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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. Note that 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 type 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

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]
Internet Archive Large live music archive, hosts hundreds of free music netlabels 13 million (as of 2021)[12] CC/PD Yes
Jamendo Free full-length music download. Free Art License, now royalty-free catalog
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. ~36,256,760[19] ~3,118,675[19] ~1,927,470[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]
Qobuz Streaming service incorporating official music credits from record labels 80,000,000[24] Free for 1 month[24]
Rate Your Music Music database, community ratings, reviews and lists ~5,158,359[25] ~1,583,038[25] API is planned but not functional as of 2022.[26][27] No special rights granted. Web scraping is prohibited.[28]
Soundcharts Airplay, charts and social media tracking data. 45,000,000[29] 5,000,000[29] Cites major record labels as customers. API available.[29]
Spotify Streaming service with official music credits as provided by labels and distributors.[30][31] 82,000,000 [32] ~8,000,000 [33][34] Yes [35]
Tidal Streaming service incorporating official music credits from record labels.[36] 90,000,000[37] Unofficial Tidal API available, official API can be accessed with subscription[38] Yes[39]

Music genre specific

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[40] ~265,000[40] ~102,000 bands, ~535,000 artists[40]
Prog Archives Progressive rock discography and reviews. 0 63,978[41] 11,308[41] No special rights granted[42] Yes. Log on to submit band information
RollDaBeats Drum N Bass music database, physical releases only. 175,969[43] 62,103[43]
Riddim Guide Reggae and dancehall database; catalogues riddims 57875 [44] 4878 (riddims) [44] 5937 [44] 2570 record labels [44] Yes

Specialized areas

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[45][46] CC Sampling Plus.
Genius Lyrics Allows users to provide annotations and interpretation of song lyrics.
Musixmatch Lyrics Audio based music recognition and provision of song lyrics. Yes.
SecondHandSongs Covers 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, or songs that use samples. 460,000 150,000

Printed music (sheets) databases

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[47] 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.[48] PD/CC-BY-NC-SA.
MuseScore Sheet music 6,487,223[49] 780[50] 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[51] 328[52]
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

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[53] 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[54] ~8,000,000[54] 1 billion "submissions".[55]
Quantone Database of physical/digital products, venues, photos, artists, participants, composers, movements, labels, publishers and rights. 12,000,000[56] 301,000 For commercial business-to-business usage only. API available.

Non-functioning databases

Database Services No. of tracks No. of releases No. of artists Notes License Full free access
freedb Identification service for CDs. freedb.org and its services shut down in June 2020; succeeded by gnudb. GPL.
LyricWiki Lyrics wiki on Wikia. ~1,653,416[57] ~159,749[57] ~82,226[57] Yes, but no access to the lyrics via API.
MetroLyrics Lyrics lookup.
MusicMight Biographies and discographies.
Wikifonia Free lead sheets in MusicXML format, contributed and editable by users. 6,236[58] Was active from 2006-2013

See also

References

  1. ^ "CISAC Overview | CISAC".
  2. ^ https://www.ascap.com/repertory#/ [bare URL]
  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".
  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 2022-01-17.
  20. ^ "Musicbrainz API Documentation".
  21. ^ "Musicbrainz data dumps".
  22. ^ "Academic Rights Press".
  23. ^ "Music ID".
  24. ^ a b "Qobuz".
  25. ^ a b "RateYourMusic.com". Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  26. ^ "FAQ". Rate Your Music. 16 February 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  27. ^ "RYM Webservice / API". Rate Your Music RYMzilla issue tracker. 16 February 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  28. ^ "Terms of Service". Rate Your Music. 16 February 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  29. ^ a b c "API data for the music industry".
  30. ^ "Spotify Now Displays Songwriter Credits – Spotify for Artists".
  31. ^ "Help - Song credits – Spotify for Artists".
  32. ^ "Spotify — About Spotify".
  33. ^ "Nearly 80% of artists on Spotify have fewer than 50 monthly listeners". 25 April 2022.
  34. ^ https://loudandclear.byspotify.com/
  35. ^ "Play free on mobile".
  36. ^ "Tidal Credits".
  37. ^ "How much music is available in Tidal?". Tidal.com.
  38. ^ "Tidal API".
  39. ^ "Tidal Free".
  40. ^ a b c "M-A Statistics". Encyclopaedia Metallum. Retrieved 2015-03-28.
  41. ^ a b "ProgArchives.com". Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  42. ^ "progarchives.com/Legalnotice.asp". Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  43. ^ a b "About RollDaBeats". RollDaBeats. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  44. ^ a b c d https://www.riddimguide.com/
  45. ^ Corbera, Frederic Font (5 April 2020). "15 years of Freesound!". The Freesound Blog. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  46. ^ Corbera, Frederic Font (15 January 2020). "2019 in numbers". The Freesound Blog. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  47. ^ "ChoralWiki". cpdl.org. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  48. ^ "Library statistics". IMSLP. Retrieved 2010-12-17..
  49. ^ "Sheet music". Musescore.com. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  50. ^ "Free Sheet music sorted by Artist". MuseScore.com. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  51. ^ "Mutopia: Latest Additions". The Mutopia Project. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  52. ^ "Mutopia: Browse by Composer". The Mutopia Project. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  53. ^ Ho, Vanessa (2016-10-06). "LyricFind becomes more easily available to developers". Retrieved 2017-07-24.
  54. ^ a b Gracenote |
  55. ^ "Gracenote |". Archived from the original on 2014-08-27. Retrieved 2014-08-27.
  56. ^ "Data and API Coverage Statistics". Decibel. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
  57. ^ a b c "LyricWiki Statistics". LyricWiki. Retrieved 2017-07-16.
  58. ^ "Box".
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