Music download service with Russian Folk and Classical music?

February 8, 2007 6:41 PM

I'm looking for a music download service that includes non-standard music, most importantly, Russian folk music, and a wide selection of Classical music.

I am looking for an online music subscription service, something like ITMS or Napster - however, I am interested in somewhat non-standard music, more specifically Classical and Russian folk music.

The popular pieces probably won't be very difficult to find, but I suspect ITMS et al. will not have more rare stuff. Does anyone know of any music subscription services that have a wide range of music, or are perhaps devoted to classical and folk songs?

Also, I am looking specifically for music downloads and not radio/streaming services, and I prefer that DRM be minimized. Any ideas?

posted by bkudria to computers & internet (11 comments total)

emusic has a huge selection of independent music. I don't know shit about classical, but they have some. Only takes a second to search.
posted by dobbs at 7:01 PM on February 8, 2007

My first thought is allofmp3.

It's not subscription based, but it has *super* cheap music - it just depends on how you feel about the site's legality. FWIW, I've been downloading from them for at least a year, and have had nothing but good experiences with them.

The hardest part is getting money on your account, as it seems only Mastercard is accepted, but there's some sort of allTunes payment, as well as a gift certificate.

I've actually bought a couple of classical albums from them, and they definitely seem to have a considerable collection to choose from.

As for the Russian folk, I don't know any artists to look for, but at the bottom of this page, there seems to be at least three Russian looking charts, so maybe there's some stuff to be found there?

Good luck.
posted by mrhaydel at 7:05 PM on February 8, 2007

MSN Music? I put together a picture slideshow for an acquaintance after her trip to Russia, and she found several songs on MSN.
posted by niles at 7:13 PM on February 8, 2007

Usenet:

alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.world-music
alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.russian
alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.classical

blah blah "usenet isnt 'legit'"... blah blah...
posted by jmnugent at 7:19 PM on February 8, 2007

Magnatune
posted by dhruva at 7:29 PM on February 8, 2007

You need Smithsonian Global Sound.
posted by Miko at 8:46 PM on February 8, 2007

I would second emusic, they've got a good selection of classical and East European folk, no DRM and an active community providing playlists and recommendations, for example this East European and Russia playlist.
posted by amestoy at 1:05 AM on February 9, 2007

w/r/t Classical: Sadly, due to the complex nature of classical data, iTunes is the most full-featured when it comes to availability/purchasability. Many DSPs will not add classical stuff at all because of this. It's all very silly and complicated and political and a large part of my job.

If you are interested in sound fidelity, you might take a look at MusicGiants.
posted by softlord at 3:09 AM on February 9, 2007

iTunes has but only a tiny selection of classical music, mostly limited to large labels. I was pleasantly surprised wth emusic, who had a number of items I had previously only dreamed about downloading, including the entire Naxos catalog, IIRC. What Naxos might lack in quality, they make up for with coverage.

Still, no one yet (as far as I'm aware) carries the Hyperion catalogue, sadly, which is the finest available.

Moral: if you want good classical music, it's still a CD game.
posted by terceiro at 6:09 AM on February 9, 2007

Emusic has classical and Russian folk music. I've downloaded quite a bit of both from them.
posted by statolith at 7:54 AM on February 9, 2007

Terceiro: working on it.

there is actually a bunch of Naxos stuff on iTunes (but you should buy Masterworks/Sony Classical/RCA Red Seal stuff anyway, since naxos stuff isn't cheaper online).

Hyperion is a UK label, so licensing it for sale in the US is (obnoxiously) difficult.
posted by softlord at 9:10 PM on February 9, 2007