CISAC launches AVR+ to modernise audiovisual music data
CISAC has launched AVR+, a new machine-readable technical format designed to improve how music data is shared, processed, and validated across the global audiovisual industry.
Announced in Paris on 18 June 2026, AVR+ is the first implementation-ready format based on the Global Cue Sheet Standard 2.0, a shared framework for documenting music used in film, television, and other audiovisual productions. By turning that standard into a practical technical format, CISAC says AVR+ can help creators and rightsholders be identified more accurately and paid more efficiently.
Cue sheets are central to audiovisual royalty flows because they document which music appears in a production, how it is used, and who should be credited. Historically, these documents have often been fragmented, inconsistently formatted, or incomplete, creating delays and data gaps across rights-management and royalty-distribution workflows.
AVR+ addresses this by providing a structured JSON schema that can be read and processed by systems automatically. The format includes mandatory and optional data elements from the Global Cue Sheet Standard 2.0, with support for recording metadata, identifiers, and contextual usage information.
According to CISAC, the format is designed to support production companies, collective management organisations, publishers, labels, broadcasters, platforms, and technology providers by making cue sheet ingestion, amendment, validation, and downstream processing more consistent.
“This is a major step forward in modernising 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.”
One of AVR+’s key advances is the integration of recording metadata alongside musical works. That extends the cue sheet framework beyond authors, composers, and music publishers to also support neighbouring rights information for performers and record labels, giving the industry a more complete view of how music is used in audiovisual content.
Jens Kindermann of GEMA, Chair of CISAC’s Audiovisual Working Group, described AVR+ as “a practical blueprint for the future of audiovisual rights data”, adding that the format creates a common language for cue sheet exchange while supporting a more transparent and scalable rights ecosystem.
The AVR+ Cue Sheet JSON Schema, full documentation, and implementation examples are now publicly available.
