Music

The Music Library Association has guidance on copyright specifically for musicians - including obtaining performance rights - via this handy FAQ

Member organization that provides performance licensing rights, and protects the copyrights of its members. Two search entry points: “I write, compose or publish;” and “I use music in my business.”

Represents songwriters to protect public performance rights. Acts “on a non-profit-making" basis.

Non-profit organization that contains free sheet music, specializing in choral music. It provides access to pdf music and sound recordings. Multiple versions of a text may be available. While the site permits unrestricted downloads and no-edit viewing, links to other sites may have additional restrictions. See ‘About’ page for details. Includes community portal and online forums.

Another Library of Congress collection. Contains 25,00 pieces from the broader LOC collection. Pieces specifically about the war, not simply of the period. Songs about particular battles and events, instrumental dances and marches named for particular units or personages, etc.

DRAM (Anthology of recorded music) is a scholarly resource of recordings, liner notes and essays from independent record labels and sound archives. Its goal is the preservation and dissemination of important recordings that have been neglected by the commercial marketplace, from folk to opera, Native American to jazz, 19th C classical to early rock, musical theater, ‘contemporary’, electronic and beyond. Search or browse by composer, performer, ensembles, instruments, or labels. Links to associated blogs.

This open website provides access to U Wash’s over 400 instruments. It is one of many such collections/sites, ranging from Grinnell, Oberlin and Wesleyan to the imposing collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Bate Collection at the U of Oxford. Browse alphabetically, by sound or video files, by 4 standard instrument types.

European Commission and the Europeana Sounds consortium co-funded project to increase awareness of Europe’s sound and music heritage, including oral memories and spoken word, world & traditional music, soundscapes and natural sounds, classical music, popular music, and languages and dialects.

at Vanderbilt University is a multi-media reference archive and resource center for traditional and popular song, music, and dance of Africa and the Americas, and provides access to sound recordings and images of indigenous music.

International Music Score Library Project. Includes over 102,000 world public domain works with scores or parts, as well as MP3 sound files. Note the copyright statements for Canada and the U.S.

High quality digitized images of public domain print music held by the Ward Irish Music Archives in Milwaukee; published ~1750 to present, although full access limited to pre-1923. Irish American content particular strong. Contextual information.)

Vast range of services and materials relevant to the study, practice and performance of Irish traditional music. Downloads of pamphlets and scholarly monographs. Collections without copyright restrictions are particularly impressive, with audio, video, photo and newspaper galleries and manuscripts. Playlists by performers, events, studios, record labels, recording media. Interactive scores section if download free Sibelius Scorch plugin.)

140 digitized autograph manuscripts, sketches, engravers’ proofs, and 1st editions. Composers section has works from the baroque, classical, romantic, and later stylistic periods. Other Collections feature collections named after Arthur Rubinstein and Meredith WIllson, with works by Heitor Villa-Lobos, WIllson and contemporaries. *The Willson collection is password protected.)

A little bit of everything, from singing to marching, this collection has it all! Check out the exhibition for Fall 2016: "Opera before Instagram: Portraits, 1890 - 1955." Browse "Performing Arts", "Sound Recordings," and "Film", or search by audio recordings or notated music.

The National Jukebox, maintained by the Library of Congress, makes sound recordings available free of charge to the general public. Recordings include opera, ragtime, jazz, and more.

Information about American music and composers; a source of grants in support of composers’ creative activities. Contains over 57,000 works by more than 6,000 composers, and includes over 14,000 media samples (recordings and scores).

Library of Congress Music division includes manuscripts, printed scores, librettos, photographs, and set designs dating from the late 18th and early 19th c.

Sponsored by the Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities, Stanford University, this site contains an online thematic catalog that includes classical and instrumental music; European folksongs; and Latin Motets of the 16th C. Search ‘basic’ or by composer. Use Themefinder to search for musical themes. Musical notation of major themes in works from classical and instrumental music; European folk songs; Latin Motets of the 16th C. Options for detailed information about the piece, Midi sound files, and Clipboard available.