Joy!

May 13, 2008

Joy!

The IMSLP will be back online on 1 July 2008!!!! Congratulations IMSLP, you made it through!

[IMSLP – International Music Score Library Project was a virtual library of out-of-copyright music scores/sheet music.  Its growth was literally exponential; from week to week it would double or triple itself in size and variety, and due to the multiple (often historic) editions of pieces that were posted, it had enormous historical value.  Universal Edition, an Austria-based music publishing company, threatened IMSLP with relatively unreasonable lawsuits which it couldn’t afford to defend itself against, so it shuttered on October 19, 2007, much to the chagrin and sadness of its devotees, including myself.  IMSLP was run out of Canada, where copyright expires a couple of decades before they do in Austria.  However, Project Gutenberg, public access/wiki people, etc. banded together to support the IMSLP project, and have somehow been able to revive it.  Down with the old world.  Onwards, people!]

For more information on IMSLP and the story of their demise and rebirth, please go here, it’s actually a really fascinating one:  http://imslp.wikidot.com/start

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