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of films and videos. The alternative use of early 20th-century recordings, which have passed their copyright expiration, is often not ideal since the sound is often low-quality. Music education scholar Evan S. Tobias noted that "Musopen's initiative of recording music and making it available with
201:
It describes its mission as "to set music free". Although much
Western classical music—particularly before the 20th century—is in public domain, most recordings are copyrighted. This causes a variety of limitations: reduced transmission and sharing; few opportunities to create
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model, in that some content is available free of charge, but premium downloads (HD) require a subscription. Non-paying users can download music recordings but are restricted to 5 downloads per day; members paying $ 55 per year receive unlimited downloads of
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and concluded that an online repository for public domain classical music was feasible. Dun founded the site in May 2006, although he noted that initially "it went nowhere". The site attracted more attention in 2008, when it commissioned recordings of
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In 2010, Musopen received considerably more attention; the music critic Jim Farber remarked that it became an "overwhelming hit (literally and figuratively)". It attracted significant media coverage, amid its organization of a major fundraiser via
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speaks to an era in which people wish to interact, engage, and participate with music beyond its consumption. Furthermore it serves as a model for musicians and ensembles with the means to do the same".
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was commissioned to record the works; in July 2012, Musopen announced that the editing of the recordings was finished, after which the audio files were uploaded both to its website and
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non-profit organization which prioritizes "improving access and exposure to music by creating free resources and educational materials". The website creates, produces and disseminates
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1189:
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774:
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Tobias, Evan S. (2014). "21st
Century Musicianship through Digital Media and Participatory Culture". In Kaschub, Michele; Smith, Janice (eds.).
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260:. After witnessing that the school "janitors would take trash bags filled with the recordings we’d made and throw them out", he researched
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as among the most prominent online music repertoire databases. It has been compared favorably to both
Knowledge (XXG) and
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to commission recordings of a larger repertoire. The fundraiser looked to record the symphonies by
Beethoven,
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music. Music from the site has since found its way into a wide variety of media, including TV shows, films,
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to record a wide variety of orchestral and chamber works. Other commissioning projects include the
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ranked it among the "5 best websites for downloading public domain music", alongside FreePD,
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In
September 2013, a second Kickstarter fundraiser was launched by Musopen to record the
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for public domain release. By May 2008, the site included 100 pieces and a now-obsolete "
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system", where users could pay money towards the recording of specific works.
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1017:"Bach score and recording hits public domain following Kick-starter campaign"
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non-profit organization. It rose to prominence amid a viral crowdfunding
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Musopen was created by music producer Aaron Dunn (born 1983), then a
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775:"Creative idea? Kickstarter connects artists with online funding"
336:. The fundraiser was successful, exceeding the funding goal of
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801:"Musopen Wants to Give Classical Music to the Public Domain"
673:"Musopen puts classical recordings, scores in public domain"
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is an organization which creates, produces and disseminates
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Promising
Practices in 21st Century Music Teacher Education
829:"Musopen: Record and release free music without copyrights"
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1045:"The 5 best websites for downloading public domain music"
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Founded by Aaron Dunn in 2006, the site operates out of
916:"The Complete Works of Chopin, for Everybody, for Free"
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643:
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363:, a crowdfunded project by Robert Douglass and pianist
325:, and a variety of other orchestral and chamber works.
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Organizations based in Los
Angeles County, California
704:"Shut Up and Take My Money: Fans Should Hire Artists"
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as among the most prominent online music databases.
1077:"Learning about music on the Web: Online resources"
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77:
63:
55:
47:
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321:, Brahms's four symphonies, string quartets by
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123:and educational resources. It stands with the
752:"3 More Exciting Ways to Discover Free Music"
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194:, although is also maintains an address in
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621:"Musopen: Will This Site Set Music Free?"
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385:, Open Music Archive and Mubert Render.
16:Public domain classical music collection
1185:Internet properties established in 2005
913:Rosen, Rebecca J. (September 9, 2013).
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412:
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1075:Janvey, Alexandra (July–August 2013).
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651:
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481:from the original on December 13, 2013
1081:College & Research Libraries News
799:Esguerra, Richard (August 25, 2010).
186:and educational resources concerning
7:
773:Turner, James (December 15, 2010).
619:Farber, Jim (September 25, 2012).
359:. It has also been likened to the
14:
1190:2006 establishments in California
1170:Online music and lyrics databases
929:from the original on May 26, 2024
1043:Johnson, Dave (April 28, 2022).
210:; and difficulty in use for the
152:complete Beethoven piano sonatas
36:
27:
882:Dunn, Aaron (August 15, 2012).
190:. It currently operates out of
146:campaign in 2010, which raised
42:The Musopen homepage as of 2019
806:Electronic Frontier Foundation
1:
948:Dunn, Aaron (June 30, 2024).
853:Dunn, Aaron (July 13, 2012).
750:Sieber, Tina (May 18, 2009).
626:San Francisco Classical Voice
1145:with Musopen founder on the
1015:Brown, Mark (May 29, 2012).
702:Baio, Andy (June 6, 2012).
1211:
258:Saratoga Springs, New York
217:creative commons licensing
779:Christian Science Monitor
236:articles, and use in the
223:Musopen operates under a
35:
26:
501:"Aaron Dunn Sheet Music"
365:Kimiko Douglass-Ishizaka
361:Open Goldberg Variations
347:Musopen stands with the
1100:Oxford University Press
671:Anderson, Nate (2008).
317:, the piano sonatas of
188:Western classical music
113:Western classical music
353:Wind Repertory Project
129:Wind Repertory Project
192:Palo Alto, California
136:Palo Alto, California
1180:Tarzana, Los Angeles
1165:Kickstarter projects
1102:. pp. 205–230.
267:Ludwig van Beethoven
238:One Laptop per Child
196:Tarzana, Los Angeles
1175:Public domain music
1132:Live recordings by
373:Goldberg Variations
180:public domain music
170:Musopen, under the
94:(18 years ago)
23:
383:Free Music Archive
307:Czech Philharmonic
230:losslessly encoded
174:musopen.org, is a
1109:978-0-19-020615-4
987:Malinowski, Steve
950:"Set Chopin free"
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1138:Internet Archive
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1126:Official website
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443:"Privacy policy"
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1098:. New York:
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922:The Atlantic
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682:. Retrieved
678:Ars Technica
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630:. Retrieved
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563:. Retrieved
559:
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538:. Retrieved
534:the original
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508:. Retrieved
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483:. Retrieved
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450:. Retrieved
446:
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425:. Retrieved
421:
399:
376:
371:'s complete
346:
327:
315:3rd Symphony
279:
247:
222:
200:
169:
133:
119:recordings,
108:
107:
18:
1148:Marketplace
995:musanim.com
991:"Resources"
974:Tobias 2014
954:Kickstarter
888:Kickstarter
859:Kickstarter
833:Kickstarter
754:. MakeUseOf
652:Tobias 2014
596:Janvey 2013
375:. In 2022,
311:Archive.org
291:Tchaikovsky
283:Kickstarter
212:soundtracks
184:sheet music
144:Kickstarter
121:sheet music
51:Musopen.org
22:Musopen.org
1159:Categories
485:January 1,
389:References
349:ChoralWiki
342:US$ 15,000
338:US$ 75,000
303:US$ 11,000
299:US$ 68,359
262:domain law
252:attending
250:bassoonist
240:project.
148:US$ 68,359
125:ChoralWiki
78:Commercial
59:Aaron Dunn
1143:Interview
729:"Musopen"
579:Secondary
394:Citations
369:J.S. Bach
176:501(c)(3)
140:501(c)(3)
1056:June 26,
1028:June 26,
1022:Wired UK
1000:June 26,
959:June 30,
933:June 26,
927:Archived
893:June 26,
864:June 26,
838:June 30,
812:June 26,
784:June 26,
758:June 26,
735:June 26,
713:June 26,
708:Wired UK
684:June 26,
632:June 26,
565:June 26,
540:June 26,
510:June 26,
479:Archived
471:"Signup"
452:June 26,
427:June 26,
351:and the
340:by over
295:Sibelius
225:freemium
166:Overview
154:and the
127:and the
88:Launched
82:Freemium
1136:at the
1134:Musopen
1069:Sources
855:"Done!"
560:Musopen
556:"Press"
530:Musopen
505:Musopen
475:Musopen
447:Musopen
422:Musopen
418:"About"
400:Primary
275:bidding
244:History
208:mashups
204:remixes
109:Musopen
99:2006-05
97: (
69:musopen
1106:
323:Mozart
305:. The
287:Brahms
198:, CA.
115:, via
526:"Bid"
357:IMSLP
138:as a
48:Owner
1104:ISBN
1058:2024
1030:2024
1002:2024
961:2024
935:2024
895:2024
866:2024
840:2024
814:2024
786:2024
760:2024
737:2024
715:2024
686:2024
634:2024
567:2024
542:2024
512:2024
487:2014
454:2024
429:2024
293:and
71:.org
332:of
269:'s
256:of
206:or
172:URL
158:of
64:URL
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
