Communicate territory information in different kinds of releases

NewReleaseMessages are designed, primarily, to allow record companies and aggregators to communicate information about releases to DSPs, and about how such DSPs can make releases available to consumers.

The NewReleaseMessage also supports cases where a DSP offers “user generated content” for which the record company/aggregator needs to specifically make a statement on what rights it controls. Finally, ERN messages are used to communicate release information to metadata companies such as fingerprinting services where, again, information about the controlled rights needs to be shared.

This means that some ERN messages need to contain rights control information, whereas others do not – and this difference has an impact on how territory information is usually provided:

ERNs without RighsController composites

The typical set-up is that the sections describing releases and resources provide information for the world whereas the Deal section provides commercial information for a selected set of countries (see also the article on how to handle “Territories in Deals and Release Descriptions”).

ERNs with RighsController composites

In cases where the record company or aggregator need to communicate information about which rights they hold in each release, it is not possible to provide worldwide information. Instead the sections describing releases and resources provide information that is typically restricted to those territories for which the Deal provides a commercial offer.