IMSLP Forums

I am considering membership to IMSLP. While I have been looking over the FAQs and queried the forum, I have not found information on downloads. It appears to me that non-commercial music file are available for download without any membership requirements. However, commercial music files require paid membership. That said, it also looks like commercial music files are for streaming only, that they are not available for download or if they can be downloaded use off line is limited to active membership.

I apologise for not knowing where to post these questions. After poking around for the past hour I could not find an appropriate place.

Hi Scroydon,

No music scores on IMSLP require a membership for access. Without a membership you just have a 15 second waiting time to download a file and if someone uploaded a new composition today you'd have to wait 2 weeks from when it was uploaded to access it.

For recordings, the commercial recordings available for listening are through Naxos' digital music library. Those are not downloadable to my knowledge because they are still under copyright. The non-commercial versions can be downloaded because they have been uploaded with a license allowing people to freely do so. I hope that explains the differences!

With a membership there is no time delay for waiting and you get access to Naxos' digital music recordings library. But you also get the good feeling of supporting a very small organization that depends on memberships and ad-revenue to keep the servers up and running.

I hope you will still consider becoming a full member but please know it is not a requirement in order to access the scores and free recordings on the site. Sorry for the confusion!

Best-
icactus

Oh, so there's another step to become a "full" member? I'll then contribute to the project in early November, as I get paid.

Sorry for the confusion. There are only two situations: being a subscribing member and being a regular member/user. If you don't have a subscription you have to wait for downloads. I think the Naxos music library partnership has been discontinued so that's something to consider. If you are okay waiting the 15 seconds before downloads there's no necessary reason to have a subscription other than to financially support the site and its few employees.

With no membership you will still have access to all the sheet music on the site.