Canadian Music
Resources for researching current and historical music in Canada
Audio
- CentrestreamsCentrestreams is the listening section of the Canadian Music Centre's library. Tracks include archival material as well as recordings released commercially, and can be searched by composer, geographical region, instrumentation, and more.
- SonusSonus is an online sound library of electroacoustics, computer music, sound art and more. This open access database has been created and is managed by the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC) for the benefit of the entire community. Music can be browsed by genre, and with a free registration, you can listen to albums or create personal playlists.
- Music Online: Classical Music LibraryCollection of 60,000-plus tracks, including recordings from the world's greatest labels. Not great for browsing for Canadian works, but Canadian recordings are in the collection, so a place to look for specific composers or performers.
- Music Online: Jazz Music LibraryThe largest and most comprehensive collection of streaming jazz available online — with thousands of jazz artists, ensembles, albums, and genres. As with the Classical focus, not great for browsing for Canadian works, but Canadian recordings are in the collection, so a place to look for specific composers or performers.
- bandcampBandcamp has gained traction in recent years for a streaming model that supports artists, both through financial models and an interface that allows for more robust information than larger streaming platforms. For browsing and discovery aims, it is possible to "browse by tags" that make localized recordings visible, with options for city and province available.
Video
- Virtual Gramophone: Canadian Historical Sound RecordingsVirtual Gramophone is a multimedia website devoted to the early days of Canadian recorded sound, providing an overview of the 78-rpm era in Canada. The database contains information for 78-rpm and cylinder recordings released in Canada from 1900 to 1950, as well as foreign recordings featuring Canadian artists and/or compositions.
- National Film Board - Music Subject ContentNational Film Board of Canada has a vast archive of film material comprising work since its establishment in 1939, from shorts to full length features, animation to documentary, by and/or about Canadians. There are 40 subcategories of Music subject content to explore in addition to more focused search possibilities. Films are available to stream for free, and a registration allows for personalized playlists.
- CBC Music - VideoCBC Music has multiple categories of video content, from newly added features to their "vault" of historic clips going back decades. Focused on Canadian musicians and composers, but also includes CBC coverage of international artists. In the "Explore" section, content can be explored via genre categorization, with results including video, audio, CBC news and blog writing.
Catalogues/Databases
- Disc-O-Logue
The Disc-O-Logue archive consists of information compiled by Louise Lamothe from 1958 to 1985 on French-language popular music recordings available in Canada on LPs and 45-rpm records. There are four main features to the archive: the Disc-O-Logue catalogues issued annually from 1962 to 1979, the master card catalogue (1958-1985), record release information and the Best Sellers lists. In addition to these, Madame Lamothe compiled lists of new releases on 45-rpm records with her predictions of the most popular tunes. The Disc-O-Logue database is a re-creation of the master card catalogue of 90,000 French-language song titles. You can search by keywords, song title, composer, performer, label and other details. The information has not been verified against any other source. - Film, Video and Sound DatabaseLibrary and Archives Canada (LAC) has acquired, through donations and planned acquisition, over 500,000 hours of film, video and sound recordings that deal mostly with Canada. This search tool provides about 470,000 descriptions of audiovisual documents. Descriptions are written in the language of the document, then mainly in the language of the creator-donor, with the majority in English. Description standards have changed over the years, and the amount of detail about each document will vary from one description to another. Also, databases are constantly evolving, and corrections, additions and deletions may be made at any time by LAC staff.