How to use BWARM

The Bulk communication Work And Recording Metadata standard (BWARM) has been designed to allow a company to provide its business partners with a bulk feed of work and work right share information. BWARM is a “database dump” comprising a number of files. Each file can be thought of as an export of a relational database table.

As a consequence, the BWARM feed can be depicted in the form of an entity relationship diagram:

(While BWARM was specifically designed to allow The Mechanical Licensing Collective to provide a feed as required by the US Music Modernization Act, other companies may find the format helpful as well.)

The coloured frames in the diagram highlight the main entities whose data is communicated in a BWARM data feed: musical works (blue), resources (orange), releases (yellow) and unclaimed right shares and unmatched resources (green).

Musical works

The blue frame groups the files relating to musical works. The key file is the MusicalWorks file and loading the data of the MusicalWorkIdentifiers and AlternativeMusicalWorkTitles files only make sense if the MusicalWorks file is loaded:

Each record in the MusicalWorks file describes a musical work by an ISWC, a MusicalWorkTitle, a NominalDuration and other data items.

To provide alternative titles for a work (translations for example) relevant data can be provided in the AlternativeMusicalWorkTitles file. The links between the AlternativeMusicalWorkTitles records and the related MusicalWorks records are established by the MusicalWorkRecordId cell in the records of the AlternativeMusicalWorkTitles file.

It is also possible to provide proprietary identifiers for the musical work using the MusicalWorkIdentifiers file. Again, the link to the Works record is effected by the MusicalWorkRecordId.

Sound recordings and music videos containing musical works

The orange frame groups the files relating to recordings such as sound recordings and music videos. The key file is the Resources file and loading the data of the ResourceIdentifiers and AlternativeResourceTitles files only make sense if the Resources file is loaded.

Each record in the Resources file describes a recording by an ISRC, a Title, a DisplayArtistName and other data items.

To provide alternative titles, for example translations, data in the AlternativeResourceTitles file can be added. The links between the AlternativeResourceTitles records and the related Resources records are established by the ResourceRecordId cell in the AlternativeResourceTitles records.

It is also possible to provide proprietary identifiers for the resource using the ResourceIdentifiers file. The link to the Resources record is effected by the ResourceRecordId.

The link to the underlying musical work(s), which is embodied in the sound recording, is effected via the WorkResourceLinks file (see below).

Releases containing sound recordings and/or music videos

The yellow frame groups the files relating to releases. The key file is the Releases file and loading the data of the ReleaseIdentifiers file only make sense if the Releases file is loaded.

Each record in the Releases file describes a release by a UPC (in the ICPN cell), a ReleaseTitle, a DisplayArtistName and other data items.

It is possible to provide proprietary identifiers for the release using the ReleaseIdentifiers file. The link to the Releases record is effected by the ReleaseRecordId.

The link between a release and the recordings it contains is effected by the ReleaseRecordId in the Recordings file.

Right shares of musical works

BWARM’s main purpose is to communicate right shares using the MusicalWorkRightShares file. It provides data such as the share percentage, the territory and the rights type. This file is also marked in blue in the diagram.

The link to the work for which the right share is provided is effected by the MusicalWorkRecordId. The MusicalWorkRightShares file also has a link to the Parties file (see below).

In addition, BWARM also enables a feed provider to make available all shares of all works for which the feed provider has unallocated shares, using the UnclaimedMusicalWorkRightShares file, and unmatched resources, using the UnmatchedResources file. These two files are marked in green in the diagram.

The link to the work for which the right share is provided is effected by the MusicalWorkRecordId.

Parties

Parties are, in the context of BWARM, entities that hold a right share (which can be writers or publishers) as well as companies that have allocated a proprietary identifier. Each such party may be identified by a FullName, ISNI, IpiNameNumber and other data items in the Parties file.

The link of a MusicalWorkRightShares record to the party is effected by the PartyRecordId in the MusicalWorkRightShares file. The same reference identifier is also used as AllocatingPartyRecordId for indicating the party that created a proprietary identifier.