What is a CWR and how to choose a tool to generate it

If you have forty songs and you are entering them one by one into your society's portal, you already know why CWR exists. And if someone has offered you a tool that "registers your works automatically", this is exactly what to read first.

📄 What a CWR actually is

A CWR is a text file with a very strict structure. Inside, song by song, it carries the title, who wrote it, each writer's share, their identification numbers (each writer's IPI), who the publisher is if there is one, and what each party controls.

The format is maintained by CISAC, the international confederation of authors' societies. Because it is a standard, a society in one country reads the same structure as a society in another. That is the whole point: not having to learn a different form in every place.

⚠️ Generating a CWR is NOT registering your work

This is where most of the confusion lives, and it is worth being crystal clear about before paying for anything.

Having the file is like having a perfectly addressed envelope sitting on your desk. It is well written, but nobody has sent it. To deliver a CWR to a society you need two more things:

1. A submitter code registered with CISAC. Every CWR file carries the code of whoever sends it in the file name itself. Without that code, the file is not accepted.
2. Onboarding with each society. Usually you must pass a test file before the real delivery channel is opened for you.

So when a tool says it "registers your works", the right question is: whose submitter code does it send under? If it uses its own, that company is appearing in the filing — and it is worth understanding in what capacity.

🔢 Which version to use (and an easy trap)

The versions that work in the real world today are 2.1 and 2.2. They are the ones virtually every society accepts. A 3.x version has been drafted by CISAC, but adoption is limited and slow.

The trap: a higher number sounds better. If a tool only generates 3.x, you can end up with a flawless file your society does not process yet. Before choosing, ask your society which version it accepts — not the other way round.

🧾 Five questions before choosing a tool

There are options of every kind: doing it by hand, publisher software, open-source projects, and platforms that do it for you. There is no single right answer — it depends on whether you administer your own rights. But these five questions separate what helps you from what ties you down:

1. Does it require naming it as my publisher? Some platforms need to appear as your publisher in order to register. That can be fine if you choose it deliberately, but it means they sit in the ownership chain of your works. That is not a technical detail: that is your catalogue.

2. Does it take a percentage of what I collect? Paying for a tool is one thing; giving up a share of your royalties for good is another. Both models exist. It is worth knowing which one you are signing.

3. Is the file mine, and can I take it with me? If you leave tomorrow, do you take your data and your files, or are you left with nothing? A CWR is yours: it must be downloadable.

4. Does it warn me about missing data BEFORE generating? A CWR with a missing IPI, shares that do not add up to 100%, or a writer with no society gets rejected. A tool that happily generates a file destined for rejection is not helping you — it is handing you work.

5. Does it only generate, or also deliver? And if it delivers, under whose submitter code. Both answers are legitimate; the bad sign is not being told plainly.

🚫 Why CWR files get rejected

The reasons repeat a lot, and almost all of them are about data, not technology:

• Writer shares do not add up to what they should.
• A writer's IPI is missing, or was copied wrong.
• The same writer appears spelled two different ways and counts as two people.
• A publisher is declared that controls nothing on that work.
• The work was already registered through another route and now two versions are fighting.

🧭 How Solnota does it

The five questions above, applied to ourselves, so you can see what we commit to:

Solnota generates CWR 2.1 from your works and your splits, tells you what is missing before generating anything, and the file is yours. We do not ask you to name us as your publisher, we take no percentage of your royalties, and we never touch your money: whatever you collect goes straight to you.

And the part we would rather tell you upfront: today you press send. We prepare the file and tell you exactly what is missing at each society in your country, but societies do not grant automatic third-party access yet. When they do, we will say so. Until then, we would rather you know before you start than after.