MusicaNeo is a global online music platform for free publishing and sale of digital

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses List of musical symbols, musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chord (music), chords of a song or instrumental Musical composition, musical piece. Like ...

and performing

licenses A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

. The platform caters for all categories of music lovers – professional

composers A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Classical music, Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. E ...

, arrangers, teachers, conductors, text authors,

editors Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, or ...

, as well as amateur musicians.

Backgrounds

The project was initiated and is maintained by Load.CD GmbH. This privately held company was founded by CEO Friedrich Kisters and has been operating since 2003. Main office is based in

Kreuzlingen Kreuzlingen is a municipality in the district of Kreuzlingen in the canton of Thurgau in north-eastern Switzerland. It is the seat of the district and is the second-largest city of the canton, after Frauenfeld, with a population of about 22,000. ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, but the project's team is international: it comprises music experts, content managers and programmers. Back in 2003, the project started under the name of Load.CD at time when

CDs The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

were at peak. However, year 2012 saw a complete

rebranding Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...

of the platform, which, above substantial technical improvements brought the change of name – MusicaNeo.

Key features

Currently more than 500 individual sellers are offering over 160 000 individual scores through MusicaNeo service. Every registered user is provided with a free personal website with a unique address where they can present professional and personal information, add images, articles and news, select a site design to their liking. Users can also

upload Uploading refers to ''transmitting'' data from one computer system to another through means of a network. Common methods of uploading include: uploading via web browsers, FTP clients], and computer terminal, terminals (SCP/ SFTP). Uploading c ...

publish Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

and sell sheet music due to a store function, which is integrated in each personal website. Uploaders maintain the full control of their materials and

author's rights "Author's rights" is a term frequently used in connection with laws about intellectual property. The term is considered as a direct translation of the French term ''droit d’auteur'' (also German ''Urheberrecht''). It was first (1777) promoted ...

, they set the prices for music works themselves and can track the whole procedure from score download to fee pay-off. The earned money can be collected via one of the four payment methods –

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper ...

WebMoney WebMoney is an online payment settlement system established in Russia in 1998. It is one of the largest electronic payments processors in Russia by number of users, with the company reporting 45 million registered accounts and 300,000 active week ...

, Bank account or

Cheque A cheque, or check (American English; see spelling differences) is a document that orders a bank (or credit union) to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The pers ...

. Due to the international character the platform is multilingual and supports four languages – English, German, Russian and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

Musician community

MusicaNeo has established a lively community that today reminds of a

social network A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...

scheme. Its members interact with each other with the help of site's tools for exchanging information, feedback, news, experience. Among interactive opportunities one may choose to share blog postings, publish articles and notes, receive

feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...

to music compositions, share site's content in popular social networks. Besides, Community includes two additional sections – Music Jobs and Music Competitions. These features allow users to establish creative cooperation by posting job offers/vacancies and apply/post calls for various music contests that are being currently held worldwide.

Contemporary Composers Index

The CCI (Contemporary Composers Index) is a part of MusicaNeo project. It is a global online directory of contemporary composers that currently counts almost 15,000 entries of composers of all musical genres and styles worldwide. Each entry contains basic information about a composer, such as biographical data, origin, year of birth, occupation and music genre/genres he/she is working in. Entries are free of charge and are curated by composers themselves. CCI is an open index and can be extended by anyone. Users who would like to add a new composer to the list can fill in an inquiry form online.

Ernst Levy collection

In cooperation with the "Universitätsbibliothek Basel" (University Library of

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

, Switzerland) and Frank Ezra Levy (an acknowledged composer and cellist), MusicaNeo digitalized the works of his father – a Swiss piano prodigy and inventive composer

Ernst Levy Ernst Levy (18 November 1895 – 19 April 1981) was a Swiss musicologist, composer, pianist and conductor. Life Born in Basel, Switzerland, Levy studied with Egon Petri and Raoul Pugno.. Entry: "Ernst Levy". David Dubal describes him as an "un ...

.(in German:
Thurgaukultur
("MusicaNeo – Aus der virtuellen in die reale Musikwelt")27 June 2012 The entire collection – original scores and

manuscripts A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

– has been transferred into digital format and is now available for download at MusicaNeo. There are over 450 works in the catalogue.

References

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External links

MusicaNeo website
Digital audio distributors Swiss music websites Swiss social networking websites