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Recording Data and Rights Standards (RDR)

The exchange of accurate and consistent data between music licensing companies, record companies and performer representatives is essential for the effective of the rights of record companies and performers across multiple territories. This exchange includes detailed data relating to sound recordings, music videos and associated sales and usage data that underpin the calculation and distribution of royalties.

The complexity of this exchange arises from the multi-territory licensing of sound recordings and the reciprocal mandates under which music licensing companies collect and distribute royalties. Repertoire and rights data is therefore exchanged bilaterally between record companies, performer representatives, and licensing companies at a local level, according to the mandates in force for each territory. The RDR standard is used to support this cross-border data exchange efficiently, accurately, and at scale.

The Parts of the RDR standards were developed to address the highly specialised nature of data used in the collective management of related (neighbouring) rights. This data is often subject, directly or indirectly, to national legislation governing how music licensing companies operate. In particular, music licensing companies require authoritative data to establish that record companies and/or performers are legally entitled to receive royalties in accordance with applicable national laws and reciprocal agreements.

What are music licensing companies?

Music licensing companies manage data relating to the administration of the rights in the recordings and the performances on those recordings. Music licensing companies therefore represent the owners of those sound recordings, usually record companies, and all the performers or contributors that appear on those sound recordings.

Specifically, music licensing companies administer rights in what are known as eligible recordings. This includes recordings originating from their territory (local recordings) and those that originate from territories where the recordings are subject to copyright protection similar to that of the local territory (non-local recordings).

In order to do this, music licensing companies have to manage comprehensive data on local and non-local recordings. The data includes:

Core repertoire data (including the name of the recording and artist);
Data about the performers on the recording;
Data about rights and eligibility; and
Data that will help to accurately identify the usage of the recordings.

Music licensing companies generally license radio and TV broadcasting, public performances, background music services, non-interactive streaming and dubbing (i.e. the copying of recordings associated with delivering these services) as well as private copying levies. The royalties generated from this licensing is distributed to record companies and performers.

These uses may implicate the right of remuneration and/or exclusive rights and this knowledge base uses the term music licensing company when referring to neighbouring rights societies generally, whether they actually license users or if they only collect the remuneration from users licensed by law.

Music Licensing Company Message Suite and Choreography standard (pre 2020)

Some of the parts of the RDR suite of standards were previously all contained in a single standard which was called the Music Licensing Company Message Suite and Choreography Standard or the MLC standard. However, the creation of The Mechanical Licensing Collective in the US (“the MLC”) as a result of the Music Modernization Act, began to cause considerable and understandable confusion.

The last version of the Music Licensing Company Message Suite and Choreography is in version 1.4 and is currently the most commonly implemented Recording Data and Rights standard. MLC 1.4 was published in 2018.

Music Licensing Company Message Suite and Choreography standard

Recording Data and Rights standard (post 2020)

As part of updating MLC version 1.4 the standard was renamed the Recording Data and Rights (RDR) Standards and evolved from a single specification into three distinct Parts: RDR-N version 1.5, published in March 2021, and, RDR-R and RDR-C both in version 1.1, published in October 2020. A fourth part, RDR-RCC, has since been added to the RDR standard.

The parallel use of the acronyms MLC and RDR means that some existing documentation will continue to reference the MLC Standard. While this may result in minor inconsistencies in terminology, the MLC Standard and the Recording Data and Rights Standard refer to the same specification, albeit different versions, and the term MLC Standard will be phased out over time.

There are four Parts in the Recording Data and Rights standard:

Part 1 – Recording Data and Rights Communication Protocol (RDR-C)

Part 2 – Recording Data and Rights Notification (RDR-N)

Part 3 – Recording Data and Rights Revenue Reporting (RDR-R)

Part 4 – Recording Data and Rights Rights Claim Conflict (RDR-RCC)

RDR implementation help and support (incl. contacts details)

Companies that are planning to implement the Recording Data and Rights (RDR) standards or those who are currently in the process of implementing can contact companies that have already gone through this process and are actively using the standards to date. For details please see here.