Music: Free Online Resources

This online resource offers reviews of classic, new, and upcoming music albums in a wide range of genres and/or styles. Although it covers many different genres, it has a particularly extensive selection of pop/rock/R&B recordings. "All Music" also offers brief overviews of various musical genres and subgenres. For instance, it includes a guide to the American musical theater, discussing its roots and offering a list of works (and recordings) by some of the most prominent composers/contributors to this stage tradition. Each CD listing also offers a guide to "related albums" and artists, helping to widen and personalize the viewer's search. Many, but not all, of the recordings listed on the website are available for free online streaming. In addition to the album guides and reviews, this website includes interviews with artists, whimsical lists (e.g. "Top 20 Album Covers Featuring Denim"), and other brief articles and website "features."

This online music resource offers extensive information about artists in a variety of music genres (linking to Wikipedia biographies or mini-bios.), as well as comprehensive discographies, recording label information (e.g.: EMI records), recording medium (CD, LP, digital, etc.) and links to fan pages and official artist websites, etc. Like Wikipedia, the idea behind MusicBrainz is that users may contribute as they see fit to this ongoing, collaborative encyclopedic endeavor. Note that MusicBrainz cautions users that while it does store extensive data about music recordings it does not store the recordings themselves which must be accessed elsewhere. (See, for instance, the "All Music" database listed above which includes some free access to recent recordings).

Historical Recordings from the Library of Congress. Includes audio recordings of vocal and instrumental classical music, opera, world music, popular music, and religious music. One of its special features is an online copy of the 1919 edition of the "Victrola Book of the Opera", an interactive facsimile featuring summaries of hundreds of operas and recordings of early 20th-century singers.

Virtual Gramophone is a multimedia website devoted to the early days of Canadian recorded sound, providing an overview of the 78-rpm era in Canada. The database contains information for 78-rpm and cylinder recordings released in Canada from 1900 to 1950, as well as foreign recordings featuring Canadian artists and/or compositions. Each database record provides information about an original recording, such as its title and performer, relevant dates, and details about the label and disc.

This searchable database of over 10,000 cylinders owned by the UCSB Library features all types of recordings made from the late 1800s to early 1900s, including popular songs, vaudeville acts, classical and operatic music, comedic monologues, ethnic and foreign recordings, speeches and readings.

From about 1898 to the 1950s, an estimated 3 million sides (3 minute recordings) have been made on 78rpm discs. While the commercially viable recordings will have been restored or remastered onto LP’s or CD, there is still research value in the artifacts and usage evidence in the often rare 78rpm discs and recordings.

YouTube channels that feature recording+score videos of contemporary compositions, all done with appropriate licensing and permissions.

This collection features virtual record labels found in the Netlabels collection, the unique contemporary compositions and performances found in the Other Minds collection, and the hundreds of popular songs from the early 20th Century found in the 78 RPM collection.

A New York-based Jewish cultural and community center featuring a free "on demand" collection of videos and podcasts dating from the 1940s to current. This highly varied collection includes videos of concerts and interviews with musicians as well as other arts and entertainment related podcasts.

A collaborative online database intended for sound artists offering samples of electronic, environmental, musical sounds, and various other noises uploaded by users.

A collection of royalty free audio clips (.wav and midi files) for looping, thousands of sound effects, short video clips, audio software, and online tutorials about how to utilize this resource (e.g.: "Audio Formats Explained").

Thousands of free stock videos, motion graphics, music tracks and sound effects all in one place.

Currently the largest collection of field recordings from Ghana in the 1970s. Includes ethnomusicologist James Koetting's extensive fieldnotes, recordings, and photographs.

Interactive web portal with recordings of more than 6,000 folk songs from around the world that Alan Lomax recorded or acquired.

The Global Music Archive is a multi-media reference archive and resource center for traditional and popular song, music, and dance of Africa and the Americas.