CISAC has launched AVR+, which it describes as the first machine-readable technical format designed to standardize how music data is shared and processed across the global audiovisual industry.
The format, published on Thursday (June 18), is built on the Global Cue Sheet Standard 2.0 – a cross-sector framework developed in partnership with IFPI and the Society Publisher Forum – and turns that standard into a practical, implementation-ready tool for the first time.
According to CISAC, the launch is the culmination of more than six years of work to fix a structural flaw in how music royalties are distributed in film and television: cue sheets – the documents that list the music used in audiovisual productions – which the org says have historically been fragmented, inconsistently formatted, and often incomplete, creating inefficiencies across the global rights ecosystem.
“This is a major step forward in modernizing the global infrastructure that supports creators,” said Sylvain Piat, Director of Business and Technology at CISAC.
“By improving the accuracy and interoperability of audiovisual music data, AVR+ has the potential to massively increase the efficiency and timely processing of usages.
“It’s about making sure the value of creative work flows back to the people who made it.”
“By improving the accuracy and interoperability of audiovisual music data, AVR+ has the potential to massively increase the efficiency and timely processing of usages.”
Sylvain Piat, CISAC
The existing format, known simply as AVR, had long served as CISAC‘s standard for exchanging cue sheet data between societies.
AVR+ is its direct successor, rebuilding that format as a machine-readable JSON schema and incorporating the full scope of the Global Cue Sheet Standard 2.0 for the first time.
CISAC and the Society Publisher Forum published the first Common Cue Sheet standard in November 2020, a collaboration that drew in music publishers, film and TV studios, and producers.
That standard was upgraded in September 2024 with the Global Cue Sheet Standard 2.0.
The 2.0 version marked a turning point: for the first time, it incorporated recording metadata – the data needed to identify sound recordings alongside musical works.
The significance of that addition ran deeper than a technical upgrade.
Previous cue sheet standards served only authors’ rights – the payments owed to composers, authors, and music publishers.
By integrating recording metadata, the 2.0 standard brought neighboring rights into scope for the first time: the separate stream of income owed to performers and record labels when their recordings are used in audiovisual productions.
IFPI, the international recording industry trade body, joined the cross-sector effort for the first time at the 2.0 stage – a signal of how significant that expansion was to the recorded music side of the industry.
AVR+ is the format that makes the 2.0 standard usable in practice.
Built as a structured JSON schema – a widely used digital format that allows computer systems to exchange data in a consistent and automated way – it enables automation of cue sheet ingestion, reduces metadata gaps, and allows for consistent validation across production partners, rights databases, and royalty processing systems.
The practical improvements include more efficient processing and amendment of cue sheet data, streamlined registration of musical works and sound recordings, stronger linkage between usage documentation and payment records, and greater consistency between publisher registrations and society distributions.
What is at stake in getting this right is substantial.
CISAC‘s member societies collected €12.59 billion ($13.63 billion) in royalties for songwriters and music publishers worldwide in 2024, as previously reported by MBW.
That figure represents only the authors’ rights portion of the total.
Neighboring rights, the separate billion-dollar revenue stream for performers and record labels, are distributed through the same cue sheet infrastructure, meaning gaps in that data result in payments that are delayed, reduced, or never made at all.
The challenge is compounding as AI transforms the audiovisual landscape.
A study commissioned by CISAC and released in late 2024 estimated that AI could cannibalize 24% of music creators’ revenues by 2028, representing a cumulative loss of €10 billion ($10.5 billion) for music creators over the five years to 2028.
In that environment, the accuracy of music identification in audiovisual content carries a higher cost than ever: creators who are not correctly identified in cue sheets are less likely to receive royalty distributions – and less likely to be identified at all as automated systems process increasingly vast volumes of content.
The broader industry has been investing heavily in cue sheet infrastructure.
In May 2026, BMI agreed to acquire cue sheet management platform Soundmouse from Orfium, with BMI CEO Mike O’Neill describing the global audiovisual marketplace as “one of the fastest growing sectors of our industry.”
Jens Kindermann of GEMA, who chairs CISAC‘s Audiovisual Working Group, said the format represented more than a technical step forward.
“AVR+ is more than a technical format – it is a practical blueprint for the future of audiovisual rights data.
“By creating a common language for the exchange of cue sheet information and integrating both musical works and recording metadata, we are helping to build a more transparent, connected and scalable rights ecosystem.”
Jens Kindermann, GEMA
“By creating a common language for the exchange of cue sheet information and integrating both musical works and recording metadata, we are helping to build a more transparent, connected and scalable rights ecosystem.
“The work of the Audiovisual Working Group has always been guided by the belief that better data leads to better outcomes for creators, and AVR+ turns that vision into a practical reality.”
The AVR+ JSON schema, along with full documentation and implementation examples, is now publicly available on the CISAC website.
The format is designed for adoption across the full audiovisual value chain: producers, collective management organizations, music publishers, record labels, broadcasters, platforms, and technology providers.Music Business Worldwide
