# Is there a unique identifier for music recordings? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 9, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-unique-identifier-for-music-recordings/813870 "2018-05-09T16:55:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-unique-identifier-for-music-recordings/813870/1 "2018-05-09T16:55:00Z")
Is there an identifier for music recordings that is analogous to the ISBN for books? If I want to identify a recording as a reference, is there a way to do it? ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-unique-identifier-for-music-recordings/813870/2 "2018-05-09T20:36:55Z")
Have you asked Siri? Or Alexa? Most phones have this capability to identify a song. It doesn’t work as well for classical music in my experience though. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-unique-identifier-for-music-recordings/813870/3 "2018-05-09T20:38:11Z")
Sorry, I see you are asking something slightly differently. [Gracenote](http://www.gracenote.com/company/support/) is one database. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-unique-identifier-for-music-recordings/813870/4 "2018-05-09T20:44:44Z")
I don’t think there’s anything that simple to use. If you go to [loc.gov](http://loc.gov) and your recording comes up on their search, you could then hit the “Cite” button and get thrown a stack of information big enough to let any sentient being find the one you mean - but not a simplified unified system, no. For better or more useful advice, I suggest you contact the music librarian at your nearest university. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-unique-identifier-for-music-recordings/813870/5 "2018-05-09T22:25:11Z")
From what I have seen you list the year, artist , song , album name and the record label that put out the music. like this: Artist A, Song X, Album Y, year, Record label Z ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-unique-identifier-for-music-recordings/813870/6 "2018-05-09T22:26:32Z")
Since this is about music, let’s move this to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-unique-identifier-for-music-recordings/813870/7 "2018-05-09T22:30:06Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Is there an identifier for music recordings that is analogous to the ISBN for books? If I want to identify a recording as a reference, is there a way to do it? Yes. It’s the ISRC, the [International Standard Recording Code.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Recording_Code)