Global Release Identifier


The Global Release Identifier is a system to identify releases of digital sound recordings for electronic distribution. It is designed to be integrated with identification systems deployed by key stakeholders from across the music industry.

Basic construction

A GRid consists of 18 alphanumerical characters that are grouped into four elements as follows:
;Identifier Scheme element : “A1” denotes a GRid.
;Issuer Code element : A unique identifier of the organisation responsible for allocating the GRid, issued by the International GRid Authority.
;Release Number element : Uniquely identifies the specific bundle of digital resources compiled by the issuer, where “a digital resource is a digital fixation of an expression of an abstract work, such as a sound recording, an audio-visual recording, a photograph, software, a graphic image or a passage of text.”
;Check Character element : The check character is computed according to Mod 37, 36.
When a GRid is written, printed or otherwise visually presented, the four elements of the
GRid should be separated from each other by a hyphen. For clarity, it can also be prefixed with “GRid:”. Neither the hyphens nor the “GRid:”-prefix form part of
the GRid. It is recommended that when a GRid is visually presented, the font used should
clearly distinguish between the digits ‘1’ and ‘0’ on the one hand, and the letters ‘I’ and ‘O’ on the other hand.
The following character strings all denote the same GRid:
Where: