Mark Isherwood, who leads DDEX’s Secretariat, says the persistent failure to reliably link musical works to their sound recordings is the most pressing unresolved issue in music data. The gap continues to complicate royalty matching and payment accuracy across the industry.
Isherwood’s comments come ahead of a DDEX summit next month backed by Meta, where the topic is expected to feature prominently. DDEX, which develops data standards used widely across labels, publishers, and streaming services, has long worked to improve metadata exchange industry-wide.
The renewed focus signals continued pressure on the sector to fix foundational data infrastructure as streaming revenue and catalog valuations increasingly depend on precise rights attribution.
Read the full story at Music Business Worldwide.