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 musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed Book, books or Pamphlet, pamphlets ...

and performing

licenses A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) 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 part ...

. 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 Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and defi ...

, arrangers, teachers, conductors, text authors,

editors Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, 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, organization, a ...

, 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. The 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 ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, 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 a time when

CDs CDS, CDs, Cds, etc. may refer to: Finance * Canadian Depository for Securities, Canadian post-trade financial services company * Certificate of deposit (CDs) * Counterfeit Deterrence System, developed by the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence ...

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 terminals ( SCP/ SFTP). Uploading can be used in th ...

publish Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

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, 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 E-commerce payment system, online money transfers; it serves as an electronic alter ...

, WebMoney, Bank account or

Cheque A cheque (or check in American English) is a document that orders a bank, building society, 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 person writing ...

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

Musician community

MusicaNeo has established a lively community that today reminds of a

social network A social network is a social structure consisting of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), networks of Dyad (sociology), dyadic ties, and other Social relation, social interactions between actors. The social network per ...

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 handle ...

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 Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, 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.(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 typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has c ...

– has been transferred into

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...

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