Territories, alternative titles, performers and recordings

Use this guide to fill in the territory, title, performer, and recording parts of the CWR creator template. CWR (Common Works Registration) is the text format publishers use to register works with collecting societies.

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Territories

The Territories column says where a controlled writer or publisher collects. It is read only on WRITER and PUBLISHER rows with Controlled = Y.

• Write four-digit territory codes (TIS) separated by semicolons: 0826;0840. The creator also reads commas and spaces.
• An empty cell means 2136, the whole world.
• 0826 is the United Kingdom. If a spreadsheet drops the zero and leaves 826, the creator puts it back.
• A code listed twice is used once, and the creator warns you.
• A code that is not a current territory code is an error.
• A code that stands for a group of territories gets a warning. The checker cannot add up shares per country for a group, so it will not check the collection shares for that work.

Each controlled party has its own list. The shares collected in one territory must not add up to more than 100% across the work. See Writers, publishers and shares.

Details on the WORK row

Alternative titles

Use one ALT TITLE row for each other title the work is known by. The row needs the same work number as the work.

• Title is required.
• Title type is optional. An empty cell means AT, an alternative title. The other types are TE, FT, IT, TT, PT, RT, ET, OL, and AL. The CISAC document "CWR lookup tables (CRF020)" lists them. The creator page links to it under "Sources".
• Language is optional, but OL and AL need one.
• The original title goes in Title on the WORK row. The type OT is an error on an ALT TITLE row.

Performers

Use one PERFORMER row for each artist. Name is required: the last name, or the one name the artist goes by. First name and IPI name number are optional.

Recordings

Use one RECORDING row for each recording.

• ISRC is required. It is 12 letters and digits. Dashes are fine, so ZZ-EX1-26-00001 works. The creator tests the shape only.
• Title, Duration, Release date, Album and Label are optional. Write the release date as 2026-03-06.

Capital letters and special characters

The file holds text in capitals, and each field has a width. The creator turns your text into capitals and cuts text that is too long. It warns you and shows what it will cut the text to. Titles are up to 60 characters. Names are up to 45. First names are up to 30.

Letters outside plain A to Z get a warning, because most societies reject them. An alternative title of type OL or AL may have them. When your sheet has such letters, the file names its character set as UTF-8. Ask your society whether it reads UTF-8.

A line break or a tab inside a cell is read as a space. Hidden zero-width characters are dropped without a message. Any other control character, and the soft hyphen, is an error. Type the text again.

What to check next

1. Add your sheet and read the problems table. See Fix row problems.
2. Check the built file in the CWR checker.