The National Library of Australia

Changes to Australian International Standard Music Number

For associations representing publishers or the music book trade.

The National Library of Australia has been operating the  (ISMN) Agency since 2001 to assist publishers of music in Australia. Similar to other numbers used internationally in the book trade, such as ISBNs and ISSNs, ISMNs are used in over 50 countries around the world.

An ISMN is a unique number used to identify a particular piece or item of music, and is used for all formats of music publications, including print, electronic, facsimile, microform and Braille. Publications in digital notation file format are eligible as well. For composers, publishers, libraries and archives, performers and other users, the ISMN provides a unique way of permanently identifying different manifestations and published versions of scores and parts. For publishers and retailers, it can assist in stock control, identification, quick and efficient ordering and distribution of items. An ISMN can be easily converted to bar-codes for electronic point of sale, hire or loan systems.

Currently there are over 120 Australian music publishers registered for this free service. We have recently been advised by the International ISMN Agency in Berlin that ISMNs should be issued in 13 digits from 1 January 2008. This will bring ISMNs in line with ISBNs which formally changed over to 13 digits in January 2007. The expansion of the 10-digit ISMN to 13-digits involves replacing the alphabetical prefix ‘M’ with the numerical prefix ‘979-0’. For instance, a number such as M-72003-900-8 will become 979-0-72003-900-8. The resulting 13-digit number should be identical with the EAN-13 number that is currently encoded in the bar code.

As the Australian ISMN Agency we are in the process of updating our online forms and internal databases to accommodate this change. While there will be a transition period of up to 12 months we are expecting the international and Australian music publishing business to be handling 13-digit ISMNs well before the end of 2008.

If you would like more information on ISMNs or on the Australian ISMN Agency, please visit our web site at http://www.nla.gov.au/ismn. We can be contacted by phone at 02-6262 1777 or by email at ismn@nla.gov.au