There can’t be many of us who aren’t having to think about personal and household budgets in these difficult times following the COVID-19 pandemic and everything that has followed. So, here is a reminder that for many of us in the UK there is a wealth of free audio available usually only a short trip away from home or available online at your local library. Despite local authority cuts to library services in recent years there is still plenty of music and audio material out there for you to enjoy.
Many libraries still have CD collections which can either be borrowed or listened to in the library itself although the trend is for local authorities to sign up to public library streaming services such as Freegal and Naxos. Audiobooks can also be listened to on services such as OverDrive and Borrowbox. All that is needed is membership to your local library which in the majority of cases will be free to residents and often to workers and students who work and study in the library’s catchment area.
These streaming services offer online access to a wealth of music and audio material and just require your library membership number and a PIN number for access. These services have desktop and mobile apps for most devices and many libraries will provide facilities within the library to listen to these services for those individuals who do not have computing devices or online access.
In addition to music, many libraries also make available music scores to schools, choirs, amateur orchestras, opera groups and bands throughout the UK. One such organisation is the Community & Youth Music Library which is based in the Hornsey Library in London which provides both a walk-in and online service.
Another interesting example of what can be found is in the Barbican Music Library which in addition to having the largest selection of CDs in any London public library also houses The Gilbert and Sullivan Society Library. You may find that your local library hosts live concerts and the City of Westminster Music Library provides walk-in concerts every Wednesday for example.
Music streaming services
Freegal Music
Launched in 2010, Freegal Music has ~5000 institutional users (libraries, universities, military bases) in over 20 countries. There are currently over 18 million tracks in their catalogue and users can download songs (number depends on the library subscription) as well as enjoy unlimited streaming.
Freegal contains not only today’s top hits, but also all-time favourites going back into the past century. It contains over a million classical tracks; strong collections in jazz, world music, country, alternative, blues, gospel, Christian, and kids’ music; and many other genres and types of music.
Users can choose which songs they listen to and when. They can curate playlists for themselves or to share with their friends – or with their library. Libraries can build playlists to share with their users as well to support learning and local initiatives.
In the UK the following libraries offer the Freegal Music service. Go to this link and click on the Login button and enter United Kingdom in the Country drop down and get direct links to these libraries:
Barnet Libraries
Bromley Libraries
Dudley Libraries
Greenwich Libraries
Library Ideas Great Britain
Lincolnshire Libraries
Portsmouth Central Library
Suffolk Libraries
Wandsworth Libraries
The Freegal service is also available in Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Switzerland and can be searched from the same login screen.
Naxos Music Library
The Naxos Music Library describes itself as ‘The most comprehensive classical music streaming platform. An invaluable resource for universities, public libraries, schools, music professionals and collectors.’ It contains 2.9 million tracks from over 940 labels with hundreds of albums added each month. In addition is contains music notes, cover artwork, tracklists, instrumentation and publisher information; Libretti of over 65 and synopses of close to 1000 operas and more than 40,000 composer and artist biographies. Study Guides to supplement music curriculums in Australia, Canada, Ireland, South Korea, UK and the US are also available and the Naxos Music Library is available worldwide.
These are the sections available from Plymouth Central Library’s subscription and is typically what you might find if your library subscribes:
- Naxos Music Box – Family-orientated resource for children and young people.
- Naxos Music Library – Online classical music collection.
- Naxos Jazz Music Library – Online jazz music collection of over 235,000 tracks.
- Naxos World Music Library – Online music collection from all over the world and access to over 175,000 tracks.
- Naxos Spoken Word Library
In addition to audio resources you can also watch over 3500 concerts and theatre productions online for free on the Naxos Video Library with your library card at home or in a library.
The British Library
The British Library contains over 90,00 selected recordings of music, spoken word and human and natural environments. The library was subject to a major cyber security attack in October 2023 and are in the process of restoring their services. The British Library, Sound Archive is now on The National Archives website which can be accessed here.
The original British Library website had its sound library divided into the following sections:
- Accents & dialects
- Arts, literature & performance
- Classical music
- Environment & nature
- Popular music
- Oral history
- Radio & sound recording history
- World & traditional music
- Sound maps
As their site is being reconstructed post the cyber attack you should go to their homepage and follow any links there.
To sample what is available The British Library has a SoundCloud site containing music samplers, podcasts, oral histories and more.
School and University Libraries
Many of these have online music resources and students should ask their librarians for a list of available resources. If what you are after is not available there are inter library loan arrangements which may be made available to you.
An outstanding example would be the library of the Royal College of Music in London which has an extensive collection of books, scores and audio which is available to both students and the general public.
In addition to music resources many of these academic libraries have sheet music, collections of books on music and subscribe to online sources of information such as Oxford Music Online – Grove music, the authoritative resource for music research.
International Resources
Many libraries overseas also subscribe to Freegal, Naxos Music Library and Kanopy and you should contact your local library to find out what is available to you locally.
hoopla
hoopla is the digital service of Midwest Tape, a leading provider of entertainment media products and services: DVDs, CDs, audiobooks and shelf-ready solutions, to public libraries across North America. You can listen to free music with your library card by streaming your favourite album online or download and listen on the go with their mobile app. Check to see if your local library subscribes to this service. Go here for more information.
Internet Archive
This is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more. There are nearly 15 million items of free music and audio and the Internet Archive Audio Archive can be found here.
U.S. Library of Congress
The US Library of Congress has over 700,000 items available in its catalogue with some 31,000 available online. It now has a section called Citizen DJ which contains over 14,000 audio recordings which are available online and are in the public domain. Items range from classical, pop, opera, ethnic, jazz and religious items. The Audio Recordings section can be accessed here and Citizen DJ here.
Local Library initiatives
Local libraries particularly in North America have signed up with companies such as MUSICat to create online spaces where local musicians can showcase their music.
An example of this is Capital City Records which is Edmonton Public Library‘s digital space created to celebrate Edmonton’s local music scene and its history. he collection includes some of Edmonton’s best local music produced in the last five years. Anyone can stream albums and, with a library card, you can download your favourite tracks. The collection will grow by 100 albums a year, so stay tuned for our next call for submissions.
Another example is Crescent City Sounds which ‘connects the residents of New Orleans with the music of the city with a curated, commercial-free streaming library made up of local artists, including long-time favourites and the next big things.’ Again available via your local library card.
