Refine your music search
- from lyrics:
When sites close their domains are snapped-up by squatters,
who post a plausible looking directory of likely keywords, along
with pop-ups asking if you would like to set that site to be
your home page, to download software onto your computer, sell
you affiliate schemes and so-on. It is best not to work through
these links when tired and prone to quick clicking.
Refine your music search
- from record (or book) name: Firefox plug-ins & web
databases
- Gracenote (ex CDDB)
database of record / CDs that have been available, by artist
title or song. There is a free Firefox tool bar that lets you
search all the fields of Gracenote straight from your browser.
- Freedb.org the same
- neat looking database of volunteered information about published
sound which can be integrated into some of the catalogue databases
which they list, so that (I think) they auto-complete some of
the information about records and artists.
- Musicbrainz.org
is the same idea - a collective resource for anyone making a
catalogue.
- Ultimate Band List - reviews
as well as recording details: a sure guide whether to buy the
band's difficult third album. They make it sound as though, if
your neighbour is in a band, you shouldn't shout a question out
of the window. You should look it up here instead. Their nifty
hot links to my obscure favourite, Micro Disney do in part bear
this out, although my neighbour's 19 year-old isn't on there
yet. If you are in Russia,
by the way, there's another one which may be better.
- The Band Register
- a list of band names with the hope of preventing two bands
using a name at once
- National
Sound Archive of the British Library: type in Elvis Presley
and, surprisingly perhaps, you get a good discography.
- Record
Labels:
the British Library has a links list for some of these as well
now, as well as a sound
archive. Some of the oral history & animal noises are
downloadable.
- Books: the British Library
Integrated Catalogue of nearly all UK-copyright books. This
is good for making a vague search very specific. If you print-out
the bibliographic information you can then take it with an order
card to your local library, who will eventually get it from the
British Library if all else fails. Try the name of your council
+ gov + UK for your local library catalogue if you want to borrow
a book.
- An increasing number of databases can be searched straight
from the search box of Firefox browser, just to the right of
the address bar. It probably comes pre-set to search with Google;
add a plug-in and the search box becomes a drop-down menu of
ways you can search.
Meta-search
music databases of record shops for collectors. Please use these
affiliate links where possible to help pay the costs of the Soundsearchers.co.uk
server.
- Netsounds.com
record & music searcher - found 6,000 UK record shop entries
for "Beatles"
- Alibris
let you upload your own stock or search other peoples' for film,
music and books
- Gemm.com
vast US music record & vinyl record database
- Soundgallery.musicstack.com
mainly US database of records, priced in pounds dollars or Euro
- www.vinylsale.com 200 vinyl record dealers - currently closed
- Recordcollector.co.uk
shared database - not connected to the magazine of the same name
but has a link to their site. New in 2004.
- Vinylsearcher.com
dance record specialists: dance, techno, trance, house: any vinyl
records
- Vip-24.com "The
only online music fair. Three quarters of a million items to
buy online: more music than ebay!. Also includes superb resource
section for music fans, news, album & gig competitions, freebies
etc."
- http://Musicmoz.org/Shopping/Directories_and_Comparison_Services/
amateur enthusiasm meets institutional stability in this search
service made of volunteer-edited links pages. This list of 35
links needs an editor - the site says "if you can spare
a few minutes of your time ... please apply". The emphasis
for this list is on the USA, but it is possible to ask to set-up
a regional list.
music mags papers
and similar sites and feeds
- ThisisfakeDIY
online paper seeking reviewers. Fake DIY address in a central
London office block, but nice to read.
- Discant.net
UK-wide from Glasgow.
big music record shops
- 101CD
CD 101 record shop
- Alibris
- CD Wow (free delivery) CD Wow have
free delivery
- Amazon
Amazon record and book shop has a suggestion service: type-in
a record you like and it will come-up with one or two that you
might like but perhaps had forgotten. Amazon can now list second
hand records and books from private dealers and small shops as
well as a vast range from wholesalers.
- Contact
Music a slow link but they do offer free SMS text messaging
- Kelkoo price comparison service.
101CD, above, are usually cheapest
- Price
Storm specialises in DVDs and games
- www.onlinepriceguide.co.uk
compares prices at book, DVD and CD shops
- Musicsearcher.com
(formerly Argus Music Searcher) Meta searches Gemm, Ebay, Netsounds
and Musicstack. From the same search box you can search Amazon
(UK & US) or Barnes & Noble, as well as reviews in Rolling
Stone Magazine, The All Music Guide and VH1. Similar to Soundsearchers.co.uk
in that it has used affiliate links to some of the main record
shops to reduce costs, but, sad to say, better done.:
music lyrics search services
- Lycos
Lycos includes a web centre, lyrics search, DVD download search
& SMS texting
- Lyrics.com
Music Lyrics database and lyrics search service. With pop-up
advertising. No keyword search.
- LyricCrawler.com
music lyrics search. 919 lyrics involving love; 98 sex. 200 lyrics
with "fool" in the title.
- Lyricspost.com has 698 titles about love and 76 about sex.
Popups. No keyword search. "no bullshit".
- Lyrics
Search music lyrics search. 356 sex lyrics; love uncounted.
Banner adds but no pop-ups.
- The International
Lyrics Server German language music portal
- allways on the run
lyrics page music lyrics search. Free but request donations.
Claims 4631 lyrics. No keyword search.
- lyrics.astraweb
- a music search service as a student project. Add your own lyrics.
Seems to be the same as the Lyrics Search. Over four hundred
results with the word "fool" in the title, many of
them by Elvis Presley.
- ABC de la Chancon Fancophone
- except the ones from EMI who asked them to be removed. Comic
Sans typeface means the same in all languages.
big book shops including databases
for price comparison
- Secularism.org.uk/shop.html
Teenage kicks middle-aged style: this small collection of books
& DVDs tries to get to the root of the problem. Membership
of the National Secular Society is only £18 or subscription
to in interesting email newsletter is free - you can see some
current religeous
news here. The office sometimes needs staff and possibly
volunteers.
- Music
Room the main supplier for sheet music & music books.
Firefox browser has a free add-on for use outside the US and
Canada called "Sheetmusicdirect.com Search Tool bar 0.5"
that lets you search for Music Room's downloadable legal stock.
- BOL
are one of the largest bookshops on the net
- Alibris
hold a shared stock database for indie book, music and film sellers,
including second hand and international stock.
- Amazon
of course - now showing stock from some second-hand bookshops
and private sellers as well as new books. Amazon has a Yahoo-like
directory structure as well as a book-suggestion tool that tries
to learn what you like. Once you have clicked on the link you
can follow more links to use the US, Canadian, German or Japanese
versions.
- Abe books (advanced
book exchange) are a vast database of second-hand books. Includes
Just books and Amazon, so if you use the "want" service
to wait for a rare book to come on the market, you have a good
chance. The main US site has a separate url. Unfortunately they
are expensive for individuals to dabble at selling books, with
a minimum subscription.
- UKBookworld.com a co-operative
of dozens of second hand book sellers.
- British Library Integrated
Public Catalogue of all UK published books (graphic
version). This is good for making a vague search very specific.
Then you can try online bookshops to buy a second-hand copy,
or order through your local council library (who will eventually
get it from the British Library if all else fails). Try the name
of your council + gov + UK for your local library catalogue if
you want to borrow a book. A couple of hundred years later, the
same idea has been re-invented for records at freedb.org, Musicbrainz
and Gracenote, below.
- Bookfinder.com based
in California, but also a worldwide mega-search of new &
used bookshop catalogues, including all the dealers who participate
in Abe books & Amazon. Good at narrowing-down a search.Their
database includes music, too, now.
- Bookstores.com
is a price comparison book search service with a wide range -
mainly in the USA. Self-reminder: I must make the link an affiliate
link some time just in case the referrals ever make the minimum
payment.
- Copac.ac.uk very similar
to British Library interface above, but covering several university
libraries.
- ISBN.nu links from ISBN
to recently published and out of print book data and often straight
to shops that sell the book.
- Tomfolio.com is another
American shared database online for all bookshops that participate
in the co-operative
- Newsfromnowhere.co.uk
is a walk-in
bookshop in Liverpool that adds anything they can order to a
web database to give one and a half million titles. Odd books,
like spiral-bound sets of teachers' notes, are available from
here that you can't get from the others. "visit us for books
on anti-racism, environment, feminism, Ireland, lesbian &
gay, socialism,...and much more! quality fiction, children's
books, mind, body & spirit. We also sell: World music CDs,
relaxation music & fair-traded gifts". News from nowhere
is owned by its staff as a co-op and open till 5.45 at 96 Bold
St, Liverpool L1.
- Free eBook Search 1.2
is a search bar for Firefox that lets you search for e-books,
in case there's no need to buy a printed copy. See the "get
Firefox" box above, and choose
- Waterstsones
online version of the national book shop chain.
- Localbookshops.co.uk
may trace your nearest shop by UK postcode
music search services - track down a track or get clearer
details of the music you're looking for
Gnutella versus OpenNap:
Napster alternatives for music file sharing
- ITunes:
pay Itunes to do the work of working out what's copywrite; save
yourself the work of going out and buying a CD. "Do you
think it's fine that a CD plays in all CD players but that an
iTunes song only plays in an iPod? I don't. Something has to
change," EU Consumer Protection Commissioner Kuneva was
quoted as saying in a preview of an interview to be published
on Monday. Apple could not be immediately reached for comment
on the report. Norway, a European country that is not in the
EU, is battling Apple for the same reason. In January, it said
the computer and software giant must liberalise its music download
system by Oct.
- Collecting Societies: I don't know of a way of tipping creaters
of files anonymously to compensate for any breach of copywrite,
since the fairtunes.com experiment has now closed. Those who
feel over-guilty should recognise that monopoly is a privilege,
granted in a narrow areas of life in most countries for encouraging
creative work. In the USA it is bigged-up by the corporations,
but in Zimabwe, for example, it doesn't exist at all. If you
can imagine that the author is loosing-out by you making your
own copy, and that this loss may discourage further work, then
a tip seems reasonable. If a record company say thay have put
millions into advertising over-priced CDs while neglecting the
more specialised, then you might think: tough; the world is already
the better for their absence. If the artist is dead, you might
think: was she motivated in her work by the knowledge that her
descendents would benefit? Probably not. Members of The Who have
stated that long copywrite is necessary to help former artists
pay public school fees for their children. But I've found no
hint of this in their songs.
If you discover a way of tipping artists please let me know and
I'll add a link. In the UK there is a site
for the Performing Rights Society and the Mechanical Copywrite
Protection Society which offers to link sound licence buyers
& sellers, but it is not geared to anonymous small payments..
Alternatively, go the whole way and get a licence.
Copyright clearance agencies
for film & advertising music clearance
- Music Clearance - copywrite clearance agents: an Anglo-South
African company based in London with a range of experience from
world music to corporate advertising sound tracks.
music indie links; CD & LP record shops
- Alternative Search search service on the
web for alternative music sites (s)
- Birdpages.co.uk British Independant
Record Dealers. The site has been down since autumn 2006 so an
archive copy is kept here
- Indieplanet
full links and info pages, based in Holland
- Moremusic-
all the UK record shops & collector resources with links
to information sites.(s). If your browser has javascript, and
the pagemill web authoring programme can cope, this menu is more
direct:
- Soundshed
collaboration & resources for anyone musical in the UK -
industry links, small adds, suggestions for collaborating electronically
with anyone local, gig lists...
- UK
Rare Record Price Guide
- Scottish Gigguide
hopes for a band directory soon
- TweeNet
- Wonderwall
dance hip-hop & electronic music
jazz music
reggae ska & skinhead music
- Skahoo
linking the ska world from Australia
taxpayer-funded music: orchestral, baroque, classical, opera
monopoly funded & airplayed music: "baby come shake
your love". Rock.
- Record companies used to take risks, publicise, and do specialist
technical work like pressing records. This is un-necessary now,
as you can make music at home, upload it to a few websites, and
see if it catches on. My local music pub has links on its websites
to places where you can hear the bands records before going to
listen to them.
- Universal Music (Decca classical, was
Island, Polydore, Verve in the UK)
- Sony Music aka CBS
- EMI
- BMG
- Warner
- MTV Online
- the epitomy of its type, big brand lift music with big budget
videos. Typical recording contracts allow the publisher to deduct
video costs from the artists' wages.
- The Music Review
- The Music Industry Search Service
- Rock
Source - rock music network (not tested)
- Michael
Marsch's Rockmusik Links nine music search forms
- 1212 - The
largest database of music industry related web information in
over 50 countries.
- Musicnet.com expects
to download 3 of the 4 groups' products cheaply by summer 2001
- Everyhit.com
UK music charts database from the 1950s - search by record date,
band name or title keywords
unsigned music & bands UK
- Burbs.org.uk - fomer
music download site and unsigned band site. This link is to the
web archive version
- Betarecords.com
- a music site with an unsigned downloads chart
- Bandmix.co.uk - slick
commercial musicians wanted / available site with versions for
the US and Canada too
- Music network.co.uk
has a gig guide as well
- Curious Goods, for Scottish bands, have left their Demon
address and need chasing;
- Liveclub.co.uk seems
to be a list of bands playing around at the moment, who clearly
come from Essex, lists band sites
- New Deal for musicians aged 18-25 and unemployed for 6 months
of more: no sign of a good website on this although newdeal.gov.uk
gives the official hype and http://www.mbr-online.co.uk
was mentioned as a possible training organisation.
- Unsignedchart.com
- "Bringing you the best in Unsigned Music from the web,
the unsigned chart has launched and already has become a popular
community with hundreds of
MP3s, Artists and Fans. The Unsigned Chart is open to all to
join and a great new place to promote your music, your music
business, yourself as a manager, a label or any profession
in the music business. Let other musicians know you’re here;
tell them about your music, your services .As an artist you can
upload your music, videos, photo’s, gigs, start new groups
and forums, almost anything! As a music business you can add
your information for everyone to see, start a group on your business,
this is an excellent way to network yourself and your
service."
unsigned music & bands US
- bandname.com
claims to list loads of band names as a central registry, to
prevent overlap
- Songs.com charge a hefty
fee for inclusion in this Nashville based MOR rock and pop site
- Folkweb unsigned bands
cab sell a record or CD if they like it, sale-or-return
- http://bandmix.ca Canada
muscians available: accoustic guitar, backing singer, bagpipes,
banjo, bass guitar, dobro, drums, fiddle, flute...
- http://bandmix.com US /
...harmonica, jeyboardm lead guitar, mandolin, other, other percussion,
piano, rhythm guitar, saxaphone, trombone, trumpet, violin, vocalist:
alto, baritone, base, general, suprano, tenor
- Iuma.com seems to be closed like its parent, Vitaminic. It
was something like Myspace for unsigned bands, allowing music
storage and info.
punk music
guitar tab music
world music (western perspective)
webring links - another
way of finding less well known collectors' record shops &
music
music links & editorial
- Soundsearchers.co.uk is an amateur site, maintained as a
hobby and to promote a friend's record business.
- If we link to your site, either searching your stock or linking
to your site from this page a link back would be much appreciated
to keep Soundsearchers.co.uk where google looks for it. Occasionally
we e-mail other site owners to ask.
- If we link to large commercial sites, affiliate schemes
are welcome.
- If your UK record shop is not being spidered, we are happy
to add, for free, a few pages of plain text or HTML stock
lists. Each link has to be added to a grand list by hand for
our search service to spider it, so any work done in advance
is welcome. We will also swap links if you like. Most of our
links originally came from Moremusic, but constraints of time
have prevented regular updates.
- To spider several pages of text, or any kind of linking
that takes a fair amount of time, please make-out a standing
order for the minimum amount your bank will consider - probably
a pound a month. Our bank details can be provided here
Teenage Kicks middle-aged style: other links
- Janet1.freeuk.com
for door alarms to assist those caring for people with Dementia
and Alzheimer's
- Musonix.co.uk, London's publisher of Midi
Sequencing and music technology workbooks and a technical
dictionary.
- Designyourlife.uk.com career
coaching or life coaching from Janice Robertson, North London.
- Bullyonline.org
- a site and helpline for people suffering from bullying. Surprisingly,
most who ring are adults complaining of adult colleagues in the
Quango sector - school teachers for example - and are complaining
about identified serial bullies with a string of known complaints
against them, and failures to respond by recognised trades unions
or management. This is an old problem. Many of us remember the
slightly mad second headmaster who was given the dirty disciplinary
jobs to do when we were at school. But the problem has got far
worse. It seems that the use of a serial bully to remove expensive
or inconvenient staff (even good ones) is thought normal by a
proportion of quango sector managers. The more empoyment rights
staff have, the more employment wrongs are needed to meet senior
management's targets, and the more a pet bully with obvious personal
problems is used to do the dirty work of unfair dismissals. To
take an example, the director of Harringay Social Services who
avoided staff and hired clearly incompetent management during
the failures
that lead to the Victoria Climbie enquiry went-on with his career
unscathed to hold a senior
government job. Luckily he was revealed as incompetent rude
drunk, but most are not.
- Mercian Labels are a UK self adhesive label
printer and experts in bespoke security
labels.
  Indie
borrowing and lending at Zopa. This is a commercial link to a
firm I lend at.
- Government
Consultations : Did you want them to spend billions on the
olympics and not enough on respite care, old peoples' homes or
dentists? And is it cheaper to have a separate funding body for
dentists England as well as one in Scotland? Why has Mr Woolas
of the Department for Communities spent millions of pounds on
the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund? I'm not making
this up: if you Google it, you'll find that it really does exist.
None of these questions has been put to large numbers of people,
but some of the detail have, such as "are the olympics good,
very good, or very very good?"
- Department
of Trade and Industry: cutting red tape & simplifying
suggestions page
- Hear from your MP.com
- TheyWorkforYou.com
What did your honourable gentleman do this afternoon?
- Employees.org.uk
Is your trade union so bad you need a back-up for employment
law insurance?
- The National Secular
Society costs only £18 a year to fund. Have a look
at what's
in the news...
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