4.1 Terms and Definitions

For the purposes of this standard, the following terms, written in the remainder of this standard with capital letters, should be read as having the meanings specified here. These definitions sometimes contain other capitalised terms. Most of those terms are relevant for this standard and are defined in this Clause as well. The remainder of the capitalised terms are defined for the purpose of supporting other DDEX standards and have no special meaning for the purposes of this standard.

Block

A group of Records in a Message created in accordance with a flat-file standard that communicate information that belongs intrinsically together. All Records in a Block carry the same Block Identifier and all Records with the same Record Identifier belong to the same Block. The identifier of a Block shall be unique within a Sales Report Message created in accordance with this standard.

All Records of a Block are contiguously provided within a Message.

In the CDM Standard Blocks comprise the description of a claims and/or invoice details, plus any auxiliary information (if provided).

Cell

An individual data element in a Record. Cells are separated by Delimiters.

Contractually Mandatory

An entity in a DDEX Message that has the technical cardinality of 0-1 or 0-n but that is mandatory when a DDEX message is sent in a specific commercial context.

Contractually Mandatory fields may, however, be mandatory when a DDEX message is sent in a specific commercial context. In such circumstances, a message is deemed conformant only if and when it contains all the “contractually mandatory” fields as agreed by Message Sender and Message Recipient.

Delimiter

A character that delineates, in a flat file, either one Record from another Record or one Cell from another Cell.

Note: there are also Secondary Delimiters used in this standard.

Flat File Sales Report Messages (DSRF)

A Sales Report Message created in accordance with the Digital Sales Reporting Message Suite Standards (Architecture and Profiles). A Flat File Sales Report Message may be split into several individual files.

Head Release

A Release, originally communicated by the owner (or its agent) of a sound recording or audio-visual recording to a Licensee who then distributed that Release to consumers, whose Usage, Revenue or Sales are described in a Sales Report Message created in accordance with this standard.

Head Resource

A Resource whose Usage, Revenue or Sales are described in a Sales Report Message created in accordance with this standard. Head Resources are not communicated as part of a Head Release.

Licensee

A Party that is granted a Licence in respect of rights in one or more Creations, by a Licensor. The Licensee may be a human being or other legal person or corporate entity. The Licensee may or may not be the Message Sender or Message Recipient of a message in a specific information exchange defined by a DDEX Standard.

Licensor

A Party that grants a Licence in respect of rights in one or more Creations to one or more Licensees in accordance with the authorities it has been granted to do so by one or more Rights Controller(s), Rights Administrator(s) (where applicable), Licensing Agent(s) (where applicable) or Rights Holder(s). The Licensor may be a human being or other legal person or corporate entity. The Licensor may or may not also be the Rights Controller, the Rights Administrator, the Licensing Agent or the Rights Holder in the Creation(s) that are the subject of the Licence granting the rights. The Licensor may or may not be the Message Sender or Message Recipient of a message in a specific information exchange defined by a DDEX Standard.

Musical Work

A Work intended to be perceivable as a combination of sounds, with or without accompanying text.

Any words that are intended to be expressed with a MusicalWork (often termed Lyrics) form part of that MusicalWork; not all MusicalWorks have Lyrics.
A MusicalWork may be expressed and fixed to become part of a SoundRecording or a Video Recording, or may be used to create notated music (sheet music, scores, instrumental parts) or sound generation codes (such as MIDI files).
In some cases, the MusicalWork comes into existence simultaneously with its expression. This is common in extemporised forms such as jazz music.

Profile

A subset of a DDEX standard. Profiles define how to use the capabilities of a DDEX standard in a specific commercial context.

Release

A Release is an abstract entity representing a bundle of one or more Resources compiled by an Issuer. The Resources in Releases are normally primarily sound recordings or music audio-visual recordings, but this is not invariably the case. The Release is not itself the item of trade (or “Product”). Products have more extensive attributes than Releases; one Release may be disseminated in many different Products.

Resource

A digital fixation of an expression of an abstract Work (such as a sound recording, a video, an image, software or a passage of text). Resources are individual assets that make up a Release. Typical Resources are sound recordings, video clips and cover art images.

Revenue

The amount of money generated in accordance with the commercial relationship between Licensee and Licensor for the distribution of Releases to consumers.

Rights Controller

A Party that controls rights in one or more Creations in respect of some or all rights for specific territories, time periods, Rights Types, Usage Types and Commercial Model Types (which may be anything up to and including all rights for the world, in perpetuity, for all types of Usage and for all types of Commercial Models). Creations include Musical Works, Sound Recordings and other Resources as well as Releases.

A Rights Controller is in many cases also the Licensor.

A Rights Controller may be a human being or other legal person or corporate entity.

A Rights Controller may or may not also be the Rights Administrator, the Licensing Agent or the Rights Holder.

A Rights Controller may or may not be the Message Sender or Message Recipient of a message in a specific information exchange defined by a DDEX Standard.

Sale

Distribution of a product to end consumers. For the avoidance of doubt, the term “sales” includes all forms of distribution of products, whether revenue was generated, or not and, where revenue is generated, regardless of the business model used to do so.

Sales/Usage Report Message

See Flat File Sales Report Messages (DSRF).

Sales Context

The combination of one territory, one currency, one use types, one commercial model types, one subscriber type and one service description for which a sales/usage report is being created. It is permissible, subject to both parties agreeing, to communicate multiple Sales Contexts in one sales/usage report.

For the purposes of this standard Sales Contexts include, both the combination of one or more territories, one or more currencies, one or more use types, one or more commercial model types and/or one or more service descriptions for which a sales/usage report has been generated,  and the combination of one or more territories, one or more currencies, one or more use types, one or more commercial model types and/or one or more service descriptions for which sales or usages are anticipated, and for which a claim is to be made. 

Secondary Delimiter

Delimiter used to separate data elements within a single Cell.

Sub-Release

 A Release that is being created from one or more of the primary Resources of a Head Release, typically by the Message Sender.

For the purpose of this standard these Sub-Releases are being created by the Message Sender who is making Releases, and tracks from such Releases, available to consumers. These “unbundled tracks”, that is, all the tracks from a Release each made available separately, are the simplest form of Sub-Releases.

Usage

The identification of the Releases and Resources that actually get exploited by Licensees exercising a range of business and delivery models for the distribution of Releases to consumers, including the amount of use of each Release or Resource.