What's new
DDEX is always updating this site with new or upgraded standards or new articles that provide advice and guidance into the implementation of one of DDEX’s standards. DDEX also, occasionally, publishes documents or White Papers which do not relate to a particular existing standard but provide thought provoking insight from its members into a new subject area for which DDEX might consider developing communication or other standards at a later date.
Below please find the latest such updates.
Identifier schemes are crucial tools in the management of intellectual property, exploitation of that intellectual property and the operational infrastructure required to manage the associated rights transactions. While it is possible to carry out these tasks without the use of any identifiers, their use makes the communication of the information needed to carry out these tasks significantly more efficient. Such efficiency is crucial, particularly in the context of music streaming services where the number of transactions number billions and the individual transaction value, fractions of pennies.
Fundamental to any identifier scheme is that it contains very clear definitions which separate different entities of the same class for a specific business purpose. However, for other business purposes it may be beneficial to group, or “cluster”, entities that are usually considered to be different but that share some common characteristics. One example would be a cluster of all the versions of, say, “Someone Like You” (which would cluster Adele’s original with cover versions by the cast of Glee, Ice Nine Kills, Lewis Capaldi and others).
This White Paper lists the policies and processes for creating such clusters.
Some versions of DDEX standards are over 10 years old and have over time been superseded by newer versions with greater functionality and/or with simplified structures.
On 24th February 2023, DDEX announced that the following standards will be “sun-set” from 2025 onwards:
All versions of the XML variant of the Digital Sales Reporting Message Suite standard (DSR);
All versions of the Electronic Release Notification Message Suite standard (ERN) that have the main version number of 3 and the version 4.0 of that standard; and
All profiles for the above ERN standards, which are:
Version 2.0 and earlier of the Release Profiles for Common Release Types; and
Version 1.4 and earlier of the Business Profiles for Common Deal Types.
The DSR XML Version has been unsupported for a number of years. This means that there have been no updates, bug fixes or AVS additions made to this standard during this time, and this will remain the case going forward. Therefore, from 1st March 2025 all XML versions of the DSR standard, including the text, the XML schemas and all articles or implementation advice about it will be removed from all DDEX websites.
For all the versions of the ERN standard with the main version number 3 and its profiles, and version 4.0 of the ERN standard and its profiles, there is a longer lead time before the process concludes.
So, firstly, from 1st March 2025, all the versions 3 and the version 4.0 of the ERN standard and their respective profiles will no longer be supported. This means that from that date no further updates, bug fixes or AVS additions will be made to these versions of the standard. Secondly, from 1st March 2026 these standards, including the texts, the XML schemas, Schematron rules, and all articles or implementation advice about them will be removed from all DDEX websites.
After 1st March 2025 and 1st March 2026 respectively, copies of the texts of these versions of the DSR and ERN standards and, where relevant, the XML Schema, samples and Schematron rules will only be available on application to the DDEX Secretariat.