Here are seven great places – more or less internationally available – to buy and download Swing music.
First, you get the list by alphabetical order, then we'll give you a recommendation in which order you should check the different places.
Amazon
Amazon MP3 started in September 2007 as Public Beta with 2 million songs. Nowadays, they have a huge catalogue of millions of DRM free songs.
Bandcamp
Bandcamp is a platform for artists to sell their digital music. Many different formats (like FLAC, Apple Lossless, AAC, Ogg Vorbis etc.) available. The artists define a minimum price but you also can pay more.
CD Baby
CD Baby is the largest online distributor of independent music.When you buy music from CD Baby, you're buying directly from the artist. They started with CDs, meanwhile also MP3 downloads are available (every artist chooses the distribution form and price).
eMusic
eMusic was one of the first digital music retailers to sell DRM-free music in the MP3 format beginning in 1998. They operate with a subscription-based pricing. You can find a lot of tunes from sold-out CDs. The MP3 catalogue is vast, but it varies from country to country.
Google play
Google play is another big player in the music download market.
iTunes
iTunes, Apple's media store, was first launched on April 28, 2003 and changed the game of purchasing music. They started with just 200'000 songs. Nowadays one of the largest retailer of digital music, especially because of the link between iTunes the music player and iTunes Store.
Jazz On Line
Jazz On Line is an amazing source for Jazz, taken from original 78 rpm recordings and ripped to mp3. The full catalog is available for free. Currently (September 2012), there are more than 35'000 tracks available. There are big differences in the sound quality though. The website was founded back in 2001 by Michel Essevaz-Roulet.
Spotify
Spotify is based in Sweden. The newest generation of music platforms. Playlists, sharing, mobile music, artist radio, library function, etc. They are expanding quickly and are available in many countries in Europe, in the U.S. and in Australia! Spotify comes in three versions: free, unlimited and premium. The latter allows to listen to the music offline.
What is your favorite service? In which order do you buy your music? Please share your thoughts.
photo: m kasahara
eMusic is my service of choice, it is rare that I don’t find a track that they have available, but it does happen. The monthly subscription works out well for me because I have time to generate a list and check it twice before downloading songs I won’t end up using. It is also really good for getting individual songs, they have a few album/compilation steals like Top 100 Jazz Songs for $5, but for most CDs I will get them directly from the Artist or from another site.
I agree, their catalogue is huge. The only thing I don’t understand is why they don’t improve the search, it’s really a pain and they promised it since a long time. Nevertheless, also my service of choice and I stick with them.
Is there any combined search possible on eMusic? I find it a total pain in the butt to find a certain track from a certain artist or album.
When I cannot find stuff using the inefficient eMusic search engine, I usually go to amazon an search there. Often the database is similar, so you can get some hints (like compilation albums where you can find the one song you’re searching) to improve your emusic search.
Hope that helps.
Cheers
Thanks David, that would be helpful, but I gave up on e-music within the trial period. Plus the songs I did download had a low bitrate (127-130). No eMusic for me. I prefer Bandcamp, band sites, Itunes (CDBaby/Amazon) and most of all my local library. 🙂
messy disqus…
Hallo ,ich bin DJ aus Berlin und samle seit 16 Jahren Jazz,R&B ,R&R,und seit einigen Jahren auch Swing aber alles auf Vinyl das meiste als 45er,hast du einen Tip wo es einen auf Swing und Jazz spezialiesierten online Vinyl Händler gibt?
Hi Christian. Do you have a thread about finding that one song you’re looking for? I’m not sure this is the right place to ask that question but I’m looking for a particular song and I can’t find it.
Hey Claudia, you could ask your question on the Swing DJs forum: http://swingdjs.com
Oh sorry, I never got the notification for this. I suppose that should’ve been my first choice 😉
No worries!
Just yesterday, I decided to put my eMusic account on hold. The main reason is the low bitrate of the MP3s they’re providing. Even for a compilation released in 2012, the files don’t have more than 160ish kBit/s. This is unacceptable, not only for DJ’ing but also for home use.