New Music Library

[Amos Elkana]

I have recently finished building a website for composers which enables them to upload their scores to the web.

My intention is to create a library of music scores by contemporary composers where musicians, ensembles and artistic directors can go and look for scores that might match what they are looking for.

 

It is simply a library of contemporary music scores that can be browsed through by performers. They can also contact the composer directly if they wish to perform a work.

 

I call it the New Music Library (http://newmusiclibrary.org)

Please use it, it's free!

[Jennifer Brawley]

This is a great idea!

It could be big in the coming years! :)

[Quinn Mason]

I totally agree with you on all counts, which is why i didn't post on there.

Jon Corelis said:

This is a potentially useful site, but looking at it I found a number of concerns.  I'm posting them here since it might be useful to see other people's reactions to them.

• The search function needs a "genre" index.
• There apparently is no way to include mp3 sound files -- this would be useful at least as an option.
• The upload page (which I looked at without actually trying to upload anything) doesn't indicate what file formats are acceptable (just pdf?) or whether there are size limits on uploaded files.
• I found it a bit confusing that files seem to be displayed in Google Documents form, but when you download you get a pdf.  Why not just use pdf?
• The site doesn't work well with Firefox.  The text in the thumbnails on the introduction page isn't displayed properly in that browser.
• Perhaps the biggest problem is the statement on the uploads page that "all contributions to the New Music Library are considered to be released under the GNU Free Documentation License 1.2."  Some people won't understand what this license is (I've read explanations of it and still don't understand what it is), others are reluctant to publish anything except on a "copyright all rights reserved" basis.
• Is the site ever going to turn into a pay or ad-supported site?  I'm not suggesting you're going to do this, but it would be best to specifically say whether or not this could happen in the site documentation.  Likewise, I'm not suggesting you'd misuse e-mail addresses, but since this is so commonly done, it would be best to have a specific guarantee that email addresses won't be used for anything but contacting contributors about using their work.
• It's fine to solicit contributions, but many people are very reluctant to give a cc number to a web site that doesn't include a physical post address and phone number (a lot of consumer advice authors recommend never doing this.)
• There should be links back to the Home (Welcome) page from every other page, and the link should be marked Home.
• An FAQ dealing with some of the above points would be useful.

Well that's a lot, and probably some people won't agree with all those points, so they can be discussed here.  In spite of the above, I think the site is basically a good idea.

[Adrian Allan]

It is a good idea - so let's see those improvements before we can start posting.

[Amos Elkana]

Jon,

Thank you for your reply.
Let me respond to some of the points that you bring up.

I intentionaly didn't add a genre option. The reason is this, this is a contemporary music website. It means that ensembles that are looking for pieces to perform should not judge by genre but by the quality of the piece. I believe tlhat all genres have a place in modern music and what counts is the quality of the composer not the genre. In addition to that a performer will be exposed to different kinds of music perhaps some that they didn't think they liked.

There is a way to include MP3 files and many of the pieces on the site have them. One needs to supply a link to the file and cannot upload the file itself since i have limited space on my hosting plan. The site uses the yahoo media player which loads a bit slowly but is there and you can listen to all the mp3s on the site.

The upload accepts many different formats, pdf, images (for graphical scores), word docs etc. this is one of the benefits of using the google docs viewer. Using this viewer also means that you can look at the score online without actually downloading it. However if you do wish to download it you can.

I will address your other concerns in a future update. This is a private initiative and takes a lot of time. I do it when i have spare time which is not often. I started this website since i found that something of the sort is missing. It is not for profit but for the benifit of the community.

One thing that insisted upon is that one does not have to register or give out any information. Not to upload nor to search.
I don't collect emails and am not interested in that. The only reason to supply your email when you upload is that you get a confirmation and a password so you can delete your score if you wish.

I welcome any suggestions for improvment and even more any one who wants to contribute and help build this site for the benefit of all of us composers is welcome.

Amos