4.1 Terms and definitions

For the purposes of this Part 3 of the ECM standard the following terms have the definitions specified in this clause. Although all the terms below are capitalised, they appear in the text of the ECM standard in lower case, for ease of readability. This does not apply in this standard to Entity Cluster, Entity Cluster Type, Cluster Root and Duplicate ISRC Cluster because these terms are specialised for the purpose of the ECM standard.

Cluster

See Entity Cluster

Cluster Member

An entity that is part of a cluster, in accordance with the relevant Entity Cluster Type’s disambiguation rules.

Cluster Root

An entity within a cluster that is designated as the primary reference point for that cluster and to which all other cluster members are understood to refer.

In this part of the ECM standard the Cluster Root does not imply greater authority, correctness, or legal precedence over other cluster members, nor does it imply modification, revocation, or replacement of any identifiers associated with those members. It serves solely as an organisational and communicative construct to anchor the cluster and to facilitate consistent reference within and between messages.

Disambiguation

A mechanism to determine whether entities are the same or not with regard to the specifications of an identification scheme, and hence should be assigned a single identifier or different identifiers. Disambiguation is typically performed through the application of a well-defined set of metadata elements, referred to as the reference metadata for the relevant identifier scheme.

In this part of the ECM standard, disambiguation must be performed with the ISRC standard and the ISRC Handbook, as referenced in Clause 2. The principles governing ISRC assignment, including the rules and criteria for disambiguating sound recordings for the purpose of identifier allocation, are defined in ISO 3901. These principles provide the authoritative framework for determining whether multiple manifestations represent the same sound recording or should be treated as distinct resource requiring different ISRCs.

Duplicate ISRC Cluster

A Duplicate ISRC Cluster is a set of two or more International Standard Recording Codes (ISRCs) that have been assigned to the same sound recording, or to sound recordings that are identical with respect to the ISRC disambiguation criteria. ISRCs within such a cluster shall be understood to identify a single underlying sound recording.

Entity Cluster

A well-defined set of entities grouped together as part of an Entity Cluster Type.

Entity Cluster Type

A collective noun for all clusters that are based on the same set of rules.

Member

See Cluster Member

Music Video

An audio-visual recording of the performance of a musical work.

Reference Metadata

A set of metadata items describing characteristics of the entity being identified which are used by an identifier scheme’s disambiguation rules to determine whether two entities are “the same” (with respect to that identifier system) or “not the same”.

Sound Recording

An audible persistent manifestation of a subject (often but not necessarily of a performance). Sound Recordings may embody one or more musical works.