LibGuides: Music: Organizations / Genres

Societies and organizations

Societies and organizations provide a variety of resources for their members as well as some resources for non-members. Some of these have student chapters and may offer competitions, scholarships, or awards. At these sites you may find information about upcoming conferences, festivals, publications, job postings, conference proceedings, publications, links to other resources, online tutorials, and ways to become involved with the community.

American Choral Directors Association
"Founded in 1959, the ACDA is a nonprofit music-education organization whose central purpose is to promote excellence in choral music through performance, composition, publication, research, and teaching."
American Composers Forum
This is a great resource and advocacy group for contemporary classical music composers and enthusiasts. They produce a radio spot called "Composers Datebook" that broadcasts on KMFA locally.
American Federation of Musicians
Formed in In 1896, the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada is the self-proclaimed "largest organization in the world representing the interests of professional musicians."
American Guild of Organists
AGO has its National Headquarters Office in New York City and "over 340 local Chapters located across the United States" which hold "regular meetings featuring performances, lectures, seminars, and discussions on a wide variety of topics."
American Recorder Society
ARS was "founded in 1939 to enable recorder players to meet, improve their playing skills, and publish editions of recorder music. Today there are ARS members throughout the U.S., Canada, and 30 countries around the world."
ASCAP: The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
"ASCAP is one of the two primary music performing rights organizations in the US. Much of the content on the society's website consists of news about or of interest to its members and other musicians."
Association for Recorded Sound Collections
"ARSC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and study of sound recordings, in all genres of music and speech, in all formats, and from all periods."
Gospel Music Association
Contains links to news, events, Dove awards, articles, industry information, and a searchable Hall of Fame.
Historic Brass Society
HBS is an "international music organization concerned with the entire range of early brass music, from Ancient Antiquity and the Biblical period through the present."
International Alliance for Women in Music
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IAWM is "a global network of women and men working to increase and enhance musical activities, opportunities and promote all aspects of the music of women. The IAWM builds awareness of women's contributions to musical life."
International Clarinet Association
"A community of clarinetists and clarinet enthusiasts that supports projects that will benefit clarinet performance."
International Computer Music Association
ICMA is "an international affiliation of individuals and institutions involved in the technical, creative, and performance aspects of computer music."
Music Publishers Association
"Founded in 1895, the MPA is the oldest music trade organization in the United States, fostering communication among publishers, dealers, music educators, and all ultimate users of music." It includes the Copyright Clearance Center.
New Music USA
The New Music USA Online Library is a vast and comprehensive digital database that contains over 57,000 works by more than 6,000 composers, and includes over 14,000 media samples (recordings and scores).
Society for American Music
"The mission... is to stimulate the appreciation, performance, creation and study of American music in all its diversity, and the full range of activities and institutions associated with that music."

Links by Music Genre

Aria Database
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You can search a listing of over 1,000 arias from approximately 200 operas, find several full opera translations into English, information about companies, sound files, and related links.
Blabbermouth
Metal.
BlackGospel.com
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Provides news, Top 10 Charts, forums, music shop (iTunes/Amazon.com mp3), lyrics, and links to record companies, producers, and gospel broadcasters.
Classical Net
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Portal to information about classical music--over 4200 files at Classical Net and more than 2500 links to other classical music web sites." Composers are listed alphabetically from William Alwyn to Sylvius Weiss.
Country Music Television
Gospel News Today
Black gospel news.
GospelWire
Black gospel music news.
Gramophone
British classical music site.
The Hiphop Archive
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"The site is broken down into four main categories--Hiphop University (academia), The Circle Blog (news, music, arts, culture, and politics), Prepare Yourself (an intro to hip hop, going back to the 1970s), and HHA @ Harvard, i.e., the W. E. B. DuBois Institute for African American Research. All lead to pages ... with audio-visual stimulation in the form of short videos with musical accompaniment." --CHOICE Reviews, 10/2009
User contributions are encouraged to the site, coordinated by Marcyliena Morgan, a Stanford University professor. Information tends to be reliable and accurate.
Metalarchives
Metal, rock, and punk music coverage.
No Depression
Country and roots music.
Operabase
"Operabase has documented operatic activity worldwide since 1996...." The public site of the database provides information on performances, artists, companies, and more.
OperaGlass
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Information available here includes libretti, source texts, performance histories, synopses, discographies, composers, librettists, discussion of approximately 250 operas, and links to the home pages of opera professionals.
This page was created by Richard S. Bogart, Senior Research Scientist, Center for Space Science and Astrophysics & Hansen Experimental Physics Labs, Stanford University.
Pop Matters
Indie.
Roughstock
County Music history.
Stereogum
Indie music news.
Waxpoetics
Hip hop.

Collections and Resources

"Annals of Music" - The Pop History Dig
Features music in popular culture over several decades: artists, marketing, media, and biography.
AllMusic
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Covers various genres and topics. Search by artist, album, song, or classical work. Provides information on new releases, music styles, history, reviews, and discographies.
(Page is often slow to load or times out.)
Birthplace of Country Music.
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"This website serves as a portal for the Birthplace of Country Music in Bristol, Tennessee, recognized as such by Congress in 1998. Founded in 1994, in association with the Smithsonian Institution, the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance (BCNA) is a nonprofit organization seeking to preserve and promote the heritage of country music in the twin cities of Bristol, Tennessee, and Bristol, Virginia, and in surrounding regions."
The British Library Sound Archive
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Some resources are limited to U.K. licensed institutions. "Everyone can search all recordings on the site, listen to recordings where copyright permits,... [and] view notes and tags added by other users." Search Tips are available, as well as a button that lets you limit a search to recordings everyone can play.
Harmony Central
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This site is a musicians' community, "supplying valuable information from news and product reviews, to classified ads and chat rooms." You may want to turn down the sound, which always plays on the site.
Jukebox Day by Day
Listen to music that was recorded on any given day of the year.
The Muse’s Muse: Songwriting Tips & Tools
An online community providing a handy reference guide for beginning songwriters, a monthly newsletter, chat, articles, market information, a songwriter’s store, and more.
Pitchfork
Founded in 1995, this independent resource for music journalism, focusing on new music, offers daily reviews, news, features, videos, interviews, and music criticism.
Ricci Adams' musictheory.net
Online instruction and tools for learning music theory.
Science of Music: Exploratorium's Accidental Scientist
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This online exhibit of the San Francisco museum, supported by the National Science Foundation, includes movies, web pages and questions "designed to actively engage students, teachers, families, and the general public."
teoria
Music theory, including interactive tutorials and exercises.