Musopen Inc. is a
501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in
Tarzana, California
Tarzana is a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Tarzana is on the site of a former ranch owned by author Edgar Rice Burroughs. It is named after Burroughs' fictional jungle hero, Tarzan.
Histo ...
, launched by Aaron Dunn in 2005. It aims to "set music
free
Free may refer to:
Concept
* Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything
* Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism
* Emancipate, to procur ...
" by providing music to the public free of charge, without copyright restrictions.
Mission and charitable activities
Musopen provides an online library of
public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...
music recordings and sheet music. It also raises money to finance classical music recordings which are released into the public domain.
In 2008, Musopen released newly commissioned recordings of the 32
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
piano sonatas into the public domain.
In 2010, the site organized a fundraiser via
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, K ...
to commission recordings of a larger repertoire, raising a total of $68,359, more than six times their initial target of $11,000. In July 2012, Musopen announced that the editing of the recordings was finished, after which the audio files were uploaded to its website and
Archive.org
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...
. The final list of music was announced in August 2012.
In September 2013, a new Kickstarter fundraiser was launched by Musopen to record the complete works of
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 1810