CISAC, publishers and recording industry come together to upgrade harmonised music cue sheets

The new Global Cue Sheet Standard 2.0 ​​​​has been developed for the use of all parties who create and use cue sheets for music in AV productions. It provides the relevant metadata​​ elements to help identify musical works and sound recordings, and to ensure correct distribution of rights income generated.

The project has been implemented in a collaboration between CISAC, representing authors societies worldwide, music publishers, Film and TV studios, and producers through the Society Publisher Forum, and, for the first time, IFPI representing the international recording industry.  

The Society Publisher Forum (SPF) is a joint initiative of CISAC, ICMP, and IMPA and is supported by the AIMP and IMPF. Societies, publishers, producers, Film and TV studios, and video-on-demand platforms have been involved to ensure optimum implementation of the project globally.

This extended collaboration to include recording metadata elements means that the cue sheets standard will support not only authors’ rights collections but neighbouring rights as well.

The project entails a comprehensive sample cue sheet which can be used as a template with a set of standardised terminology. This can be used by all parties across the different formats and platforms.  

The Global Cue Sheet Standard 2.0 describes the relevant metadata elements of the production in which the works and recordings have been featured. It also includes the context and duration of the music usage, incorporating many existing internationally recognised identifiers. It is available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

Main benefits of the harmonised cue sheets include:

1. Improved efficiency when processing cue sheets and amending the details of a musical work and sound recording.

2. A more streamlined musical work and sound recording registration process.  

3. Payment records can be linked to musical works and sound recordings documentation, so that publishers and labels can efficiently track royalty payments.  

4. Greater consistency between the publishers’ registrations and the societies’ payments for exploitation of Film and TV productions.  

Encouraging universal adoption

The harmonisation is intended to benefit all global interested parties. To achieve these benefits, it is essential the project is communicated and implemented globally, comprehensively and effectively.

To maximise prompt adoption, CISAC members are encouraged to communicate this initiative to their members and business partners. 

Further information:

• The Global Cue Sheet Standard 2.0 document replaces the previous version: Cue Sheet Standards and Rules (CISAVX17-1197).

• The Global Cue Sheet Standard 2.0 consists of a comprehensive list of Cue Sheet Data Elements which have been extracted from various formats like AVR, RapidCue, Soundmouse and society formats from ASCAP, BMI, GEMA, KODA, PRS and SOCAN.

• The Global Cue Sheet Standard 2.0 document, including sample cue sheet, is available for download on the CISAC website.

For additional information or questions please contact info@societypublisherforum.net.