IMSLP Forums

Used sheet music stores AKA second-hand music shops are good sources of lesser known, public domain, cheap scores that could be scanned and contributed to IMSLP. When I have a chance to visit a major city such a store is often hard to find.

Therefore I volunteer to initiate a list of used sheet music stores I know in the world. I think
the right place for the link would be http://imslp.org/wiki/IMSLP:Contributor_Portal
between the ' Other music score websites' and ' Info on file formats' links.

Do you think this would be constructive?

I'd support this - I suppose there might be an issue about IMSLP promoting commercial businesses rather than not-for-profit so I wonder what might be a good way of avoiding that. What would really be useful over time would be a list of second hand book shops with strong sheet music collections.

From what I remember most music stores in Germany/Austria (and some other countries) have both new and used sections. Not normally the case in Australia though.

I don't know about this idea.

I mean, I can see why you propose it, and I can see why it would be great, but problem is - there's tons of tons of second hand music shops around the world. Just think of how many are in your town/city, then how many in the country, then how many in the world.

And what would the criteria be for getting it in the list?

Also, assuming the list grows big enough to accommodate a lot of the members of the site, who would be responsible for making sure the list is up to date?

It's like saying we should start a list of libraries around the world containing public domain scores.

I am sure if people were interested they could just go out and ask about second-hand shops or libraries in their local area.

One of the best ways to find such items online is via AddAll.com. Abebooks, ZVAB, Albris and some others are useful in this regard also.

Don't you mean Alibris? (left out an I?)

Carolus wrote:One of the best ways to find such items online is via AddAll.com. Abebooks, ZVAB, Albris and some others are useful in this regard also.

I had a look. I doubt the few stores I know will take the time to put their dusty heaps of used sheet music into an online catalog.

jujimufu wrote:I don't know about this idea.

I mean, I can see why you propose it, and I can see why it would be great, but problem is - there's tons of tons of second hand music shops around the world. Just think of how many are in your town/city, then how many in the country, then how many in the world.

I am aware of only three in France. One I knew in Paris has closed.

jujimufu wrote:And what would the criteria be for getting it in the list?

A criterium would be your experience with the store: a lot of used sheet music inside.
Would be off-topic:
- online sheet music stores,
- libraries allowing you to photocopy scores,
- used-book stores that have only a few scores in a corner,
- stores with public domain scores, but none is used.

jujimufu wrote:Also, assuming the list grows big enough to accommodate a lot of the members of the site, who would be responsible for making sure the list is up to date?

You could expand this question to the entire IMSLP, Wikepedia etc. This is a collaborative work.

jujimufu wrote:It's like saying we should start a list of libraries around the world containing public domain scores.

This list would be huge!

jujimufu wrote:I am sure if people were interested they could just go out and ask about second-hand shops or libraries in their local area.

How many are there in your area? Where do you live? I envy you!

In Australia I can only think of one which is dedicated to second hand music.

What might be interesting are those stores with large piles of dusty sheet music - many stores have piles of old Victorian/Edwardian era popular songs which nobody would ever think of cataloging.

Carolus wrote:One of the best ways to find such items online is via AddAll.com.

I tried that one. It seems a score is about ten times more expensive when its informations have been put into an online catalog! I'll continue browsing dusty stacks of sheet music whenever possible.

I tried that one. It seems a score is about ten times more expensive when its informations have been put into an online catalog! I'll continue browsing dusty stacks of sheet music whenever possible.

It's certainly true that one still has to hunt to find a good deal - even for used music scores.

panda wrote:In Australia I can only think of one which is dedicated to second hand music.

Well if you had a good experience and remember the address please expand my page!
http://imslp.org/wiki/IMSLP:Used_sheet_music_stores

Done!

Fair enough

What about online second-hand shops? :X Do we add them or not? (with http://www.secondhandscores.co.uk particularly in mind, but also http://www.albamusick.co.uk).

I know some second-hand score shops in Athens, Greece, but I haven't been able to find any information online (I doubt they have a website), so I have to add that one when I go back there and find the shop

I also found a list with second-hand music shops in Finland (http://people.cs.uu.nl/jur/recordshops/finland.html), so I will check the ones in Helsinki to see if they have lots of scores.

jujimufu wrote:What about online second-hand shops? :X Do we add them or not?

I think they should be on another page, because I was thinking of when you have a chance to visit a shop that didn't put its collections into a catalog. And scores in online shops are generally more expensive than in traditional shops.

A pretty good online shop I know is http://www.sheetmusicwarehouse.co.uk/
It isn't included in http://used.addall.com/

Feel free to initiate a page with online shops!

jujimufu wrote:I know some second-hand score shops in Athens, Greece, but I haven't been able to find any information online (I doubt they have a website), so I have to add that one when I go back there and find the shop

Aren't there any online or printed phonebooks AKA 'yellow pages' in Greece? If your shops don't have a website I guess they have a phone number!

We do have yellow pages, but I'm in Finland now and until December, and even after that I will go back to the UK to continue my studies), so I won't be able to get one soon. I mean, I will go back to Athens for the holiday, so I'll try and do that then.

I think it would be best if, instead of starting a new page, we just added a box at the end of each country with "Online Second-Hand Shops" or something; so after seeing all the actual shops, one could also see the online music shops of each country - "generally more expensive" doesn't really mean anything, as a second hand shop in Germany will be "generally more expensive" than a second-hand shop in southern Italy, and the online second-hand shop might actually be "generally more cheap" than the actual second-hand shop in Germany. Prices vary, and as long as they are second hand and a lot cheaper than the original versions, the sites should qualify too.

Unless you are willing to make a list of acceptable prices for which shops will be listed on the page or not