Page 56 - ION Indie Magazine JULYAUG 2024

Performing Rights Organizations ISWC Codes (International Standard Work Code)

Although you’ve now gone the distance by adding copyright to your song(s), you still

need to join a PRO like ASCAP (American Society of Authors and Publishers), BMI, or
SOCAN, for instance. By registering your songs with the PROs, you gain another
identifier code related to the performance and publishing of your song creations.

Unlike the copyright, where you can register and obtain multiple ISRC codes
(International Standard Recording Code), you only get one ISWC code for the life of the
song creation, no matter how many versions of the track you record, mix, and release.

They are all derivatives of the original song creation, complying with international
copyright law. The basis of this is to give one song one code for the life of the creator
and 70 years after the creator he/she /they have passed.

THE MONOPOLIES of MUSIC: These groups have tricky language like “non-exclusive,”
“reciprocal,” and “exclusivity,” all in one sentence. What does that even mean?

One point of contention needs to be addressed
by the PROs, and I invite President/Chairman of

the Board of ASCAP, Mr. Paul Williams, to
address the language found in the membership
registration regarding the “non-exclusive” portion

of the agreement. PROs have reciprocal
agreements with other CMOs (Collective
Management Organizations), who change the

original agreement to include exclusivity clauses
which makes the CMO the new owner of a song
by separating the creator from the creation and

their ownership of the SR (Sound Recording). In
2021, the notoriously unregulated CMO
COMPASS in Singapore took other broadcasters

to copyright court over non-payment and literally
represented the songs as though they were the
ones being infringed, not the original creators.

The PROs should change the language or offer
free legal advice (interpretation) of the legal
terms utilized, as song creators are not legal

minded and there are no declarations to obtain
legal advice prior to signing with a PRO.