NML Launches First Dedicated Streaming Service for World Music

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