Digital Data Exchange (DDEX) is an international standards-setting organisation that was formed in 20061 to develop standards that enable companies to communicate information along the digital supply chain more efficiently2 by:
- Developing standard message and file formats (XML or flat-file)
- Developing choreographies for specific business transactions
- Developing communication protocols (SFTP or based on web services)
- Working with industry bodies to create a more efficient supply chain.
DDEX's focus is the music industry, particularly recorded music. It has three membership levels—charter, full, and associate—with a total of about 100 members.3 The charter members of DDEX were
- Amazon
- American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
- Apple Inc.
- Broadcast Music, Inc.
- Downtown Music
- GEMA
- Kobalt Music Group
- Pandora Media, Inc.
- Phonographic Performance Limited
- PRS for Music
- Sacem
- Société Civile des Producteurs Phonographiques
- Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada
- Sony Music Entertainment
- SoundExchange
- Spotify
- Tencent Music
- Universal Music Group
- Warner Music Group
Business transactions addressed
DDEX's standards4 address a series of business transactions, including:
- Release deliveries
- Sales/usage reporting
- Communication with and amongst Music Licensing Companies
- Licensing of musical works
- Collection of information on sound recordings and musical works in the recording studio
Using DDEX standards
All DDEX standards are available from the DDEX Knowledge Base, with complete documentation.5 DDEX has also created a series of free introductory videos.6
Implementers that want to use any of the DDEX standards are required to take out a software licence.7 This licence is a royalty-free click wrap licence that grants implementers access to the intellectual property embedded in the DDEX standards.