 |
| Screen capture: Los Angeles Public Library website |
From August 22, 2011 leonardcohenforum
Imagine my delight, when I logged onto the Los Angeles Public Library website and read the announcement about free legal MP3 downloads for library card holders. (Limit of three track downloads per week.) This is all thanks to Sony Music.
When I hit the link, I was astounded to immediately see a slideshow flashing by which included the familiar iconic Leonard Cohen album cover from "Songs From The Road".
Yippee. Leonard Cohen is so mainstream now.
When I hit the link, I was astounded to immediately see a slideshow flashing by which included the familiar iconic Leonard Cohen album cover from "Songs From The Road".
Yippee. Leonard Cohen is so mainstream now.
So I checked out the Leonard Cohen link and found twenty Leonard Cohen albums.
Amusing to see the various genre categories assigned to each of his albums.
Here are a few examples:
- Songs From The Road - ROCK
- Live At The Isle of Wight - POP
- Live in London - FOLK
- Pop and Rock for the rest of his albums
Included in the available albums are:
- Anjani - Blue Alert, JAZZ
- Adam Cohen - Adam Cohen, ROCK
- NEeMA - Watching You Think, POP
I am presuming because this is "free' and "legal" that YouTube will not threaten us with copyright infringement if we use one of these for background music on a video.
The LAPL press release is below. There are several other cities participating (which I highlighted).
L.A. City and County Libraries Partner to Offer Free Music Downloads
“Freegal” Allows Library Cardholders to Download
Sony MP3 Music Free From Library Websites Starting July 1
Los Angeles (June 28, 2011) — Two of the country’s premier public library systems
that together serve 8 million residents, the Los Angeles Public Library and the Los
Angeles County Public Library, have joined Library Ideas’ network of public library
websites that offer access to hundreds of thousands of songs from Sony Music’s
catalog of legendary artists.
The service, “Freegal” (“free” and “legal”), will be available starting July 1, 2011,
on both library websites. Freegal allows registered card holders of either library to
download up to three selections of Sony Music tracks in the MP3 format each week at
no direct cost. The artists and the works available through the service are listed at
http://www.sonymusic.com.
“The Los Angeles Public Library is pleased to partner with the Los Angeles
County Public Library to enhance our digital services and offer an easy-to-use music
download service that delivers great music to a variety of devices,” said City Librarian
Martín Gómez. “Together, we are able to utilize Freegal to help meet the soaring
demand in Los Angeles for digital-format information and entertainment.”
“The County Library has been waiting a long time for a service like this that
delivers good music, compatibility with lots of devices and simplicity of use. We think this
will be very popular with our customers,” said County Librarian Margaret Donnellan Todd.
“Music is an art form like literature and cinema. With Sony Music’s incredibly
expansive and popular catalog, this becomes a very important product for libraries,”
said Brian Downing, co-founder of Library Ideas. “A library is a focal point of the
community that requires many tools to excite people about library resources. More than
anything, that is the reason for the service.”
Other libraries participating in the Freegal music service include the Princeton
Public Library (NJ), Maricopa County Library District (AZ), Orange County Public Library
(FL), Nashville Public Library (TN) and Fairfield Public Library (CT).
Library Ideas is a new media company focused on the educational markets,
based in Fairfax, Virginia. The Company offers music, games and language learning
solutions to public libraries as part of its developing product suite. For further
information please contact Brian Downing, briand@libraryideas.com.
Sony Music Entertainment is a global recorded music company with a roster of
current artists that includes a broad array of both local artists and international
superstars. The company boasts a vast catalog that comprises some of the most
important recordings in history. It is home to premier record labels representing music
from every genre, American Recordings, Arista Nashville, Arista Records, Aware,
Battery Records, Beach Street Records, Black Seal, BNA Records, Cinematic,
Columbia Nashville, Columbia Records, Epic Records, Essential Records, Flicker
Records, Fo-Yo Soul, GospoCentric, Hitz Committee Entertainment, J Records, Jive
Records, LaFace Records, Legacy Recordings, Masterworks, Polo Grounds, RCA
Records, RCA Nashville, RCA Red Seal, RCA Victor, Reunion Records, Slightly
Dangerous, Sony Classical, Sony Music Latin, Star Time International, Verity Records,
andVolcano Entertainment. Sony Music Entertainment is a wholly owned subsidiary of
Sony Corporation of America.
The Los Angeles Public Library serves the largest and most diverse population of
any library in the nation. Its Central Library, 72 branch libraries, more than six million
books, and state-of-the-art technology accessible at http://www.lapl.org, provide everyone
with free and easy access to information and the opportunity for life-long learning.
No comments:
Post a Comment