Naxos Music Library World has created a new tool to enrich curious listeners’ music discovery experiences—an interactive map of the world. As the first streaming service dedicated to world music, NML World has already cornered the market on providing recent releases from today’s popular labels along with historically significant field recordings and everything in between. The map now enables users to start searches with “from WHERE do I want to hear music?” rather than “This music is from WHERE?”

NML World’s new interactive map brings fascinating songs to people who understand and enjoy music through their eyes as well as their ears. Each release’s title appears in its native language with its English translation. And enlarging cover art and booklets shows full liner notes to accompany the streaming tracks. Going far beyond the track title or artist, Naxos lets you search by label, country, date, and a range of other key factors, helping reveal the conditions and circumstances that produce interesting songs from everywhere.

“World music tends to be an abstract term, not connected to time or place,” says Nick Floyd, Sales and Marketing Director for NML World in North America. “Browsing origins of records visually by map can add context to the listening experience. All of a sudden lost voices come to life in full detail!”

The map adds a graphic element to enliven the search process for all ages. Comparing and contrasting styles, languages, and instrumentation becomes a fun game while stealthily piquing users’ interests in geography, musicology, linguistics, and anthropology. And this kind of search unearths delightful surprises! We might click Northern Africa expecting tribal music and instead find quite different Egyptian and Moroccan works. We’ll find tribal music in Central Africa, along with anthems of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola and biblical psalms sung in one of the 279 languages spoken in Cameroon.

Users should be ready for the map to generate any music possibly relevant to their inquiries. “Country borders are very defined, while musically distinct cultural groups can live in many countries at once,” comments Nick D’Angiolillo, Director of Licensing and Library Services. For example, clicking on Western Europe might bring up Australian works if composers, titles, or other identifiers are related to Western Europe. Albums including works from multiple regions and cultures show up under all possible map locations. So while exclusively Amazonian music appears only in South America, Jewish music can be found in Southern Asia, Western Asia, Eastern Europe, and right here in North America.

While today’s online platforms are generally produced by data experts, NML World is carefully curated by knowledgeable music lovers, who happen to also be data experts. The team of more than 35 musicologists ensure unparalleled classification accuracy, and the listening audience can help it continuously improve. If a work’s associated location or cultural group needs to be reconsidered, D’Angiolillo says, “We have a musical discussion. We use listener and staff feedback and wrestle over cataloging decisions, which sets our service apart.” To contribute to the conversation and set the record(ings) straight, just click on “Send Feedback!”  A real human who is passionate about music is ready for your message and eager to keep the conversation going.

About Naxos Music Library:

Naxos Music Library sets the industry standard in streaming classical music, featuring over 120,000 albums from 750 prestigious record labels, including BIS, Blue Note Records, Chandos, Sony Classical, Nettwerk Music Group, RCA Records, Sun Records, Universal Music Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, Virgin Classics, Warner Classics & Jazz (including the former EMI Classics catalog), Nimbus, and many others. With almost 1.7M tracks of music and tools for music education, Naxos Music Library is available for institutional and professional subscriptions and is currently enjoyed by over 2,000 universities, performing arts organizations, and public libraries throughout the world. http://naxosmusiclibrary.com

Educators understand that learning styles vary. We might assume all music students comprehend best in the aural or verbal learning style—good with sounds and words—as opposed to the visual or spatial learning style—good with graphs and pictures. But that’s not necessarily the case. Naxos Music Library World’s new interactive map brings fascinating songs from around the globe to people who understand and enjoy music through their eyes as well as their ears.

NML World’s map enriches listeners’ and researchers’ music selection experiences. “World music tends to be an abstract term, not connected to time or place,” says Nick Floyd, Sales and Marketing Director for NML World in North America. “Browsing origins of records visually by map can add context to the listening experience. All of a sudden lost voices come to life in full detail!”

As the first streaming service dedicated to world music, NML World has already cornered the market on providing educational institutions with carefully labeled music. It holds historically significant field recordings, including the complete Smithsonian Folkways catalog, recent releases from today’s popular world music labels, and everything in between. And while the online educational space is generally populated by data experts, NML World is carefully curated by knowledgeable music lovers, who happen to also be data experts.

The interactive map enables the musically curious to start with “from WHERE do I want to hear music?” rather than “This music is from WHERE?” It offers a user-friendly way to appreciate the conditions and circumstances that produce interesting songs from anywhere. Each release’s title appears in its native language with its English translation. And enlarging cover art and booklets shows full liner and tray card information for each release.

Pre-school and K-12 teachers can also use the map to enliven music lessons. Picture kids clicking on the map and hearing delightful surprises. Comparing and contrasting styles, languages, and instrumentation becomes a fun game while stealthily piquing kids’ interest in geography, musicology, linguistics, and anthropology. They might look in Northern Africa expecting tribal music and instead find quite different Egyptian and Moroccan works. They’ll find tribal music in Central Africa, along with anthems of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola and biblical psalms sung in one of the 279 languages spoken in Cameroon.

Users should be ready for the map to generate any music possibly relevant to their inquiries. “Country borders are very defined, while musically distinct cultural groups can live in many countries at once,” comments Nick D’Angiolillo, Director of Licensing and Library Services. For example, clicking on Western Europe might bring up Australian works if composers, titles, or other identifiers are related to Western Europe. Albums including works from multiple regions and cultures show up under all possible map locations. So while exclusively Amazonian music appears only in South America, Jewish music can be found in Southern Asia, Western Asia, Eastern Europe, and right here in North America.

Thanks to a team of more than 35 musicologists, NML World’s classification accuracy is unparalleled, and users can help it continuously improve. The service trusts original content holders to tell where each piece originated and provide correct metadata, and staff also verifies the particulars. But if a location or cultural group needs to be reconsidered, D’Angiolillo says, “We have a musical discussion. We use listener and staff feedback and wrestle over cataloging decisions, which sets our service apart.” To contribute to the conversation and set the record(ings) straight, just click on “Send Feedback!”  A real human who is passionate about music is ready for your message and eager to keep the conversation going.

About Naxos Music Library:

Naxos Music Library sets the industry standard in streaming classical music, featuring over 120,000 albums from 750 prestigious record labels, including BIS, Blue Note Records, Chandos, Sony Classical, Nettwerk Music Group, RCA Records, Sun Records, Universal Music Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, Virgin Classics, Warner Classics & Jazz (including the former EMI Classics catalog), Nimbus, and many others. With almost 1.7M tracks of music and tools for music education, Naxos Music Library is available for institutional and professional subscriptions and is currently enjoyed by over 2,000 universities, performing arts organizations, and public libraries throughout the world. http://naxosmusiclibrary.com

You can now find high-quality, carefully labeled music from around the planet, streaming on your computer (and in a few months, on your phone). Naxos Music Library, a mainstay for institutions needing accurate and comprehensive databases of classical and jazz recordings, has launched the first dedicated streaming service for world music. Naxos Music Library World offers an array of pieces from historically significant midcentury field recordings (Smithsonian Folkways pieces from the days of yore) to important new releases from Nonesuch Records, as well as dozens of other important labels – with more titles being added weekly.

Beyond the large catalog, Naxos has developed its platform with culturally curious listeners in mind. “We try to establish context, which is crucial to listening to music across cultures,” says Nick D’Angiolillo. “Of course, you can browse or look up your favorite Buena Vista Social Club song. But you can also slake your curiosity in a meaningful way.”

Instead of an artist- and track-driven approach, Naxos lets users search by categories like geographic region and label – even giving users the ability to browse by map.  It also gives users access to the full liner and tray card information for each release. And thanks to a team of 35 musicologists, the service ensures as much consistency and accuracy as possible.

“As anyone who’s looked on other services for traditional music or even for contemporary music from another culture or language community knows, you often can’t find what you’re looking for. Even knowing the performer’s name may not help, if the service’s metadata is poor and has, say, the same Egyptian singer’s name spelled three ways,” D’Angiolillo notes. “We strive to provide a different, better experience for people listening for pleasure or for research or scholarly purposes.”

Naxos is granting trial access to Naxos Music Library World to journalists and professionals working regularly with international performers, as well as institutions around the world. Prominent World Music labels already featured include Smithsonian Folkways, ARC, Nonesuch, Chesky, Lyrichord, Naxos World, and Urtext, with many more to come.

Naxos Music Library World is the most comprehensive online World Music library available, with music from more than 150 countries and 1,500 cultural groups. NML World contains more than 5,000 albums from such renowned labels as Smithsonian Folkways, ARC, Warner, Sony, Naxos Music Library World, plus dozens of other smaller independent labels.   Because new content is added continually, there is always something new to discover in NML World. Subscribers can search the NML World by country, cultural group, and many other criteria.  Every track, album and playlist has a static URL, so sharing NML World content among users is easy.

Naxos Music Library World is one of a suite of online Naxos libraries including Naxos Music Library, Naxos Music Library Jazz, Naxos Video Library, Naxos Spoken Word Library, and Naxos Works Database.  All Naxos online libraries are backed by our own dedicated team of musicologists, programmers, and designers.

Naxos Music Library sets the industry standard in streaming classical music, featuring over 120,000 albums from 750 prestigious record labels, including BIS, Blue Note Records, Chandos, Sony Classical, Nettwerk Music Group, RCA Records, Sun Records, Universal Music Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, Virgin Classics, Warner Classics & Jazz (including the former EMI Classics catalog), Nimbus, and many others. With almost 1.7M tracks of music and tools for music education, Naxos Music Library is available for institutional and professional subscriptions and is currently being enjoyed by over 2,000 universities, performing arts organizations, and public libraries throughout the world. http://naxosmusiclibrary.com

Naxos Music Library World is a Corporate Patron of the Music Library Association’s 85^th Annual Conference March 2 – 5 in Cincinnati. Naxos Music Library (NML), the first and most comprehensive online library of classical music, will showcase its new databases, now totaling more than 1.75 million music tracks, including more than 100,000 new world music tracks.

Nick D’Angiolillo, Director of Licensing and Library Services for Naxos will describe and demonstrate the new, intensely searchable, globally inclusive database all day in the exhibit hall, as well as in discussions throughout the intensive week of sessions, poster sessions, and into the evening.  His staff will be on hand in the exhibit hall, showing off NML World’s depth and breadth (and its inclusion of all liner notes). Naxos will be offering free trials, and extensive show-signup discounts on institutional subscriptions to conference attendees seeking musical components for their academic institutions—from universities and conservatories to multicultural preschools, ESL programs, high school orchestra directors, and communities welcoming new Americans.

D’Angiolillo and the Naxos team will discuss NML’s proprietary Advanced Search functions, which has made the company’s classical and jazz databases ideal tools for listeners, from the novice sampler to the dedicated expert. “They can easily cross-search not just a vast array of recordings,” he explains, “but also multiple recordings of the same works.”

Now that engine makes world music easy to discover for discerning educators and researchers, bandleaders and businesspeople. Even casual listeners—folks who enjoy traveling the world by ear—can easily and intuitively start their journey and explore unexpected sounds. Users can search by cultural group, geographic area, language, ensemble, or record label. “Putting labels at the forefront of the service,” said D’Angiolillo, “is a different way to organize that catalog than traditional, artist-driven streaming services. Sorting by label is well-suited to the world genre.”

Expert human curators—not cobbled-together, poorly maintained data— are another strength of NML-World. These several dozen musicologists draw from nearly 70 years of releases to add about 1,000 tracks a day to NML World. Users can find field recordings from Appalachia and intimate glimpses into Asian courts; roots music from the US and folks songs from the former Soviet Union; an extensive Pete Segar collection and Johnny Cash’s Sun Records recordings; as well as the biggest attraction so far, Smithsonian Folkways’ impressive catalog.

“Our approach to data curation and to search functionality dovetails with the goals of the MLA, to improve music discovery and to encourage new approaches to the preservation and enjoyment of musical recordings around the world,” remarks D’Angiolillo.” We’re thrilled to get to demonstrate our latest database to music researchers, librarians, friends, and colleagues at this long-running conference."

Naxos Music Library World is the most comprehensive online World Music library available, with music from more than 150 countries and 1,500 cultural groups. NML World contains more than 5,000 albums from such renowned labels as Smithsonian Folkways, ARC, Warner, Sony, Naxos World, plus dozens of other smaller independent labels.   Because new content is added continually, there is always something new to discover in NML World. Subscribers can search the NML World by country, cultural group, and many other criteria.  Every track, album and playlist has a static URL, so sharing NML World content among users is easy.  http://naxosmusiclibrary.com/world

It may come as a surprise that one of the first subscription services offering streaming music was the feisty classical label, Naxos. And this was back in the 1990s.

Naxos has always been all about access, about making more repertoire available to a broader audience by offering quality but budget-friendly recordings of great classical works. This mission moved from physical formats to digital delivery, an approach that started with hard drives packed with music and soon shifted to streaming via the internet, a money losing proposition at the time due to the cost of bandwidth.

Naxos went ahead and did it anyway. “The founder of Naxos, Klaus Heymann, is a visionary,” recounts Jeff Van Driel, CEO of Naxos in America. “He saw that this was the way music was going to be consumed in the future.” By the late 1990s, Naxos offered classical music fans a monthly subscription that brought them the label’s entire catalog, defying the technological and other constraints of the time.

Now, Naxos has launched Naxos Music Library World, a huge collection drawn from nearly 70 years of releases. From field recordings in Appalachia to intimate glimpses into Asian court music, Naxos Music Libraries include more than 1.75 million tracks available to hundreds of thousands of listeners at more than 3,000 institutional sites worldwide. Naxos adds approximately 1,000 tracks a day.

To give the fullest possible experience to listeners, the Naxos World Music Library gives subscribers the full liner notes to accompany the streaming tracks. In addition, the library has honed its search functions, carefully cleaning up data from thousands of albums to ensure serious listeners and curiosity seekers can find exactly what they are looking for. Going far beyond the track title or artist, Naxos Libraries let you search by label, country, date, and a range of other key factors.

This approach makes the music library an ideal tool for listeners from a wide range of ages, with diverse goals:  multicultural preschools, ESL programs, community bandleaders searching to broaden a group’s repertoire, and even music-loving travelers, hoping to connect more deeply with their destinations.

Yet finding the perfect music for all these use cases would be impossible without good data. Naxos gets it right by employing over 35 musicologists to work on the metadata, the information that accompanies recordings and lists vital elements about the piece or song. “Our musicological team morphed from our own in-house experts, when we started creating the data,” Van Driel explains. “We’ve become extremely adept at this, and we are often hired by other labels to clean up their metadata, especially for classical works.”

This makes discovery simple. “Because of our work on the data set, our libraries are leaps and bounds ahead of anything else out there,” says Nick D'Angiolillo, Naxos Director of Licensing “It can be used as a research or business tool, as you can quickly and easily cross search and find multiple recordings of same work, view everything on a single label’s roster, and access all the booklets for the recordings in one place.”

How works get tagged and where they get filed is decided by humans, not monolithic algorithmic machines, and making the call isn’t always easy. “The discussions about what to include and where to include it happen daily,” D’Angiolillo states. “At Naxos, musicologically informed humans are figuring out what’s jazz, what’s classical, what’s pop or world, not machines, which is a large distinguisher from the rest of the industry.” The focus on genre, repertoire, region is a marked departure from other consumer-facing streaming services. “We put labels at the forefront of the service, in a different way to organize compared to other streaming services, which are artist driven,” continues D’Angiolillo. “It is a very conscious decision.”

Naxos Music Library World is the most comprehensive online World Music library available, with music from more than 150 countries and 1,500 cultural groups. NML World contains more than 5,000 albums from such renowned labels as Smithsonian Folkways, ARC, Warner, Sony, Naxos World, plus dozens of other smaller independent labels.   Because new content is added continually, there is always something new to discover in NML World. Subscribers can search the NML World by country, cultural group, and many other criteria.  Every track, album and playlist has a static URL, so sharing NML World content among users is easy.http://naxosmusiclibrary.com/world

Naxos Music Library World is one of a suite of online Naxos libraries including Naxos Music Library, Naxos Music Library Jazz, Naxos Video Library, Naxos Spoken Word Library, and Naxos Works Database.  All Naxos online libraries are backed by our own dedicated team of musicologists, programmers, and designers. 

Naxos Music Library sets the industry standard in streaming classical music, featuring over 120,000 albums from 750 prestigious record labels, including BIS, Blue Note Records, Chandos, Sony Classical, Nettwerk Music Group, RCA Records, Sun Records, Universal Music Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, Virgin Classics, Warner Classics & Jazz (including the former EMI Classics catalog), Nimbus, and many others. With almost 1.7M tracks of music and tools for music education, Naxos Music Library is available for institutional and professional subscriptions and is currently being enjoyed by over 2,000 universities, performing arts organizations, and public libraries throughout the world. http://naxosmusiclibrary.com