Common Works Registration (CWR)

Common Works Registration (CWR) is a standard format for the registration and revision of musical works. To learn more, please see CWR user manual provided by CISAC here.

Please contact us here. Select "Common Works Registration (CWR)" as the subject in the contact form's dropdown menu.

No. Third-party music publishing software that produces CWR compliant registration files is available commercially.

Mid to large sized publishers have found that CWR is the most efficient way to register thousands of works with CMRRA on a regular basis.

After you contact us, we will provide FTP credentials. CWR files are dropped off and picked up from the specified folders. Please note CWR folders on the FTP server are named from CMRRA’s perspective: CWR files sent to CMRRA should be placed in the “\incoming” folder (incoming to CMRRA); and, files sent from CMRRA will appear in the “\outgoing” folder (outgoing from CMRRA). For more information, please see the “Getting Started” document.

Please see the Technical Specifications, as provided by CISAC here.

If a file was correctly submitted, we will notify you of the error; however, if the file was not sent in correctly, we may not be aware of the issue. Possible causes of an incorrect submission: added to the incorrect folder, file sent in "zip" or other compressed format, file name indicates a different society instead of CMRRA code "088", duplicate file name, bad file format.

Not at the current time.

CWR files will typically be processed upon receipt. The first ACK file will be created within 24-48 hours.

Second ACK files include all works that have been incorporated into our licensing system triggered by a Canadian territory licence request or by royalty usage data. Since the activity can happen at any time, the second ACK file can include registrations from multiple files.

All works included in a second ACK file will be assigned a CMRRA work number.

Please contact your representative at the third-party company.

Yes, as long as the works include records for any of the following territories: Canada, American Continent, Commonwealth, North America or World.

We will provide confirmation after the test phase has been successfully completed.

CMRRA does not validate every single CWR registration received. Our Licence and Distribution System (LDS) has advanced auto-matching protocols which will enable us to quickly and efficiently validate works information for licensing purposes and royalty distribution. These processes will be prioritized by activity levels. All works for which we provide a second ACK transaction will be visible in CMRRA Direct; these works are considered to be in a payable position.

CMRRA Direct now allows for members to register single song priority titles.

To register multiple titles, you can use the CMRRA Song Registration template in Excel format.

If you are able to produce a file for mass song registration, please contact CMRRA (select CWR in the Contact form's "Subject" dropdown menu) and we will assist you.