Research Guides: Music: Finding Audio Sources

Streaming Audio Databases at GW Libraries

American Song (North America)
Database of 50,000 songs that can be listened to online. Encompasses American musical genres including country, folk, bluegrass, Western, old time, American Indian, blues, gospel, and shape note singing. Music comes from Rounder Records, the Smithsonian Institution, Document Records, and other labels and sources.

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A history database of 50,000 songs that can be listened to online. American Song encompasses the great American musical genres including country, folk, bluegrass, Western, old time, American Indian, blues, gospel, and shape note singing?combined with powerful recordings by artists such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Peggy Seeger, Si Kahn, Lead Belly, Sleepy LaBeef, the New Lost City Ramblers, Otis Clay, Eddy ?The Chief? Clearwater, Nanci Griffith, The Lilly Brothers, Merle Travis, and many others. The music comes from Rounder Records, the Smithsonian Institution, Document Records, and other labels and sources.
Classical Music Library
Fully searchable classical music resource including tens of thousands of licensed recordings that users can listen to online. Audio selections are cross-referenced to a database of supplementary reference information. Selections range from Gregorian chants to works by modern composers including symphonic music, vocal and instrumental music, choral works, and other forms. Content is published under licensing agreements with more than 30 music labels, including major labels and independents.
Contemporary World Music
Allows searching and browsing of over 50,000 tracks by instrument, country, region, artist, genre, recording label, and other categories. Search, click, and listen to 50,000 tracks of reggae, worldbeat, neo-traditional, world fusion, Balkanic jazz, African film, Bollywood, Arab swing and jazz, and other genres. There is also traditional music, Indian classical, fado, flamenco, klezmer, zydeco, gospel, gagaku, and more. The albums' original liner notes are included.
Smithsonian Global Sound
A virtual encyclopedia of the world's musical and aural traditions, comprised of over 35,000 tracks of music, spoken word, and natural and human-made sounds. Includes the published recordings owned by the non-profit Smithsonian Folkways Recordings label and the archival audio collections of the legendary Folkways Records, Cook, Dyer-Bennet, Fast Folk, Monitor, Paredon and other labels, as well as recordings from Africa and South Asia, and more.
Jazz Music Library (United States)
Jazz Music Library is a collection of jazz recordings available online - covering thousands of artists, ensembles, albums, and genres, from all over the world, from the beginnings of jazz to today. It's an excellent resource for the study and teaching of jazz history, performance, theory, or appreciation.