SWON Libraries

Keys to music advisory

1. Know your catalog! What information is indexed? How can I get at it most quickly?

2. Use supplemental resources:

Performer names
• All Music generates a browse screen that helps with unknown spellings
• For local musicians, use You Tube; almost every beginning performer has material there, and the search engine generally includes song titles, too

Song titles
• For recordings, All Music generates a browse screen that helps with unknown spellings
• For movie music, use the Internet Movie Database, which offers a “soundtrack listing” feature
• For stage musicals, use the Internet Broadway Database, which offers a “Songs in this production” feature

Lyrics
• The most dependable lyrics sites are the artists’ home pages; there are substantial variations elsewhere (in fact, there is often a difference between what the artist sings and what is printed in the liner notes!)
• There are a number of large collections of lyrics available on line, though: elyrics is one
• Often most effective is enclosing known lyrics in quotes via Google or another search engine; if quoted text is common, use a clustering engine, e.g., Clusty

Recording titles
• Start with All Music to verify title, then use WorldCat or another large library catalog to identify locations and availability

Explicit vs. Clean versions
• All Music offers this at the album level, once the album title is known
• Less efficient but becoming more useful are bookseller sites like Amazon or Barnes & Noble

Recording content
• Use library cataloging agencies for this: WorldCat, or large public library catalogs; All Music is helpful here, but generally less accurate than catalogers.

Tunes
• This service offers fee-based identification of songs: 411 Song
• Melodyhound offers the user an opportunity to play a tune on a web keyboard and returns the correct title remarkably often

Styles
• Shazam offers a floating display of musical styles similar to that of Literature Map for authors; neither of these resources is particularly comprehensive, however. Usually more useful are the style and genre categories employed by All Music

Uniform titles
• Making the Most of the Music Library: Using Uniform Titles