What is ISNI?
ISNI (International Standard Name Identifier) is one of the most widely used key Authority Control standard employed in uniquely identifying contributors of media contents (books, articles, TV Programs etc.). It is developed by International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
How does it affect my Professional Music Career?
Musicians sometimes play multiple roles in creative works. For instance, an individual musician can be a songwriter and arranger or a musical work, and later record/perform the same as lead artist, which may result in singles/albums in possibly multiple releases. Credits for each of releases should be comprehensively and consistently handled in all the organizational database, which proves to be a challenge.
If ISNI is assigned to the author and credits are linked appropriately, it becomes easy to look-up and exchange information based on the ISNI across various data-sets. In this manner, ISNI facilitates disambiguation, and establishes credits consistently across systems.
Where can I find my ISNI ID?
There are several ways to look up ISNI.
[1] Search on ISNI
ISNI official website allows capability to search ISNI via http://isni.org/search
[2] Wikipedia
Individual Wikipedia entries for contributors (Writers, Musicians, Actors, etc.) typically features ISNI in "Authority Control" section.
[3] Wikidata
Individual Wikidata entries for contributors typically features ISNI in "Authority Control" section.
[4] MusicBrainz Profile
MusicBrainz profile for artists typically includes ISNI.