Jazz Music Library

Jazz Music Library. Alexander Street Press, LLC. http://jazz.alexanderstreet.com/ (Accessed August 2010 to December 2010). [Requires a Web browser and an Internet connection, Microsoft Windows 98 or higher/Macintosh 10.0 or higher, sound card with speakers/headphones, and Adobe Flash Player 7 or higher. Subscription pricing ranges from $995 - $3,000, depending on number of simultaneous users. Consortial or package discounts may apply.]

Founded in May 2000, Alexander Street Press (hereafter ASP) began with the aim of publishing large, digital collections in the humanities and social sciences. The company entered the realm of streaming audio in November 2004 with the acquisition of Classical Music Library. In April 2009, ASP announced the release of Jazz Music Library (hereafter JML) with an initial offering of 18,000 tracks (representing 3,800 artists and licensed material from dozens of record labels). With this new service, ASP aspired to be the "largest and most comprehensive collection of streaming jazz available online" with coverage in "every jazz genre and time period."1 JML is available as a standalone subscription or through ASP's Music Online Listening Package, which offers aggregated access to all of ASP's streaming audio databases.2

COVERAGE

As of September 2010, JML contained nearly 6,000 albums, totaling nearly 69,000 tracks. ASP staff notes that by the end of 2010, JML will include 100,000-120,000 tracks. The database currently includes 5,841 albums from 77 record labels. Initial reports indicated that JML included 5,888 albums for 109 record labels, though upon closer inspection it became clear that this estimate was in error, as the company's master list contained duplication of thirtytwo labels.

Presently, recorded materials in JML span from the 1920s (four works) to the 1990s (3,776 works). In this context, the term "work" represents either an entire album or (in the case of albums containing material recorded in various years) one or more tracks. Though the total number of works does not correspond neatly to other reported data (works will be greater than the total number of albums and less than the total number of tracks), the breakdown of works by recording date is useful for a more informed view of the database's coverage (see Figure 1). The majority of works in JML have recording dates from the 1950s and 1960s. Together these two decades account for 14,221 works. In comparison, the last quarter of the 20th century is represented by 9,195 works.

Though JML currently includes seventyseven record labels, many of these offer only a few recordings. Nearly 20 percent of the labels include only a single recording. More than 50 percent of the labels include ten or fewer recordings. The four labels with the largest representation in JML- Universal Classics & Jazz (802), Verve (676), Blue Note (671), and Prestige (567)-make up 46 percent of the database. See Figure 2 for a breakdown of the number of albums available, by label.

Often labels with few recordings in JML suggest that a label does not have digital rights for everything produced on that label or that these rights have not been conveyed to ASP. In other cases, a non jazzcentric label may have released a small number of jazz albums or is a sub unit of a larger label with greater representation in JML.

NAVIGATING JML

JML navigation and menu options are clearly displayed in the header of the site, providing easy access to information about JML, searching, browsing, and creating playlists (discussed below). The "Help" page (browsable and searchable) includes FAQs, technical support contact information, troubleshooting guides, and tips on using the database. Newly-added recordings appear on a separate tab, and users can sort results (by album title, performer, label, genre, or recording date), though with updates of nearly 1,000 albums at a time, the value of this tab may be questionable. The header also includes a link to JML's RSS feed for updates. JML indexing is robust and affords a variety of options for searching and browsing. Its interface is clean and intuitive, offering easy access to a tremendous amount of information without flooding the screen or inundating the user.

BROWSING

Users can browse JML by albums, people, ensembles, genres, instruments, recording date, and song titles. Browsing options appear along the left of the main page and through a tab in the top menu bar, which is persistent throughout the site. Browsing by song title offers a quick way to identify and compare various versions of the same tune, whether looking for interpretations by different artists or various versions by the same performer. As an example, the 1930 standard "On the Sunny Side of the Street" by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh appears thirty times in the database. Browsing by recording date allows the user to view results by decade or single year and gives a nice way to see what tunes were recorded in the same time period. It would be nice, however, if this index indicated the number of hits associated with each year. Several of the browse indexes include a "limit by keyword" search box, which is particularly helpful in guiding the user to the appropriate part of that index. Results from browsing album, people, and song title indexes display in separate columns, allowing the user to sort the results in various ways. The All People index sorts by either names or occupations (musician, composer, specific instrument, producer, executive, performer, etc.); within this screen an additional filter allows for limiting exclusively to conductor, composers, or performers, though results when using this filter can be erratic and include occupations other than those specified in the limit. The browse results screen within the All People index only lists one occupation per individual, which can be problematic as individuals often blur the lines between composer, performer, band leader, producer, etc. Though it is not clear from browse results, the database does have the ability to list more than one occupation, as demonstrated by the entry for Harry Belafonte. In the browse results, Belafonte's occupation is listed as "activist." However, once one clicks on his name and views the full entry, his occupation field includes "activist; actor; lyricist and musician." From this same screen, if one browses the related resources (i.e., recordings related to Belafonte), and inspects the three results, his connection to any of the recordings is not immediately apparent. Only by clicking on each of the track titles or manually inspecting liner notes does one find him listed as lyricist.

The interface for browsing by genre incorporates expandable headings. Some of the headings might seem like they drifted in from other ASP streaming databases, such as "Political folk songs," "Bluegrass," and "Orchestral," while some sub genres- "Chance music," "Waltz," "Comedy," "Mu - sic instruction," "Patriotic song," and "Piece"-seem like a mistake. Despite a few quirky headings, the deep indexing and large pool of genres (30) and sub genres (166 in all) is extremely useful when exploring JML. Additionally, the "Find term" search box at the top of "Genre" page is a nice feature. Rather than expand all of the thirty headings to determine where "Funk" might appear, one may enter the term in the search box and the interface indicates that funk appears as a sub genre under "Rhythm and blues" and also appears as "Soul funk" under the genre "Jazz." One drawback to the genre listings is that they do not indicate how many hits are associated with each. That information is only displayed after selecting a genre. Occasional incongruities appear in the genre indexing. For example, the album Joplin: The Easy Winner & Other Rag- Time Music is included under the genre "Classical" but not under the "Ragtime" genre (where one might expect to find Joplin's ragtime music). More peculiar is the message displayed if the user searches for "rag time" as a genre: "No videos match term 'rag time.' " Is this an inadvertent leak about upcoming video material in JML? Under the genre designation "Dance," one will find the headings alegrias, buleria, and charanga, though these terms link to recordings that do not reflect these sub genres.

The Instruments index incorporates yet another (more sophisticated) design. Instru - ments are arranged by the Sachs-Hornbostel classification system, which to the uninitiated may be confusing. Thankfully, a representative image appears under each major division of the system, so that even if a user were unfamiliar with the term "membran - ophone," it is clear that drums are included under this term. Clicking on or rolling over the term "membranophone" populates the bottom of the screen with various instrument types from this family. In a very welcome shift of practice, each entry displays the number of associated hits. Clicking on an entry further subdivides the classification, the results of which then lead to audio files in the database.

SEARCHING

The basic search widget, included in the header throughout the site, allows users to quickly find terms across any field or specify terms in the following indexes: Album Title, Ensembles, Genres, Instruments, People, or Track Title. The header menu also includes an Advanced Search tab, which allows searching in one or more of the following indexes3: Song Title, Album Title, People* (which can be further refined to specify artist, composer, lyricist, or arranger), Genre*, Instrument*, En - semble*, Place of Recording* (when indicated), Date of Recording (year or range), Date of Composition (year or range), Label*, and Catalog Number. The indexes currently include the following number of terms: People (11,469), Genre (165), Instrument (267), Ensemble (1,118), Place of Recording (1,361), and Label (77).

Some of the information that exists in JML is not easily discoverable. For example, while producers are identified in the database, the People index cannot be filtered to that role. A second example concerns the release date of recordings. The fact that JML indexes composition and recording dates is useful, but it is surprising that release date information is less accessible. When attempting to locate a 1987 release of Thelonious Monk's "Ruby, My Dear" (composed in 1945 and recorded in 1959), one might assume that such a specific request would best be served by the advanced search option. However, that interface provides no way of searching release dates, even though such information is included in the album data. The only way to target a release date is by using the menu bar's quick search option (search: monk ruby 1987).

VIEWING THE RESULTS

Depending on the type of search or browse, results may include person entries and/or album/track entries. Clicking on the person's name takes one to a brief biographical record (birth/death dates and locations, and occupation) as well as a link to recordings related to that person. Some person entries include a biography from All Music Guide, though some big names (like Ellington) are suspiciously absent. In other cases, person records demonstrate the need for some cleanup work. When looking for Count Basie, one will find a record under that name with no biography, and a link to two recordings. The results also include a second record for "Joe Pass, Joe Pass 1904-1984" complete with a photograph, biography, and link to 182 related recordings.

Results screens for recordings include album title, performers, label, catalog number, and recording date as well as clear icons for playing and saving albums or tracks. Clicking on the album title leads to the full record, which displays album cover, catalog number, ensemble, genre, instrument, label, performers, soloists, recording date/location, and release date. The page includes buttons for generating a printfriendly version of the album information and for generating a permalink to the page. Where available, a link to liner notes appears as well. According to ASP staff, JML currently provides access to liner notes for approximately 50 percent of the recordings in JML. The method of access varies with the user's browser and settings, but the liner notes are downloadable PDFs. The company is working toward securing rights for liner notes to all recordings in the database. Fully-searchable liner notes is a forthcoming (and much anticipated) feature. Album pages occasionally include an album review (also from All Music Guide). JML searches against All Music Guide and pulls in any reviews or biographies that match.

At the bottom of each album page, tracks are listed (track number and title) with buttons for playing or adding to a playlist. Composer and timing information is available for each track, but is completely hidden until after clicking on the track title (and easily overlooked since clicking the track name is not required for listening). While clicking the track title uncovers this useful information, it also adds confusion to the screen, as it causes the track to disappear from the list (along with the numbering of all tracks!) and reappear at the top of the page.

AUDIO QUALITY

Initially all JML recordings were encoded at 24 kbps ("low") and 64 kbps ("standard") in order to accommodate varying bandwidth capabilities of the end user. Beginning in summer 2010, in an effort to improve audio quality and reflect increasing bandwidth capabilities, ASP began encoding all audio at 128 kbps (the new "standard") and 320 kbps ("high"). At this time, ASP has not confirmed any plans to reencode material added prior to summer 2010. Tracks are streamed MP3 files and require Macromedia Flash Player (version 7 or later) for desktop computer use.

THE AUDIO PLAYER

Clicking any "play" button in JML launches a separate player window, allowing the listener to continue exploring the site without affecting playback. Note that only one player window can be open at time (i.e., one can't have two songs loaded and ready to play simultaneously). The player window lists the current track along with performer, composer, and album information, all of which is hyperlinked and structured to load the links in the main browser, again allowing uninterrupted listening. The player includes controls for volume, play/ pause, previous/next track (which works only if one has selected the album as opposed to an individual track), a scrub bar to adjust location within track, and audio quality options. The player window also includes a permalink icon, but unlike the permalink icon on the album page, this one also includes copy-ready script for embedding the player window in another Web site or blog.

PLAYLISTS

JML includes robust capabilities for creating annotated playlists of tracks or albums. Clicking on the "+" icon in front of any track or album prompts users to create and annotate playlists. While guests can create playlists, more powerful features are available to users who have created a personal login. Such users can copy and edit other playlists and set access for each playlist by choosing one of the following options: "just me," "just my class or group," "everyone at my institution," or "everyone." Access granted to others is view-only. Users can search or browse playlists by annotation, title, or playlist author. The option to hide metadata in the player is a nice feature for instructors who may want to embed or link playlists for listening drills or quizzes. Creators can also add URLS to playlists from outside JML and playlists can include text, images, and video.

MOBILE ACCESS

In July 2010, ASP announced streaming to mobile devices for JML (along with the rest of its audio collections), offering support for mobile devices running Android or Apple iPhone operating systems. Throughout the site, mobile phone icons (next to playlist icons) allow users to send any track, album, or playlist to a mobile device by generating a short link URL that users can enter manually into the device, access directly by scanning a QR code, or send via e-mail or SMS. Mobile links normally have a 48-hour shelf life. Note that listening to audio on a mobile device requires a 3G or better data connection. ASP's mobile access is designed to push tracks, albums, or playlists to mobile devices on the fly. JML does not currently have an app or mobile version of the entire site. Mobile phones with full browser capability can get around this, but in testing this route on an iPhone, results were mixed. Clicking "play" in JML attempts to open audio that was encoded for desktop use (Flash-based), which is not supported in the iPhone operating system. As a work around, iPhone users can click the "send to mobile" button to access audio since ASP re-encodes all of its audio for mobile streaming.

SUPPORT

ASP staff has been extremely helpful when inquiries are directed to specific individuals (editorial and sales staff); however, contact initiated through tech support channels was significantly slower. User statistics include number of pages accessed, searches, sessions, playbacks, number of peak simultaneous users, turnaways, and average session time. Stats can be sorted by day or month and administrators can customize results for any time period desired. Additional resources available through ASP include free MARC records (item and product level), marketing/advertising materials, embeddable search widgets and browser toolbars, as well as tutorials and guides. One may visit ASP's blog (or subscribe to it through RSS) for updates on its music collections at http://alexanderstreet.typepad.com/music/.

CONCLUSION

JML is aggressively expanding a rich and deeply-indexed resource for jazz recordings. (On 22 December 2010, JML released an additional 4,654 albums, bringing the total to over 10,500 albums.) Even before this end-of-year push, JML offered the largest collection of streaming jazz recordings. JML is feature-rich and easy to use. Its indexing provides detailed access to genres, time periods, and all personnel and suggests search terms as one types for many indexes. Searching is robust and fast and offers post-search filtering options. JML provides useful biographical information, though the coverage is certainly far from complete. Liner notes are downloadable as PDFs but a serious detraction from this feature is that they are not currently searchable.

Whether using online music sources for leisure, course requirements, or in-depth research, today's listeners increasingly expect more than just hearing the music. While the ability to listen "in the cloud" was at one time the crowning achievement of online music, now it is the bare minimum. Listeners expect all of the same affordances that B.O.E. (Before the Online Era) listeners took for granted: liner notes with details about the pieces, performers, recording information, cover art, etc. When considering comparable products, JML offers higher quality audio included in its base cost. Access to recordings in JML is intuitive and available even from results screens. While JML does not offer full mobile access (it is not possible to search JML and there are no platform-specific apps available), it does provide a variety of easy access points to its recordings on mobile devices, including specific tracks, albums, or playlists. One of JML's shining features is the intuitiveness and flexibility of playlist creation, offering an easy, uniform process for all users and great control of sharing.

JML is clearly the more expensive option for streaming jazz recordings at a per-user cost three times higher than that of its competition. Libraries weighing options certainly must look at overall cost, but it is helpful to consider per-album access cost, cost of licensing compared to owning, and features. JML's end-of-year release does edge its per-album cost closer to the competition (dropping from $0.0568 to $0.0314). If JML subscribers were to convert their 2010 subscription to physical recordings (based on an average $10 per album formula), the cost would be $58,410. Converting the subscription in January 2011 would cost $105,480.

1. http://alexanderstreet.com/products/jazz.htm.

2. See review of Music Online in Notes 66, no. 3 (2010): 610-4.

3. Indexes marked with an asterisk provide an option to browse and select index terms.

[Author Affiliation]

SHA TOWERS

Baylor University