More Information
Is the ISMN mandatory, and what does it cost?
The ISMN is not mandatory, but it is used by most publishers because the ISMN unmistakably identifies the publication. The ISMN is free of charge.
The ISMN and the EAN barcode
Music publishers can print a machine- readable ISMN in their publications as an optically readable OCR (Optical Character Recognition) code; the ISMN must be printed in OCR-B format.
The ISMN can also be printed as an EAN barcode. The international 13-digit barcode has rapidly been taken into use worldwide.
All barcodes start with a three-digit national prefix, except the barcodes for serials, books and printed music publications.
In the international booktrade the following 'bookland' prefixes are used:
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977 serials
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978 books
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979 music publications
The prefix 979 is followed by the complete ISMN, which contains a check digit. In the barcode the numerical value of the letter M is zero (0).
