Classical Archives

Classical Archives

Classical Archives Homepage, June 21, 2010
Opened	August, 2000 (as Classical Archives, LLC)
Pricing model	Downloads for purchase, unlimited streaming by subscription
Format	320kbps MP3 (downloads), 160 kbps AAC (streaming). 60kbps AAC (Preview for non-members)
Preview	60 Seconds
Streaming	Previews, Complete Tracks, Playlists
Features	Advanced Search, Playlists, Exclusive Interviews, Free One Click Concerts™, Essentials, "About" Pages, Gift Certificates
Website	classicalarchives.com
Alexa rank	76,684 (November 2011[update])[1]

Classical Archives is an online digital music store focused exclusively on classical music. Originally opening as the Classical MIDI Archives in 1994 primarily as a repository for free MIDI sequences of classical music works, in August, 2000 the site incorporated as Classical Archives, LLC, and has since been also offering commercial label recordings for both streaming and downloading. Non-members can stream 60-second samples from any track on the Classical Archives. For a monthly fee of $5.99 (or $59.90 a year) members can stream any track, work, or album in its entirety from the site’s catalogue, and receive a discount of 10% on the price of downloads.^[2] Both members and non-members can access detailed musicological information for each work: movements, genre, principal instruments, year of composition, and key. Additionally, nearly every composer’s biography is provided.^[3]

Classical Archives uses a proprietary system (called the Contextual Metadata Engine) that allows for the ingestion and cataloguing of all recordings based on musicologically accurate and uniform metadata. Because of the Contextual Metadata Engine, visitors can search and cross-reference by various relevant criteria: composer, work title, artist, albums, historical period, instrument, and genre, in order to find and compare different recordings.^[4]

Classical Archives was founded by CEO Pierre R. Schwob. The cataloguing of the Classical Archives database is carried out by a team of musicologists led by Chief Musicologist and Artistic Director Dr. Nolan Gasser.^[5]

File Types

The site provides 320kbps MP3 files for downloads and 160 kbps AAC files for streaming. Sample clips are streamed at 60kbps for non-members.^[6]

Database

As of May 22, 2011, the Classical Archives database features 12,046 composers, 42,744 recording artists, and 26,697 Albums from 268 labels. These include the classical catalogues of Universal Music Group (Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, Phillips, ECM, etc.), Sony (RCA, Columbia, etc.), Naxos (BIS, Chandos, Hänssler Classic, etc), and many independent labels through IODA (harmonia mundi, Nimbus, Summit, etc). As of June, 2011 the Classical Archives has 904,230 registered members.

Other Site Features

• Exclusive Interviews: Artistic Director Nolan Gasser has conducted exclusive interviews with international performers and composers including Marin Alsop, American Brass Quintet, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Joshua Bell, Ray Chen, Gloria Coates, John Corigliano, Jeremy Denk, Danielle de Niese, Simone Dinnerstein, JoAnn Falletta, Renee Fleming, David Finckel, Alan Gilbert, Vittorio Grigolo, Hélène Grimaud, Hillary Hahn, Wu Han, Paul Hillier, Daniel Hope, Sharon Isbin, David Lang, Lang Lang, Mark Padmore, Sondra Radvanovsky, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Stile Antico, Trio Mediaeval, Susan Wadsworth, Xiayin Wang, and Eric Whitacre.^[7]

• Free One Click Concerts™: A concert length program of selected tracks based on either a special theme, composer, period, or genre.^[8]

• About pages for composers and works. Powered by All Music Guide, biographies and work descriptions provide musicological and historical background.^[9][10]

• Playlists: Members have access to playlists that are created by other members and Classical Archives staff.^[11]

• Essentials: For each composer, a list of historically important works is presented.^[12]

References

1. ^ "Classicalarchives.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/classicalarchives.com. Retrieved 2011-11-02. 
2. ^ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124174826897199479.html
3. ^ http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/3962.html#tvf=tracks&tv=about
4. ^ http://app1.kuhf.org/articles/1243372763-The-Front-Row,-Tuesday,-05-26-2009.html
5. ^ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124174826897199479.html
6. ^ http://www.classicalarchives.com/about.html
7. ^ http://www.classicalarchives.com/features/?navID=0
8. ^ http://www.classicalarchives.com/
9. ^ http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/Ludwig_van_Beethoven?navID=1#tvf=tracks&tv=about
10. ^ http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/4018.html#tvf=tracks&tv=about
11. ^ http://www.classicalarchives.com/playlists/featured.html?navID=1
12. ^ http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/Ludwig_van_Beethoven#tvf=tracks&tv=essentials

External links

• Classical Archives

This entertainment website-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Music websites Entertainment website stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную? Sounds Like Canada Frank Edward Young (VC) Look at other dictionaries: Classical Archives — (en español, Archivos clásicos) es un gran sitio web comercial dedicado a la música clásica en Internet. Tiene, a fecha del 10 de diciembre de 2006, 40055 archivos de música clásica de 2093 compositores. La gente pede registrarse para escuchar la …   Wikipedia Español Classical Music Archives — Classical Archives, LLC Dates clés 1994 : premier site www.prs.org 2000 : site actuel Fondateurs Pierre R. Schwob Personnages clés Pierre R. Schwob, CEO et Nolan Gasser, directeur musical …   Wikipédia en Français Classical Gardens of Suzhou — Classical Gardens of Suzhou * UNESCO World Heritage Site Country …   Wikipedia Classical guitar technique — This article is about the Contemporary classical guitar technique. For the baroque guitar technique see Baroque guitar and for the romantique guitar technique, see Romantic guitar. The classical guitar technique is a fingerstyle technique used by …   Wikipedia Classical guitar repertoire — This article is a history of the classical guitar repertoire. For a longer list of compositions and composers who wrote for the classical guitar see List of composers for the classical guitar and List of compositions for guitar. To a greater… …   Wikipedia The Classical Journal — (ISSN 0009–8353) is published by the Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS), the largest and oldest regional classics association in the United States and Canada.[1] Contents 1 The Classical Journal Print Edition 1.1 The… …   Wikipedia National African American Archives and Museum — Davis Avenue Branch, Mobile Public Library U.S. National Register of Historic Places …   Wikipedia Bryn Mawr Classical Review —   Titre abrégé BMCR Discipline Humanités classiques Langue Anglais, français, allemand, italien, espagnol Directeur de publication Richard Hamilton ( …   Wikipédia en Français National Archives of Japan — Coordinates: 35°41′24.8″N 139°45′13.8″E / 35.690222°N 139.753833°E / 35.690222; 139.753833 …   Wikipedia Ecclesiastical Archives — • A collection of documents, records, and memorials, pertaining to the origin, foundation, growth, history, and constitutions of a diocese, parish, monastery, or religious community under the jurisdiction of the Church Catholic Encyclopedia.… …   Catholic encyclopedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”