DDEX Party Identifier (DPID)

As part of the process of issuing a DDEX Implementation Licence, DDEX will also allocate each applicant a DDEX Party Identifier (DPID). The specification for the DPID standard can be found here. The governance of the DPID standard is managed in accordance with the DPID Governance standard the text of which can be found here. The links below provide more information about DPIDs.

All DPIDs are associated with the data which describes the entity to which the DPID has been allocated. This data is provided during the course of applying for an implementation licence. The application form for the implementation licence and DPID can be found here. Please click on the Apply for a DPID tab.

All the DPIDs that have been allocated to organisations that have implemented one or more of the DDEX standards are held in the DPID registry which can be accessed by any organisations that has itself been allocated a DPID. Information about how to access the DPID registry is available here.

 Purpose of DPID

A DPID uniquely identifies each sender and recipient of a DDEX formatted message. Companies that do not send or receive DDEX messages themselves may also be allocated DPIDs if they work with a technical service provider that exchanges the messages on their behalf. Therefore, it is also possible to identify the "endpoints" of any data flow facilitated by a DDEX message.

 DPID in Message Header

Each DDEX message sent contains a MessageHeader element which:

  • Identifies who sent the message, in the MessageSender tag; and 

  • To whom the message was sent, in the MessageRecipient tag. 

The MessageHeader element can also be used to identify if a message was sent by the message sender on behalf of a third party in the SentOnBehalfOf field. This information enables the message recipient's IT system to automatically determine whether, and how, to process the message. 

 Expressing a DPID

The canonical form of a DPID is, for example, in XML:

<PartyId>PADPIDA3897722461G</PartyID>

DPIDs should be used, in DDEX messages, without hyphens. For human readability hyphens may be added. Therefore, the HTML/PDF export of the DPID registry contains hyphens whereas the XML export does not.

 One company one DPID

In most circumstances each company in the music industry value chain only needs one DPID. This even applies to cases where a business operates different business models as the combination of the DPID of the business and information of the product type (for example, releases being available as pay-as-you-go downloads or as a ringtone) will be sufficient to determine how to process the information. 

 Cases for assignment of multiple DPIDs to a business

If different units within a single company operate independent message feeds, additional DPIDs can be separately applied for and do not require another DDEX Implementation Licence to be taken out.

However, to obtain multiple DPIDs for a single company you do need to have been assigned at least one DPID already before being able to apply for additional DPIDs. When making such an application, you must choose a different "company name" to indicate the difference between the various DPIDs being allocated to your company. For example:

  • Company X (Video Service); and

  • Company X (Audio Service); or

  • Company Y (Copyright Department); and

  • Company Y (Royalty Department).

If a company serves multiple clients, then the company may need a DPID for each of its clients. For example:

  • Distributors/aggregators who provide services to many, typically small, labels to allow them access to the market; and

  • A company operating several distribution channels.

In these circumstances, as well as being able to apply for additional DPIDs, it may be possible to enter into an agreement with DDEX to be authorised to issue DPIDs on DDEX’s behalf. If you wish DDEX to consider authorising your organisation to issue DPIDs on DDEX’s behalf, please contact us.

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