Handling 'odd' characters

Artist names and song titles can be written in different scripts, from Thai and Cyrillic to Kanji to Roman and Greek – but they can also contain glyphs that are not part of any common script. Examples include “the symbol” used by the artist formerly known as Prince or the planet used as the title of the opening song on Coldplay’s “Music of the Spheres” album.

Clearly, these glyphs should be communicated in DDEX messages so that DSPs can display them to consumers. However, not all systems – especially those not focused on handling display information – are able to handle non-script glyphs. But in order to allow consumers to search for artists and creations with names or titles containing non-script glyphs, companies should always accompany such glyphs with a transcribed string.

Communicating titles in RIN & ERN

When communicating a title of a release or resource it is recommended to communicate two titles as follows (using the syntax of ERN-4):

<DisplayTitle>
    <TitleText>&#&1FA90;</TitleText>
</DisplayTitle>
 
<AdditionalTitle TitleType="TransliteratedTitle">
    <TitleText>Music of the Spheres</TitleText>
</AdditionalTitle>

Note the UTF character U+1FA90 is the "ringed planet": 🪐.

Or, for standards where the TitleType of TransliteratedTitle does not exist use this:

<DisplayTitle>
    <TitleText>&#x1FA90;</TitleText>
</DisplayTitle>
 
 
<AdditionalTitle TitleType="UserDefined" UserDefinedValue="TransliteratedTitle" Namespace="DDEX">
    <TitleText>Music of the Spheres</TitleText>
</AdditionalTitle>

Communicating names in RIN & ERN

When communicating an artist whose name contains a non-script glyph it is recommended to communicate two names as follows (again: using the syntax of ERN-4):

<Party>
    <PartyName IsDefault="true">
        <FullName>O(+&gt;</FullName>
    </PartyName>
    <PartyName>
        <FullName>The Artist formerly known as Prince</FullName>
    </PartyName>
</Party>

Communicating titles and names in RDR, MWN/MWL/LoD & DSR/CDM

It is recommended to only communicate the transcribed titles and names in these messages and to not use any non-script glyphs. If available, a TitleType of TransliteratedTitle may be used as an attribute to communicate that a title is not in its original form.

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