Columns reference for the CWR creator

Updated October 29, 20266 min readGeneral

Use this guide to look up a column in the CWR creator template. CWR (Common Works Registration) is the text format publishers use to register works with collecting societies.

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The template has 29 columns. The table below follows the creator's own column list, in the same order as the template. It is the same list that the "How to fill it in" sheet of the Excel template shows.

How to read the table

Read on rows of type lists the row types that use the column. A value on any other row type is left out of the file, and the creator warns you.
Must be filled on lists the row types that must have a value. "Optional" means no row type must fill it.
Where a column says what an empty cell means, it is in What to put in it.

The columns

Column	Read on rows of type	Must be filled on	What to put in it
Row type	All	All	What this row describes: WORK, WRITER, PUBLISHER, ALT TITLE, PERFORMER or RECORDING.
Work number	All	All	Your own number for the work, up to 14 characters. Every row of one work carries the same number, and each work has one WORK row.
Title	WORK, ALT TITLE, RECORDING	WORK, ALT TITLE	The title of the work (WORK), the other title (ALT TITLE), or the title of the recording (RECORDING). Up to 60 characters.
ISWC	WORK	Optional	The work code, if it has one: T and ten digits. Dashes and dots are fine.
Language	WORK, ALT TITLE	Optional	Two-letter language code of the title, for example EN or FR.
Duration	WORK, RECORDING	Optional	Length as minutes: seconds (3:25) or hours:minutes:seconds (1:03:25).
Category	WORK	Optional	POP, JAZ or UNC. Left empty, the file says UNC (unclassified).
Party key	WRITER, PUBLISHER	Optional	A short label of your choice for a publisher, such as P1, so a writer can name it in the Publisher column. Optional.
Controlled	WRITER, PUBLISHER	WRITER, PUBLISHER	Y if you represent this writer or publisher and collect for them, N if not.
Role	WRITER, PUBLISHER	WRITER	Writer: C composer, A author of the words, CA both, AR arranger, AD adaptor, SR sub-arranger, SA sub-author, TR translator. Publisher: E (original publisher); empty means E.
Name	WRITER, PUBLISHER, PERFORMER	WRITER, PUBLISHER, PERFORMER	A writer or performer: the last name, or the one name they go by. A publisher: the company name. Up to 45 characters.
First name	WRITER, PERFORMER	Optional	The first name, if there is one. Up to 30 characters.
IPI name number	WRITER, PUBLISHER, PERFORMER	Optional	The 11-digit IPI name number. Required for a publisher you control. Leading zeros that a spreadsheet dropped are put back only when the padded number passes the check-digit test.
PR society	WRITER, PUBLISHER	Optional	Three-digit code of the society that handles performing rights for this party. Optional.
MR society	WRITER, PUBLISHER	Optional	Three-digit code of the society that handles mechanical rights for this party. Optional.
SR society	WRITER, PUBLISHER	Optional	Three-digit code of the society that handles synchronization rights for this party. Optional.
PR owned %	WRITER, PUBLISHER	Optional	Share of the performing right this party owns, as a percentage such as 33.33. Empty means 0.
MR owned %	WRITER, PUBLISHER	Optional	Share of the mechanical right this party owns, as a percentage. Empty means 0.
SR owned %	WRITER, PUBLISHER	Optional	Share of the synchronization right this party owns, as a percentage. Empty means 0.
PR collected %	WRITER, PUBLISHER	Optional	Controlled parties only: the performing share you collect for them. Empty means the same as PR owned %.
MR collected %	WRITER, PUBLISHER	Optional	Controlled parties only: the mechanical share you collect for them. Empty means the same as MR owned %.
SR collected %	WRITER, PUBLISHER	Optional	Controlled parties only: the synchronization share you collect for them. Empty means the same as SR owned %.
Territories	WRITER, PUBLISHER	Optional	Controlled parties only: four-digit territory codes (TIS) separated by semicolons. Empty means 2136, the whole world.
Publisher	WRITER	Optional	Controlled writers only: the publisher the writer is published by, named by that publisher row's Party key or its IPI name number. Several can be separated by semicolons.
Title type	ALT TITLE	Optional	Kind of alternative title: AT (alternative, the default), TE, FT, IT, TT, PT, RT, ET, OL or AL. OL and AL need a Language. The original title goes on the WORK row, so OT is not accepted.
ISRC	RECORDING	RECORDING	The recording code: 12 letters and digits. Dashes are fine.
Release date	RECORDING	Optional	First release date as YYYY-MM-DD.
Album	RECORDING	Optional	Title of the album the recording first came out on. Up to 60 characters.
Label	RECORDING	Optional	The record label. Up to 60 characters.

"All" means all six row types: WORK, WRITER, PUBLISHER, ALT TITLE, PERFORMER, and RECORDING.

Three things the table does not show

IPI name number. The column is optional on most rows. It is required for a publisher you control (Controlled = Y). See Fix row problems.
Party key. The key is optional. You need it only when you want a writer to name the publisher in the Publisher column. See Writers, publishers and shares.
Controlled writers and publishers. The columns PR collected %, MR collected %, SR collected %, Territories, and Publisher are used only for parties you control. On a party with Controlled = N, the creator leaves them out and warns you.

Other spellings of a column name

The creator reads these names as the column on the left. Capital letters, extra spaces, dashes, underscores, and dots do not matter.

Column	Also read as
Row type	Type, Record type
Work number	Work no, Work #, Submitter work number
Party key	Row key, Key
Name	Last name, Surname
IPI name number	IPI, IPI name #, IPI number
Territories	Territory

A column the template does not have is left out of the file, and the creator warns you. A column the sheet leaves out reads as empty. A sheet must have Row type and Work number. See Fix row problems.

Short forms the creator also reads

Row type: "ALTERNATIVE TITLE" or "ALT" for ALT TITLE, and "ARTIST" for PERFORMER.
Controlled: Y, YES, TRUE or 1 for yes, and N, NO, FALSE or 0 for no.