Music Catalog Reconciliation

Find missing or conflicting song links before updating your recording catalog. Compare your catalog with registration exports you supply, review the evidence, and download the ISRC–MLC Song Code pairs you approve.

Use it when a catalog has blank song codes, two exports disagree, or you need a review list before making corrections. You can compare up to three registration exports in one run.

Start with a file preview

1. Set your Apify account’s General resource access to Restricted before adding files. Only upload data you are authorized to process.
2. In Input, start with Catalog files and Preview files. Try the small example, or replace it with your catalog and first registration export. Use pasted text, a file upload, or a private store record for each file; clear the example text before using an upload or store record.
3. For uploads, use an existing store explicitly set to Restricted, then select that same store in the form to grant read access. A store that inherits account access settings needs to be set to Restricted first.
4. Check the preview for missing columns or mapping problems. Enter your column names where needed. The preview checks file layout and estimates the maximum comparison price; it does no matching and creates no audit events.
5. When the files are ready, select Reconcile catalog, set a maximum cost per run, and start the comparison.

Give each registration export a recognizable name. To include a second or third export, enter its name and add its file. You can save the preview’s column mapping for later files with the same layout.

Review before downloading corrections

Open the comparison report to see suggested links, conflicting codes and recordings that need more information. The action queues separate match review, catalog fixes, registration research and source conflicts.

Download the HTML report and open it locally to review the evidence. Choose APPROVE, REJECT or DEFER, enter the reviewer name, and confirm your review. You can then download approved pairs and proposed fills for blank catalog song codes. Existing different codes are left for you to resolve.

To finish later, keep the complete audit.json and use Export reviewed matches with your completed decisions CSV. This uses the existing comparison and creates no new audit events. You can also review and export from the downloaded report offline, without installing anything.

Nothing is submitted to a registry or changed in your source files. Research hints are leads to investigate; they cannot be approved as matches.

What files do I need?

File	Required columns	Useful optional columns
Recording catalog	catalog_id, isrc, title	artist, version, writer_ipis, iswc, mlc_song_code
Registration export	reference_id, mlc_song_code, title	iswc, writer_ipis, isrc, version, registration_status

Column names can be mapped to your own headers. Keep identifiers as text to preserve leading zeros. Separate multiple writer IPIs with semicolons. An ISWC is optional; a vendor’s internal work ID cannot stand in for an MLC Song Code.

CSV, TSV, JSON arrays and NDJSON are supported. Export Excel worksheets as CSV before uploading. JSON cells must contain strings. CSV/TSV supports quoted commas and newlines, UTF-8 or BOM-marked UTF-16LE, and header rows 1–50.

Each comparison accepts up to 2,000 catalog rows and 10,000 reference rows across three files. Uploaded/private-record files are limited to 8 MiB each; inline catalog text to 1 MiB and each inline reference to 3 MiB. Large cells or unusually dense evidence can reach processing limits sooner; the report identifies incomplete comparisons. Audio files, archives and arbitrary download URLs are unsupported.

Price

$0.05 per recording checked in a paid comparison. For example, 100 eligible recordings cost $5. Each unique valid ISRC is charged once per run, regardless of duplicate rows, reference files or findings.

Previewing files, exporting an existing reviewed audit and reviewing the downloaded report create no audit events. Invalid input, insufficient evidence and rows withheld by your run’s cost limit are free. A completed comparison can be billed even when it finds no match or finds a conflict.

Starting a fresh reconciliation is a new purchase, including when the files have not changed. Use the existing report or Export reviewed matches to finish reviewing without buying another comparison. Check the run summary for coverage and billing state; an unknown charged count is not zero. If a run or download is interrupted, inspect the existing run before starting another paid comparison.

Understanding the results

An agreeing link or a candidate still needs your review before export. Conflicting identifiers block approval; multiple sources do not outvote contradictory evidence. Missing or malformed evidence can leave a recording unresolved. A “no reference match” result means no plausible work was found in the usable files you supplied.

The comparison uses the identifiers, titles and writer details in your files. It does not search The MLC, PROs or other live registries. Results do not establish ownership, registration status or royalties owed.

Privacy and support

Runs check Restricted access to their run, default storage and results before processing. This check can take about a minute. Keep input stores, downloaded reports, audits, tokens and signed links private. Access settings do not undo earlier sharing or revoke people you authorize; isolation from unrelated authenticated accounts has not been independently verified. Delete runs and their default storage through Apify Console when no longer needed. Named input and history stores have separate lifetimes and are not automatically deleted.

For help, open this Actor’s Issues tab. Include the run ID, selected mode, error code and what you expected. Do not post catalog files, tokens or signed links. Report suspected duplicate or incorrect charges there so they can be reviewed and corrected or refunded through Apify.