4 ms·

A few years ago, we started working on a platform for classical music [1] and took great pride in our metadata and our underlying schema which basically covered

A few years ago, we started working on a platform for classical music [1] and took great pride in our metadata and our underlying schema which basically covered 99% of all the weird edge cases classical music has. Unfortunately, we couldn't make it work economically even though we tried several approaches for monetization and had to shutdown a while ago. [1] https://grammofy.com/ https://grammofy.com/

999900000999 5y ago
I primarily make hip hop music, but I would absolutely love a platform like this where I can listen to a classical piece, and download the score and MIDI files. Are there any legal reasons preventing this ? I don't have the ability to play classical music myself, ( my weighted 88 key sits taunting me), but I'd love to be able to take these compositions and integrate them into my own music.
- colejohnson66 5y ago
  IANAL, but in the US, copyright on classical pieces tends to apply to the performances, not the music. For example, a Bach piece is in the public domain (the score and probably the MIDI derivative[a]) just from being old enough, but a recording of that public domain piece may be copyrighted itself. As always, this isn’t universal. Check your local copyright laws to be sure.
  - 8bitsrule 5y ago
    IANAL either, but. For MIDI, a public-domain work might be just mechanically converted into notes of a 'MIDI score'. Probably very flat-sounding, but technically that transcription [0] may (probably) be PD. (E.g. My handwritten copy of a PD short story is probably PD. But my reading of it isn't.) BUT if some famous piano player performed for the MIDI recording, then you've got tempo changes, timing, attack velocities, all that data in the file as well. Probably not PD (best to ask). (As with piano-player rolls.) [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcription_(music) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcription_(music)
    - 999900000999 5y ago
      Sounds like someone needs to be awesome and release midi files of classic compositions. You have the rare hip hop song which samples classical music directly, but I really want to learn music theory, like understanding how the notes work.
      - 8bitsrule 5y ago
        The classics are out there, but often they've been performed by someone. Easy to strip down to the notes with a good MIDI editor. It's been a long while for me, but a search on 'classic midi files' turned this up. (Hard to tell if it's crap without a listen.) https://www.midiworld.com/classic.htm https://www.midiworld.com/classic.htm
wolverine876 5y ago
Might you release the schema into the public domain? I know that's much more easily said than done, and it's your hard work and you deserve the benefits, so no argument from me if you don't. Or maybe share some tips on what works with the corpus of classical metadata?
- eliaspro 5y ago
  While I'd love to see some of the quite spectacular internal tooling + data to be released under an open license, put to use for enhancing MusicBrainz' existing data etc., I doubt it's going to happen. All team members have started new opportunities since quite a while and untangling all this, filtering out potentially copyrighted/licensed material etc. would take quite some effort.

999900000999 5y ago

I primarily make hip hop music, but I would absolutely love a platform like this where I can listen to a classical piece, and download the score and MIDI files. Are there any legal reasons preventing this ? I don't have the ability to play classical music myself, ( my weighted 88 key sits taunting me), but I'd love to be able to take these compositions and integrate them into my own music.

colejohnson66 5y ago
IANAL, but in the US, copyright on classical pieces tends to apply to the performances, not the music. For example, a Bach piece is in the public domain (the score and probably the MIDI derivative[a]) just from being old enough, but a recording of that public domain piece may be copyrighted itself. As always, this isn’t universal. Check your local copyright laws to be sure.
- 8bitsrule 5y ago
  IANAL either, but. For MIDI, a public-domain work might be just mechanically converted into notes of a 'MIDI score'. Probably very flat-sounding, but technically that transcription [0] may (probably) be PD. (E.g. My handwritten copy of a PD short story is probably PD. But my reading of it isn't.) BUT if some famous piano player performed for the MIDI recording, then you've got tempo changes, timing, attack velocities, all that data in the file as well. Probably not PD (best to ask). (As with piano-player rolls.) [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcription_(music) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcription_(music)
  - 999900000999 5y ago
    Sounds like someone needs to be awesome and release midi files of classic compositions. You have the rare hip hop song which samples classical music directly, but I really want to learn music theory, like understanding how the notes work.
    - 8bitsrule 5y ago
      The classics are out there, but often they've been performed by someone. Easy to strip down to the notes with a good MIDI editor. It's been a long while for me, but a search on 'classic midi files' turned this up. (Hard to tell if it's crap without a listen.) https://www.midiworld.com/classic.htm https://www.midiworld.com/classic.htm

wolverine876 5y ago

Might you release the schema into the public domain? I know that's much more easily said than done, and it's your hard work and you deserve the benefits, so no argument from me if you don't. Or maybe share some tips on what works with the corpus of classical metadata?

eliaspro 5y ago
While I'd love to see some of the quite spectacular internal tooling + data to be released under an open license, put to use for enhancing MusicBrainz' existing data etc., I doubt it's going to happen. All team members have started new opportunities since quite a while and untangling all this, filtering out potentially copyrighted/licensed material etc. would take quite some effort.