Music: Getting Started

Freegal is a database of music recordings you can access wth a WCPL library card.

SKYCTC students can get a WCPL card!

Books and chapters pertaining to Music from the reference database Master Academic eBook Collection.

KYVL has partnered with the University Press of Kentucky to make more than 1,300 titles in the collection freely available to KYVL members, including these titles on Music.

Explore music, theater, and dance at the Library of Congress. Browse by subject, name, or title of resource.

Search for audio files in Berea Digital such audio and video documenting Appalachian history and culture. The collection is especially strong in the areas of traditional music, religious expression, spoken lore, radio programs, and oral history.

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution, the national museum of the United States. They are dedicated to supporting cultural diversity and increased understanding among peoples through the documentation, preservation, and dissemination of sound.

The Hiphop Archive’s mission is to facilitate and encourage the pursuit of knowledge, art, culture and responsible leadership through Hiphop.

New Music Box offers in-depth profiles American composers, articles, and discussions; up-to-the-minute industry news and commentary; a direct portal to their internet radio station, Counterstream; and access to an online library of more than 57,000 works by more than 6,000 composers.

A website for the discovery and promotion of new music and emerging artists. Each artist has a profile that typically contains basic info, updates, photos, shows and music for streaming.

Dancecult is a peer-reviewed, open-access e-journal for the study of electronic dance music culture.

A Peabody award-winning radio program, podcast and online magazine dedicated to music from Africa and the African diaspora.

Billboard and its popular music charts provide a source of information on trends and innovation in music.

Sponsored by the Archives of African American Music and Culture at Indiana University

Jazz publication the offers artist biographies, music reviews, and more.

Classical music blogs

An indie music blog with MP3 downloads, band features, and album reviews.

One Track Mind is a daily music blog which spotlights a different individual song each day. All tracks are legal, freely distributable MP3s provided by record labels and promotion firms.

A publication of the Metropolitan Opera Guild.

American online music publication, includes news, reviews, featured articles, streaming video, guides and lists, information about Pitchfork Music Festivals, and more.

Features music, album and artist news, movie reviews, political, economic and pop culture commentary, videos, photos, and more.

Blog with independent and alternative music news, downloads, and videos.

Director Ken Burns presents a comprehensive look at the history of country music in America and its evolution throughout the 20th century. From its early years in the 1920s, when it was termed "hillbilly music," to the rise of bluegrass and rockabilly, the series also looks at how Nashville, Tenn., became the epicenter of the country music industry. Highlighting the connection between country music artists and their fans, the series concludes in the mid-1990s when a young Garth Brooks helps bring country music to a whole new level.

A visual odyssey through the history of country music as told by legendary artists and the elite photographers who captured the evolving image of the country singer, from rhinestone cowboy to pot-smoking outlaw to stadium-filling megastar.

Streaming audio and video.

The Library of Congress presents the National Jukebox, which makes historical sound recordings available to the public free of charge. Streaming audio.

One Track Mind is a daily music blog which spotlights a different individual song each day. All tracks are legal, freely distributable MP3s provided by record labels and promotion firms.

Includes audio and video clips of instruments being played.