization of practices relating to libraries, documenta ...
is responsible for the standard.
A publication may be assigned both an ISBN and an ISMN. Unlike the ISBN, the ISMN does not segregate publishers by country.
Check digit
The check digit is calculated in the same way as an ISBN-13. Specifically, each digit of the ISMN is multiplied by a weight, alternating 1 and 3 left to right. These weighted digits are added together. The check digit is the integer between 0 and 9 that makes the sum a multiple of 10.
The check digit for a pre-2008 code, M-xxxx-xxxx-c is computed in the same manner as the EAN check digit for the 13-digit code obtained by replacing M with 9790. In other words, the old and new codes differ only by the replacement of M with 9790, with no change in the check digit. This differs from, for example, the ISBN to EAN mapping where the check digit must be recalculated.
Examples
For instance, for the item with ISMN beginning 979-0-060-11561:
: 1×9 + 3×7 + 1×9 + 3×0 + 1×0 + 3×6 + 1×0 + 3×1 + 1×1 + 3×5 + 1×6 + 3×1
: = 9 + 21 + 9 + 0 + 0 + 18 + 0 + 3 + 1 + 15 + 6 + 3
: = 85
As 85 mod 10 = 5, the check digit is 10 - 5 = 5 and the full number is 979-0-060-11561-5.
For another example,
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...
's collection of
Guitar Craft scores has the ISMN 979-0-9016791-7-7.
[
] Given first 12 digits 979-0-9016791-7, the ISMN algorithm evaluates
: 1×9 + 3×7 + 1×9 + 3×0 + 1×9 + 3×0 + 1×1 + 3×1 + 1×6 + 3×7 + 1×9 + 3×1
: = 9 + 21 + 9 + 0 + 9 + 0 + 1 + 3 + 6 + 21 + 9 + 3
: = 123
which implies that the check digit is indeed 7 (because 123+7=130=13×10).
See also
*
International Standard Musical Work Code
International Standard Musical Work Code (ISWC) is a unique identifier for musical works, similar to ISBN for books. It is adopted as international standard ISO 15707. The ISO subcommittee with responsibility for the standard is TC 46/SC 9.
Forma ...
References
External links
International ISMN AgencyISMN Users Manual 2016
{{Authority control
ISO standards
Checksum algorithms
Identifiers
Unique identifiers
Library science
Music industry
Year of introduction missing