International Standard Name Identifier
Also known as ISNI
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Short answer
An International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI) is a 16-character identifier, defined by ISO 27729 and published in 2012, for the public identity of a person or organization involved in creative works — a songwriter, a performer, a pseudonym or a label. It tells two people with the same name apart, and ties one person's several names together.
What an ISNI identifies
An ISNI identifies a public identity rather than a legal person. A songwriter who also records under a stage name can hold one ISNI per name, linked to one another; two unrelated artists who share a name hold two different ISNIs. The identifier is used across books, music, film and research, which is what makes it useful as a bridge between catalogs that otherwise share no keys.[1]
Format
An ISNI is fifteen digits followed by a check character, which is a digit or the letter X. It is displayed in four groups of four (0000 0001 2345 6789) and resolved as sixteen unspaced characters, e.g. https://isni.org/isni/0000000123456789. Confusing the two forms is a common reason a published ISNI link fails to resolve.[1]
Use in the music industry
Music metadata standards from DDEX carry ISNIs for contributors, and many registration agencies issue them to artists on request. Paired with the ISRC of each recording and the ISWC of each work, an ISNI lets a catalog say unambiguously who made what. Knowledge graphs also use it as an authority record: linking a person's profile to their ISNI is a stronger identity signal than any display name.
Questions
Is an ISNI the same as an IPI number?
No. An IPI (Interested Parties Information) number is assigned within the collecting-society system to identify rights holders for royalty purposes; an ISNI is a cross-industry identifier for a public identity. Many writers have both.
Can one person have more than one ISNI?
Yes, one per public identity. A writer who publishes under a real name and a pseudonym can have an ISNI for each, linked in the registry.
Why does my ISNI link not work?
Most often because the spaces were left in. The URL form uses the sixteen characters with no spaces.
References
- ISNI International Agency. “ISNI — International Standard Name Identifier.”