1 Introduction

One main part of the music industry supply chain is the delivery of Resource, Release and product information from Release Creators, typically record companies, to Release Distributors, typically DSPs. This information flow can happen either direct or via intermediaries and DDEX has developed a series of standards for this: The Electronic Release Notification Message Suite (ERN), supported by a series of choreography and profile standards. ERN has been designed to convey the essential information about the Releases, Resources, involved parties as well as the commercial terms and conditions under which such Releases and Resources can be made available.

To offer a rich user experience, especially for instance, to support voice-activated music discovery and playback, DSPs require rich information which would not normally appear in current ERN formatted messages even though some of it might be available at the record company. However, DSPs may also obtain such information from other sources, herein called Metadata Providers, and this standard defines the means by which a DSP can obtain such information as part of an ERN feed, a separate FTP-communicated message or via web services. 

Any organisation wishing to implement this (or any other DDEX Standard) is required to apply for an Implementation Licence. The terms of the licence and an application form can be found here and here.

This standard was developed by the member organisations of the Digital Data Exchange, LLC (DDEX) and provides a suite of messages that give a uniform mechanism to enable Release Creators (usually record companies) to inform DSPs about Releases — whether they are newly created or “back catalogue” — that are available for distribution to consumers.

This standard also enables Release Creators to inform DSPs in a standardised way the terms and conditions under which such Releases can be made available.