Release Country
7.1.1. "Country" refers to the market of the release. Identifying the country can be very easy or quite obscure. Small labels will usually be based, and released, in the same country. Larger labels or labels with licensing deals overseas are harder, but the country should always be the place the release was sold and distributed in. For Imports, the country they are imported from is the country of release.
7.1.2. The country is NOT determined by where the release was manufactured. A release intended for the US market, for instance, might be manufactured in Canada. If you are unable to discern the correct country of the release, please leave the Country field blank and use the submission notes field to provide any information present on the release to assist others with identifying the country.
7.1.3. The country for releases on smaller labels is the country in which the label is based. If there is a good reason to enter a different country in an individual case, that reason must be explained in the submission notes.
7.1.4. The country option "Worldwide" should be used when a release is specifically marketed as worldwide and/or intended for domestic (i.e., not an "import") release around the world.
* File-based releases available for download without territorial restrictions.
* Physical releases (since about 2010) through record companies with intended global distribution.
7.1.5. Sometimes a release will have more than one country (of distribution) explicitly referenced on the release. Please ask in the Database Forum if you have any questions. For instance:
Distributed in Europe and the UK by XYZ Company; use "UK & Europe.” Example: MegaMix
Copyright by XYZ Company (in the US) and Copyright by CBA Company (in the UK); use "UK & US." Example: Graniittisutra
Rights Societies
7.2.1. Right Societies administer royalty collection and payments on behalf of affiliated organizations. The appearance on a release can be a clue to the country of origin - a piece in the puzzle. It is still possible that the item was manufactured for release in some other market. The following is a list of initials for the organizations of composers, songwriters, publishers, and other administrators of copyright, mechanical rights, performance rights, etc. and can be of some help. Any questions, please ask in the Database Forum.
- BIEM = An organization which has had different roles over the years, but for Discogs use they are essentially a rights society. (More information: http://www.biem.org)
- ACAM = Costa Rica
- ACDAM = Cuba
- ACUM = Israel
- ADDAF = Brazil, founded in 1958
- AEPI (or ΑΕΠΙ) = Greece
- AGADU = Uruguay
- AKKA/LAA = Latvia
- AKM = Austria
- ALBAUTOR = Albania
- AMCOS = Australia, New Zealand
- APA = Paraguay
- APDASPAC = Peru
- APDAYC = Peru
- APRA = Australia
- ARTISJUS = Hungary
- ASCAP = USA
- AUSTROMECHANA = Austria
- AWA = German Democratic Republic (GDR)
- BMI = USA
- BUMA = Netherlands
- CAPAC = Canada (Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada) (defunct) (See Wikipedia)
- CASH = Hong Kong
- CEDAR = Netherlands
- CISAC = international
- CMRRA = Canada
- COTT = Trinidad, Tobago
- EMSE (or ΕΜΣΕ) = Greece
- EAU = Estonia
- FCA = Fiji
- FILSCAP = Philippines
- GEMA = Germany
- GESAC = Europe
- GESAP = Georgia
- GRAMO = Norway
- GVL = Germany
- HDS = Croatia
- HFA = USA
- IMRO = Ireland
- IPRS = India
- JASRAC = Japan
- KCI = Indonesia
- KODA = Denmark
- KOMCA = South Korea
- LATGA-A = Lithuania
- MACP = Malaysia
- MECOLICO = UK
- MCPS = UK
- MCSC = China
- MCSK = Kenya
- MESAM = Turkey
- MUSICAUTOR = Bulgaria
- MUST = Taiwan
- NCB = Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania, Estonia - also written as "n©b"
- OSA = Czech Republic (former Czechoslovakia)
- PAMRA = UK
- PPL = UK
- PROCAN = Canada (Performing Rights Organization of Canada Limited) (defunct) (See laws.justice.gc.ca)
- PRS = UK
- RAO = Russian Federation
- SABAM = Belgium
- SACD = France
- SACEM = France
- SACEM Luxembourg = Luxembourg
- SACM = Mexico
- SACVEN = Venezuela
- SADAIC = Argentina
- SAMI = Sweden
- SAMRO = South Africa
- SAYCO = Colombia
- SAZAS = Slovenia
- SBACEM = Brazil
- SCPP = France
- SCD = Chile
- SDRM = France
- SEDRIM - Italy
- SENA = Netherlands
- SESAC = USA
- SGA = Guinea-Bissau
- SGAE = Spain
- SGDL = France
- SIAE = Italy, The Vatican, San Marino
- SOCAN = Canada
- SODRAC = Canada
- SOKOJ = Serbia, Montenegro (former Yugoslavia)
- SOZA = Slovakia (former Czechoslovakia)
- SPA = Portugal
- STEF = Iceland
- STEMRA = Netherlands
- STIM = Sweden
- SUISA = Switzerland, Liechtenstein
- TEOSTO = Finland
- TONO = Norway
- UACRR = Ukraine
- UBC = Brazil
- UCMR-ADA = Romania
- ZAIKS = Poland
South African releases may also be identified by logos for: ASAMI (The Association of the South African Music Industry) up to 2000; and its successor organisation: RiSA (The Recording Industry of South Africa) from 2000. These are trade bodies and not rights societies.