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List of online music databases

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Below is a table of online music databases that are largely free of charge. Many of the sites provide a specialized service or focus on a particular music genre. Some of these operate as an online music store or purchase referral service in some capacity. Among the sites that have information on the largest number of entities are those sites that focus on discographies of composing and performing artists.

Performance rights organisations (PRO) typically have their own databases as per country they represent, in accordance with CISAC, to help domestic artists collect royalties. Information available on these portals include songwriting credits, publishing percentage splits, and alternate titles for different distribution channels. It is one of the most accurate and official types of databases because it involves direct communication between the artists, record labels, distributors, legal teams, publishers and a global governing body regulating PRO's. Many countries that observe copyright have an organisation established, currently there are 119 CISAC members,[1] and they may be not-for-profit. The databases are typically known as 'repertory searches' or 'searching works' and may require an account while others are open to view for free as public including the USA's ASCAP Songview and Ace services,[2] Canada's SOCAN,[3] South Korea's KOMCA,[4] France's SACEM,[5] and Israel's ACUM.[6]

General databases

[edit]
Database Services No. of tracks No. of releases No. of artists Notes License Full free access
AllMusic Music information and reviews. ~20,000,000[7] ~2,200,000[7] Song samples only.
Discogs • Database: user-generated cross-referenced database of physical & digital releases, artists, and labels. With catalogue numbers, codes, and other markings taken directly from each release.
• Companies/organisations: cross-referencing those involved in music production (record companies, manufacturers, distributors, publishers, rights holders, venues, studios, etc.)
• Images: for releases, artists, labels, and other companies/organisations listed.
• Marketplace: for trade of physical music releases. 		151,200,000[8] 15,000,000[9] 8,000,000[9] • Multi-lingual.
• Free membership (which also removes all site ads).
• Marketplace lists over 35 million items (largest physical music items marketplace online).
• 1 billion edits. 		PD/CC0[10] Free API and XML data dumps.[11]
SongLyrics Updated daily with lyrics, reviews, features, meanings and more. 400,000,000 400,000,000 CC Yes
Internet Archive Large live music archive, hosts hundreds of free music netlabels 13 million (as of 2021)[12] CC/PD Yes
Jaxsta Online database of official music credits 19,000,000[13] • 115,000,000+ Individual Music Credits
• 100,000+ Credits Ingested Daily 		API available.
Last.fm Music community website. ~26,484,587[14] ~3,304,568 ~1,383,340 Automatically creates online library/collection of listened to music and generates recommendations.
The MLC Complete publicly available database of all recordings and musical works for payment purposes. The Music Modernization Act requires The MLC to make its database of musical works available in a bulk, machine/computer-readable format and through a widely available software application.[15] ~110,000,000[16] Streaming services are required by law to provide full information.[17] Free API Available[18]
MusicBrainz Open content music database. 45,520,390[19] 3,258,314[19] 2,371,603[19] GPL/LGPL/PD/CC BY-NC-SA. Free API[20] and XML data dumps.[21]
MusicID Official charts and indicative revenue data going back to 1900[22] Aggregator of chart data from sources such as Billboard, OCC and more[23]
Rate Your Music Music database, community ratings, reviews and lists 23,335,038[24] 6,415,864[24] 1,777,397[24] API is planned but not functional as of 2024.[25][26] No special rights granted. Web scraping is prohibited.[27]
Soundcharts Airplay, charts and social media tracking data. 45,000,000[28] 11,500,000[28] Cites major record labels as customers. API available.[28] Freemium
Album of the Year Music database, critic ratings and reviews, community ratings, reviews and lists 219,588 ~768,740 ~276,896

Music genre specific

[edit]
Database Services No. of tracks No. of releases No. of artists Notes License Full free access
Encyclopaedia Metallum A heavy metal encyclopedia with information, complete discography, links, images, and reviews. ~1,900,000[29] ~265,000[29] ~102,000 bands, ~535,000 artists[29]
Prog Archives Progressive rock discography and reviews. 63,978[30] 11,308[30] No special rights granted[31] Yes. Log on to submit band information
RollDaBeats Drum N Bass music database, physical releases only. 175,969[32] 62,103[32]
Riddim Guide Reggae and dancehall database; catalogues riddims 57,875 [33] 4878 (riddims) [33] 5937 [33] 2570 record labels [33] Yes
VGMdb Database for soundtracks and related music, with a primary focus on video games. 2,576,985[34] 130,726[34] 58,598[34]
vkgy (ブイケージ) Visual kei database. 14,578 [35]
VocaDB Database for vocaloid artists, releases and events. 558,109[36] 25,393[37] 102,158[38] Yes
Jazz Music Archives Jazz discography and reviews.

Specialized areas

[edit]
Database Specialization Services No. of tracks No. of releases No. of artists Notes License Full free access
The Freesound Project Audio samples Repository of Creative Commons-licensed audio samples. 445,000[39][40] CC Sampling Plus.
Genius Lyrics Allows users to provide annotations and interpretation of song lyrics.
SongLyrics Lyrics Music website that has established itself as a go-to platform for finding lyrics.
Musixmatch Lyrics Audio based music recognition and provision of song lyrics. Yes.
SecondHandSongs Covers User-generated database of covers and samples of songs, with links to public recordings. >1,100,000 performances >100,000 works Multilingual recordings. No special rights granted
Sound Credit Credits Multimodal platform for entering and editing music credits with a datahub that includes a database upload option. Database uploads are free, and is free to view.
WhoSampled Sample identification User-generated database of comparison between original tracks and covers, remixes, or songs that use samples. 1,100,000 338,000
SIMUC Chilean music and musicians SIMUC is a Non-profit organisation that collects data on composers, academics, institutions, people and other topics related to classical music and Chile. Managed by the organization and subscribers.

Printed music (sheets) databases

[edit]
Database Services No. of tracks No. of releases No. of artists Notes License Full free access
Choral Public Domain Library Sheet music archive of choral and vocal music in the public domain or otherwise freely available for printing and performing 36,869[41] Yes
International Music Score Library Project Music scores and parts, mostly scanned from publications now in the public domain; some recordings. 42,000 (370,000 scores) 14,500 composers, 387 performers.[42] PD/CC BY-NC-SA.
MuseScore Sheet music 6,487,223[43] 780[44] Also includes free music notation software to enable a wide range of instrumental music scores to be created, printed and shared Music is available under a variety of licenses. It is tagged and searchable by license. Music protected by copyright is only downloadable by obtaining a paid Pro subscription.
Musipedia Search by melody (entering notes, Parsons code, whistling, or tapping rhythm) Yes, but via other sources.
Mutopia Project repository of free content sheet music. 2,247[45] 328[46]
Répertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM) Database of historical music manuscripts and music printed editions that includes full descriptions and current physical locations in libraries worldwide. >1,400,000 ~40,000 composers Search available in 5 languages. Link to digitized images when available. CC BY Yes

Metadata providers and distributors

[edit]
Database Services No. of tracks No. of releases No. of artists Notes License Full free access
ACRCloud Music recognition & audio based music retrieval ~40,000,000[47] Commercially available with SDKs, APIs for file scanning, airplay monitoring, shazam-liked features Free trial available in 15 days
Gracenote Identification service for CDs and other media. ~100,000,000[48] ~8,000,000[48] 1 billion "submissions".[49]
Quantone Database of physical/digital products, venues, photos, artists, participants, composers, movements, labels, publishers and rights. 12,000,000[50] 301,000 For commercial business-to-business usage only. API available.

Non-functioning databases

[edit]
Database Services No. of tracks No. of releases No. of artists Notes
freedb Identification service for CDs. Licensed under GPL. freedb.org and its services shut down in June 2020; succeeded by gnudb.
LyricWiki Lyrics wiki on Fandom. ~1,653,416[51] ~159,749[51] ~82,226[51] Founded in 2006, API-restricted since 2016, closed in 2019. Deleted in September 2020.
MetroLyrics Lyrics lookup. 1,000,000+ 16,000+ The site abruptly went offline in late June 2021, and as of November 2022 its owners and maintainers have made no explanation.
MusicMight Biographies and discographies. 659,000 92,000 59,400 Was active from 2005-2010.
Wikifonia Free lead sheets in MusicXML format, contributed and editable by users. 6,236[52] Was active from 2006-2013.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "CISAC Overview | CISAC".
  2. ^ "ACE Repertory". www.ascap.com. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
  3. ^ "Public Repertoire | SOCAN null".
  4. ^ "Searching Works | KOMCA".
  5. ^ "Repertoire of works - SACEM".
  6. ^ "אקו"ם - איתור יוצרים ויצירות".
  7. ^ a b "Coverage Statistics". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-06-12.
  8. ^ "Data Dumps". Discogs. Retrieved 2015-02-21.
  9. ^ a b "About Us". Discogs. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  10. ^ "Discogs API v2.0 Documentation". Discogs. Retrieved 2017-10-01.
  11. ^ "Discogs API Documentation". Discogs. Retrieved 2015-02-21.
  12. ^ "Download & Streaming : Audio Archive : Internet Archive". archive.org. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
  13. ^ "Yahoo". 9 July 2019.
  14. ^ Last.fm « CBS IMG
  15. ^ "The MLC Bulk Database Feed".
  16. ^ "Bulk Database Feed".
  17. ^ "MMA Overview" (PDF).
  18. ^ "The MLC Quarter Note" (PDF).
  19. ^ a b c "Database Statistics". MusicBrainz. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  20. ^ "Musicbrainz API Documentation".
  21. ^ "Musicbrainz data dumps".
  22. ^ "Academic Rights Press".
  23. ^ "Music ID".
  24. ^ a b c "RateYourMusic.com". Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  25. ^ "FAQ". Rate Your Music. 16 February 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  26. ^ "RYM Webservice / API". Rate Your Music RYMzilla issue tracker. 16 February 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  27. ^ "Terms of Service". Rate Your Music. 16 February 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  28. ^ a b c "API data for the music industry".
  29. ^ a b c "M-A Statistics". Encyclopaedia Metallum. Retrieved 2015-03-28.
  30. ^ a b "ProgArchives.com". Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  31. ^ "progarchives.com/Legalnotice.asp". Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  32. ^ a b "About RollDaBeats". RollDaBeats. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  33. ^ a b c d "Welcome to Riddimguide.com".
  34. ^ a b c "Statistics". VGMdb. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  35. ^ "Advanced search musicians". vkgy (ブイケージ). Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  36. ^ "Vocaloid Database". vocadb.net. Retrieved 2024-05-01.
  37. ^ "Vocaloid Database". vocadb.net. Retrieved 2024-05-01.
  38. ^ "Vocaloid Database". vocadb.net. Retrieved 2024-05-01.
  39. ^ Corbera, Frederic Font (5 April 2020). "15 years of Freesound!". The Freesound Blog. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  40. ^ Corbera, Frederic Font (15 January 2020). "2019 in numbers". The Freesound Blog. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  41. ^ "ChoralWiki". cpdl.org. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  42. ^ "Library statistics". IMSLP. Retrieved 2010-12-17..
  43. ^ "Sheet music". Musescore.com. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  44. ^ "Free Sheet music sorted by Artist". MuseScore.com. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  45. ^ "Mutopia: Latest Additions". The Mutopia Project. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  46. ^ "Mutopia: Browse by Composer". The Mutopia Project. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  47. ^ Ho, Vanessa (2016-10-06). "LyricFind becomes more easily available to developers". Retrieved 2017-07-24.
  48. ^ a b Gracenote |
  49. ^ "Gracenote |". Archived from the original on 2014-08-27. Retrieved 2014-08-27.
  50. ^ "Data and API Coverage Statistics". Decibel. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
  51. ^ a b c "LyricWiki Statistics". LyricWiki. Retrieved 2017-07-16.
  52. ^ "Box".
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