What is AVR+?
AVR+ is a standardised, machine-readable format for audiovisual production music cue sheets. It defines a single JSON structure that production companies, broadcasters, music supervisors and performing rights organisations (PROs) can all exchange, so that royalties get distributed to the right people, accurately.
The format is published by CISAC (the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers). You can read the official AVR+ schema documentation at formats.cisac.org/avr.
Why a standard cue sheet format matters
A cue sheet is the document that lists every piece of music used in a film, TV episode or other production: which track, where it appears, how long it plays, who wrote and published it, and who owns the rights. PROs use cue sheets to pay royalties.
Historically every broadcaster, territory and PRO has used its own layout. The same production might need a cue sheet in one shape for the US, another for France, another for Australia, and another for India. That is slow, error-prone, and difficult to reconcile.
AVR+ replaces that fragmentation with one schema. Convert once, and the data is structured the same way everywhere.
What an AVR+ file contains
An AVR+ cue sheet is a JSON document with three top-level sections:
1. Production information
Details about the audiovisual work itself: title, episode and series data, category, duration, total music duration, production year and release date, countries of production, AV identifiers (EIDR, ISAN, IMDb), and the interested parties (producers, directors, etc.).
2. Cues information
An ordered list of every music cue. Each cue carries its sequence number, title, duration, time in/out, usage and type, and, crucially, the work information (composers, publishers, ISWC, society codes, territorial shares) and recording information (ISRC, recording artists, label, catalogue number).
3. Cue sheet information
Metadata about the cue sheet document itself: who prepared it, their role, the source, the submission/revision date and a reference number.
Key identifiers AVR+ uses
- ISWC: the international standard code for a musical work (the composition).
- ISRC: the international standard code for a specific recording.
- IPI / CAE: the number identifying an interested party (writer or publisher).
- EIDR / ISAN / IMDb: identifiers for the audiovisual production.
- TIS codes: numeric territory codes used to express where shares apply.
How to convert an existing cue sheet to AVR+
If you already have a cue sheet, for example one exported from West One Music's EDL converter or a spreadsheet from another vendor, you don't need to re-key it. Our AVR converter reads your file and maps it into a schema-valid AVR+ JSON document.
- Open the AVR Converter.
- Upload your cue sheet (CSV, XLS or XLSX).
- Pick the source format, or leave it on auto-detect.
- Download your AVR+ JSON file.
Got a question we haven't covered? See the AVR converter FAQ.