International Music Score Library Project
| URL | www.imslp.org |
|---|---|
| Commercial? | No |
| Type of site | Music score library |
| Owner | IMSLP community |
| Created by | Feldmahler |
| Launched | February 16, 2006 |
| Current status of site | Closed (October 17, 2007) |
The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) was a project for the creation of a virtual library of public domain music scores, based on the wiki principle. Since its launch on February 16, 2006, more than 15,000 scores, for 9,000 works, by over 1,000 composers were uploaded, making it one of the largest public domain music score collections on the web.[1] The project used MediaWiki software to provide contributors with a familiar interface.
Following a cease and desist letter from Universal Edition of Vienna, IMSLP closed on October 19, 2007.[2] It has since moved to a temporary site with no content. On 18 April 2008 the IMSLP announced that it will be back online on 1 July 2008 at 4:00 AM UT.
History
Overview
The site launched on February 16, 2006. The library consisted mainly of scans of old musical editions out of copyright. In addition, it admitted scores by contemporary composers who wished to share their music with the world by releasing it under a Creative Commons license. One of the main projects of IMSLP was the sorting and uploading of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach in the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe (1851-1899). Besides J.S. Bach's, Frédéric Chopin's nearly complete oeuvre was available on IMSLP.
Besides providing a digital repository, IMSLP offered possibilities as a musicological encyclopaedia, since multiple and historical editions of a single composition could be uploaded, and musicological analyses and historical commentaries accompany the scores.
IMSLP had been officially recommended by MIT,[3][4] which also used it extensively in some of its OpenCourseWare courses.[5][6] It was suggested as a resource by university libraries at Oberlin Conservatory of Music,[7] Manhattan School of Music[8] Stanford University,[9] McGill University,[10] Brown University,[11] University of Maryland,[12] University of New Mexico,[13] University of Washington,[14] University of Wisconsin-Madison,[15] California Institute of the Arts,[16] and it had been submitted to MERLOT by a member professor.[17]
Closure
On 19 October 2007 the IMSLP closed following legal demands from Universal Edition of Vienna, Austria.[2] The cease and desist letter expressed concern that some works that are in public domain in the server's location in Canada with copyright protection of 50 years post mortem, but which are protected by the 70 years post mortem term in some other countries, were available in those countries. The administrator of the website, known under the nickname Feldmahler, decided to close down the repository, but left the forums online so that discussions into the best way to proceed could be made:[18]
On Saturday October 13, 2007, I received a second Cease and Desist letter from Universal Edition. At first I thought this letter would be similar in content to the first Cease and Desist letter I received in August. However, after lengthy discussions with very knowledgeable lawyers and supporters, I became painfully aware of the fact that I, a normal college student, has neither the energy nor the money necessary to deal with this issue in any other way than to agree with the cease and desist, and take down the entire site. I cannot apologize enough to all IMSLP contributors, who have done so much for IMSLP in the last two years.
Feldmahler (project leader)
In response, director Michael S. Hart of Project Gutenberg offered support to keep the project online.[19] This offer was declined by Feldmahler, who voiced concern about having the project hosted in the United States, and consulted the Canadian wing of Project Gutenberg.[18] On November 2, 2007, Michael Geist, a prominent Canadian copyright academic, wrote an article for BBC discussing the specifics and the wider implications of this case.[20]
| This case is enormously important from a public domain perspective. —Michael Geist |
On April 17, 2008, Feldmahler announced on the forum of IMSLP the reopening of the website for 1 July 2008.[21]
Similar projects
Mutopia project
The Mutopia project is a volunteer-run effort to create a library of free content sheet music, in a way similar to Project Gutenberg's library of public domain books.
The music is reproduced from old scores that are out of copyright. The new scores are typeset with GNU LilyPond and distributed in PDF, PostScript, Midi, and LilyPond format.
Currently, there are more than 1300 pieces of music available, more than half of which are pieces for piano. There are also many pieces for voice, and various other musical instruments. On the Mutopia project home page, there is a list with links to the most recently added pieces.
- Mutopia project: focused on typeset scores.
- Choral Public Domain Library: focused on choral and vocal music.
- Werner Icking Music Archive: contains mainly early music.
- Musopen Public Domain Sheet Music
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- ↑ Classical and Choral Sheet Music. The Free Sheet Music Guide (2007). Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Clark, Ken (2007-10-05). Cease and Desist Letter from Universal Edition AG (PDF). Aird & Berlis LLP. Retrieved 2007-10-20.
- ↑ Moore, Christie (2007-01-05). Wiki of public domain classical scores. MIT Library News. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ↑ Lewis Music Library. MIT Libraries (2007). Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ↑ MIT (2007). 21M.250 Schubert to Debussy, Fall 2006. MIT OpenCourseWare. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ↑ MIT (2007). 21M.262 Modern Music:1900-1960, Fall 2006. MIT OpenCourseWare. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ↑ Conlib (2007-04-26). Classical Music in the Public Domain. News from the Oberlin Conservatory Library. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ↑ Sharp, Peter Jay (2007). Free stuff on the web. The Peter Jay Sharp Library, Manhattan School of Music. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ↑ Outside links of interest. Stanford University, Libraries and Academic Information Resources (2007). Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ↑ Online resources. Marvin Duchow Music Library, McGill (2007). Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ↑ Quist, Ned (2007). Selected internet resources for music. Brown University Library. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ↑ Online Resources for the Study of Music, Theatre, & Dance. University of Maryland Libraries (2007). Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ↑ Music Research. University of New Mexico University Libraries (2007). Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ↑ Musical Scores. University of Washington Libraries (2007). Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ↑ Online Scores. University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries (2007). Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ↑ CalArts Library. CalArts Library (2007). Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ↑ Alvira, Jose Rodriguez (2007-03-18). Material Detail, IMSLP. Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Feldmahler (2007-10-19). Open letter. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
- ↑ Template:Cite mailing list
- ↑ Geist, Michael (2007-11-02). The day the music died. BBC News. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
- ↑ IMSLP: Temporary main page of the IMSLP Retrieved June 14, 2008.
See also
- List of online music databases
External links
- IMSLP Official Homepage
- IMSLP forums
- Mutopia project home page
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