List of online music databases

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

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[1] Commercially available with SDKs, APIs for file scanning, airplay monitoring, shazam-liked features Free trial available in 15 days
AllMusic Music information and reviews. ~20,000,000[2] ~2,200,000[2] Song samples only.
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[3] Yes
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[4] 10,000,000[5] 5,000,000[5] • 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[6] Free API and XML data dumps.[7]
Encyclopaedia Metallum A heavy metal encyclopedia with information, complete discography, links, images, and reviews. ~1,900,000[8] ~265,000[8] ~102,000 bands, ~535,000 artists[8]
freedb Identification service for CDs. freedb.org and its services shut down in June 2020; succeeded by gnudb. GPL.
The Freesound Project repository of Creative Commons-licensed audio samples. 445,000[9][10] CC Sampling Plus.
Genius Allows users to provide annotations and interpretation of song lyrics.
Gracenote Identification service for CDs and other media. ~100,000,000[11] ~8,000,000[11] 1 billion "submissions".[12]
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.[13] PD/CC-BY-NC-SA.
Internet Archive Large live music archive, hosts hundreds of free music netlabels 13 million (as of 2021)[14] CC/PD Yes
Jaxsta Online database of official music credits • 115,000,000+ Individual Music Credits
• 100,000+ Credits Ingested Daily 		API available.
Jamendo Free full-length music download. Free Art License, now royalty-free catalog
Last.fm Music community website. ~26,484,587[15] ~3,304,568 ~1,383,340 Automatically creates online library/collection of listened to music and generates recommendations.
LyricWiki Lyrics wiki on Wikia. ~1,653,416[16] ~159,749[16] ~82,226[16] Yes, but no access to the lyrics via API.
MAQAM Largest Database of Arabic and Middle Eastern music artists, tracks, and albums. 20,000 1,200
MetroLyrics Lyrics lookup.
MuseScore Sheet music 6,487,223[17] 780[18] 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. No—free accounts are permitted five uploads; beyond that, payment is required
Musipedia Search by melody (entering notes, Parsons code, whistling, or tapping rhythm) Yes, but via other sources.
MusicBrainz Open content music database. ~28,608,635[19] ~2,350,941[19] ~1,559,670[19] GPL/LGPL/PD/CC-BY-NC-SA. Free API[20] and XML data dumps.[21]
MusicMight Biographies and discographies.
Musixmatch Audio based music recognition and provision of song lyrics. Yes.
Mutopia Project repository of free content sheet music. 2,247[22] 328[23]
Prog Archives Progressive rock discography and reviews. 0 63,978[24]​ 11,308[24] No special rights granted[25] Yes. Log on to submit band information
Quantone Database of physical/digital products, venues, photos, artists, participants, composers, movements, labels, publishers and rights. 12,000,000[26] 301,000 For commercial business-to-business usage only. API available.
RateYourMusic Discography and reviews 0 4,417,376[27] 1,431,300[27]​ API is planned but not functional as of 2020.[28][29] No special rights granted. Web scraping is prohibited.[30]
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
RollDaBeats Drum N Bass music database, physical releases only. 175,969[31] 62,103[31]​
SecondHandSongs 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
Wikifonia Free lead sheets in MusicXML format, contributed and editable by users. 6,236[32] Was active from 2006-2013
WhoSampled User-generated database of comparison between original tracks and covers, or songs that use samples. 460,000 150,000
Database Services No. of tracks No. of releases No. of artists Notes License Full free access

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Ho, Vanessa (2016-10-06). "LyricFind becomes more easily available to developers". Retrieved 2017-07-24.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "Coverage Statistics". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-06-12.
  3. ^ "ChoralWiki". cpdl.org. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  4. ^ "Data Dumps". Discogs. Retrieved 2015-02-21.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "Explore Releases On Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
  6. ^ "Discogs API v2.0 Documentation". Discogs. Retrieved 2017-10-01.
  7. ^ "Discogs API Documentation". Retrieved 2015-02-21.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c "M-A Statistics". Encyclopaedia Metallum. Retrieved 2015-03-28.
  9. ^ Corbera, Frederic Font (5 April 2020). "15 years of Freesound!". The Freesound Blog. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  10. ^ Corbera, Frederic Font (15 January 2020). "2019 in numbers". The Freesound Blog. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b Gracenote |
  12. ^ "Gracenote |". Archived from the original on 2014-08-27. Retrieved 2014-08-27.
  13. ^ "Library statistics". IMSLP. Retrieved 2010-12-17..
  14. ^ "Download & Streaming : Audio Archive : Internet Archive". archive.org. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
  15. ^ Last.fm « CBS IMG
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b c "LyricWiki Statistics". LyricWiki. Retrieved 2017-07-16.
  17. ^ "Sheet music". Musescore.com. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  18. ^ "Free Sheet music sorted by Artist". Musescore.com. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  19. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Database Statistics". MusicBrainz. Retrieved 2019-10-29.
  20. ^ "Musicbrainz API Documentation".
  21. ^ "Musicbrainz data dumps".
  22. ^ "Mutopia: Latest Additions". The Mutopia Project. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  23. ^ "Mutopia: Browse by Composer". The Mutopia Project. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  24. ^ Jump up to: a b "ProgArchives.com". Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  25. ^ "progarchives.com/Legalnotice.asp". Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  26. ^ "Data and API Coverage Statistics". Decibel. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
  27. ^ Jump up to: a b "RateYourMusic.com". Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  28. ^ "FAQ". Rate Your Music. 16 February 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  29. ^ "RYM Webservice / API". Rate Your Music RYMzilla issue tracker. 16 February 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  30. ^ "Terms of Service". Rate Your Music. 16 February 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  31. ^ Jump up to: a b "About RollDaBeats". RollDaBeats. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  32. ^ https://app.box.com/s/h4a8x8w01e70grijkaw0
Retrieved from ""