What is ISNI ?

The International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI) is a  draft ISO Standard (ISO 27729) whose scope is the identification of Public Identities of parties: that is, the identities used publicly by parties involved throughout the media content industries in the creation, production, management, and content distribution chains.
The ISNI system uniquely identifies Public Identities across multiple fields of creative activity. The ISNI provides a tool for disambiguating Public Identities that might otherwise be confused.
ISNI is not intended to provide direct access to comprehensive information about a Public Identity but can provide links to other systems where such information is held.

What does it look like ?

An ISNI is made up of 16 decimal digits, the last one being a check character.
Example:

Who can apply for an ISNI ?

An ISNI can be allocated to any entity that is or was either a natural person, a legal person, a fictional character, or a group of such entities, whether or not incorporated.
Further, ISNIs are assigned to the Public Identities of Parties that participe in the creation, production, management or distribution of cultural goods in the digital environment.