Music Australia

About

In brief

Music Australia is an online service developed by the National Library of Australia and the National Film and Sound Archive and other cultural institutions across the nation. You can discover, access and navigate a rich store of information on Australian music, musicians, organisations and services, all from a single access point. Music Australia includes many different types of resources, such as music scores, sound recordings, websites and a range of other music-related material held by a large number of Australia's cultural institutions or described by specialist music services. Music Australia covers both, heritage and contemporary music, and includes all formats, styles and genres.

Some of the music in Music Australia is online - you can read a score held by the National Library of Australia and listen to a sound recording delivered by the National Film and Sound Archive at the same time. You can also listen to some 30 second sound samples of contemporary Australian sound recordings. The number of online resources, both historical and contemporary, is continually growing. Music Australia is not a commercial supplier of music. For resources that are not available online, copies can often be borrowed or purchased, subject to copyright restrictions, through the various organisations contributing to Music Australia.

Scope

Music Australia aims to be as comprehensive as possible. Music Australia's definition of 'Australian music' is broad and inclusive and includes music composed or performed by Australians, published in Australia, or by international musicians with a strong association with Australia. You can also find information about music including books and theses, websites, pictures and films, multimedia, kits and objects, and archival collections. The information may be about Australian music, or information created by an Australian about non-Australian music.

Limits

Resources and People and organisation records in Music Australia are contributed by large collecting organisations such as libraries, archives, universities and specialist music services. This means that if a contributing library, archive, university or service has not yet collected and described a particular Australian music work or performer you will not find it in Music Australia. The number of online resources available in Music Australia will increase over time as digitisation programs of historical music material continue to add to the resources. Digitisation of printed Australian music scores and sound collections is generally limited to out-of-copyright material, but as solutions on copyright, that are fair for artists and users, are developed more resources will be made available online. Music Australia does not include individual articles in journals or newspapers, nor does it include a directory of music events or contact details for performers or booking agents.

Content

Music Australia provides access to descriptions of 255378 resources, 59169 of them available online, or with some online content, and 4874 people and organisations associated with Australian music.

People

In Music Australia you can find 4874 people records. Many of the records contain detailed biographical information on Australian musicians, performers, composers, groups and ensembles, festivals and organisations.

Scores

You can find 104212 scores in Music Australia, including 11065 available online. Most online scores were published before 1930, as contributors have concentrated on digitising out of copyright material.

Sound recordings

You can locate 105323 sound recordings in Music Australia, 43777 of which have some online content. Many of these have links to sound files or samples, but in some cases the link is to a performer or group website which contains sound files. To listen to online sound files, you will need one or more sound players. Our information on Players and Plug-ins will help you get started.

Websites

Many Australian composers, musicians and music organisations have developed websites. You can find 597 websites selected by Music Australia's contributors in this service.

Books, theses and journals

You can find 31522 books, theses and journals about Australian music, of which 522 have some online content available. Most of these are full text, but in some cases the online content is a description of the book provided by the publisher, or an abstract of the thesis.

Music Australia does not include information on individual journal or newspaper articles. For this information try searching one of the many full text journal and newspaper databases to find articles. Many of these services are available to subscribers only: you may be able to access the services at your university, public or State Library.

Pictures

Australia's music life has been recorded in many photographs, paintings and drawings. You can find 4328 pictures representing our musical heritage in Music Australia. 2972 of these are available online through this service. For more online pictures of Australian musical life, try Picture Australia.

Film and videos

Music Australia includes information on many films and videos - moving image - associated with Australian music. You can find 7245 moving image items here. Online descriptions of 32 films and videos are available.

Multimedia

Multimedia resources include computer programs and interactive electronic resources which are not online. You can find descriptions of 170 multimedia resources in Music Australia, and information on how to access them.

Kits

Kits are 'packages' that may include text and CDs or other electronic media. Many kits are produced for educational purposes. Descriptions of 691 kits are available through the service. Online content for some kit components is available for 9 kits.

Objects

Libraries, archives, museums, universities and specialist music organisations hold many objects associated with music life. These include instruments, furniture, costumes etc. You can find information on 102 objects here. This will increase over time, as more archives, museums , universities and organisations contribute to the service.

Contributors

Music Australia includes content contributed by large and small libraries, archives, museums, universities and other specialist online music services. Major contributors include:

National Library of Australia
National Film and Sound Archive
Australian Music Centre
State Library of New South Wales
State Library of Queensland
State Library of South Australia
State Library of Tasmania
State Library of Victoria
State Library of Western Australia
Australian Music Online
Australian Sound Design

How to contribute

Music Australia welcomes enquires from organisations wishing to contribute music information to the service. For information on contributing read our Guidelines for contributors or contact us to discuss how your organisation could become a contributor.

Help and FAQ's

For assistance and tips on searching read the Help and Faqs pages. Our Frequently Asked Questions (Faqs) provide useful information on how to best use Music Australia.

Themes

Music Australia includes themes that highlight a topic or subject by providing a selection of some of the music material available in the service. If you don't know where to start, use one of the themes as an entry point to the rich resources in Music Australia.

Other services

You can also find a list of major Australian and international music services.

Papers

Papers on Music Australia's development and how the service works are available for interested readers. Please contact us if you would like to know more about Music Australia.