Musopen facts for kids
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The Musopen homepage as of 2019
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| Owner | Musopen.org |
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| Created by | Aaron Dunn |
| Commercial | Freemium |
| Launched | May 2006 |
Musopen is an organization that shares Western classical music with everyone. It provides free recordings, sheet music, and learning materials. Think of it as a huge online library for classical music. It's one of the most popular online music databases, like ChoralWiki and the Wind Repertory Project.
Aaron Dunn started Musopen in 2006. It's a non-profit group based in Palo Alto, California. Musopen became very well-known in 2010. This happened after a successful online fundraising campaign called Kickstarter. They raised over $68,000 to record many orchestral and chamber music pieces. They also funded recordings of all of Ludwig van Beethoven's piano sonatas and all of Frédéric Chopin's works.
What is Musopen?
Musopen, found at musopen.org, is a non-profit organization. Its main goal is to make music more accessible. They want to help more people discover and enjoy music. They do this by creating free resources and educational materials. The website offers public domain music through recordings, sheet music, and learning tools. All of this focuses on Western classical music. Musopen is located in Palo Alto, California.
Musopen's mission is "to set music free." Many classical music pieces, especially older ones, are in the public domain. This means their copyright has expired. However, most recordings of these pieces are still copyrighted. This can make it hard to share music or use it in new ways. For example, it's difficult to create remixes or use the music in films. Older recordings from the early 1900s might be free to use, but their sound quality is often not very good. Musopen helps by making new, high-quality recordings available for free. This allows people to interact with music in new and creative ways.
Musopen uses a "freemium" model. This means some content is free, but you can pay for extra features. Free users can download up to five music recordings each day. Members who pay about $55 per year get unlimited downloads. These downloads are of very high-quality music files. Music from Musopen has been used in many places. You can find it in TV shows, movies, Wikipedia articles, and even the One Laptop per Child project.
Musopen's History
Aaron Dunn, a music producer, created Musopen. He was a student at Skidmore College in New York. He noticed that recordings made at his school were being thrown away. He then learned about copyright law. He realized it was possible to create an online library for public domain classical music. Dunn started the website in May 2006. At first, it didn't get much attention.
In 2008, Musopen started to become more popular. They began recording all 32 of Ludwig van Beethoven's piano sonatas. These recordings were then released into the public domain. By May 2008, the site had 100 music pieces. It also had a system where users could donate money to help record specific works.
Musopen gained a lot more attention in 2010. They organized a big fundraiser on Kickstarter. The goal was to record more music. They wanted to record symphonies by Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Sibelius. They also planned to record many chamber music pieces. The project raised over $68,000. This was much more than their original goal of $11,000! The Czech Philharmonic orchestra recorded these works. In July 2012, Musopen announced the recordings were finished. The audio files were then uploaded to their website and Archive.org. The final list of music included Beethoven's 3rd Symphony, piano sonatas by Franz Schubert, Brahms's four symphonies, and string quartets by Mozart.
In September 2013, Musopen launched a second Kickstarter fundraiser. This time, they wanted to record all of Frédéric Chopin's works. This fundraiser was also very successful. It raised over $90,000, which was more than their $75,000 goal.
Musopen is now considered one of the top online music databases. It is often compared to Wikipedia and IMSLP. It has also been compared to the Open Goldberg Variations. That project also used crowdfunding to create a copyright-free recording of J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations. In 2022, Business Insider listed Musopen as one of the "5 best websites for downloading public domain music."
See also
In Spanish: Musopen para niños
