After months of intensive preparation and development work, mica – music austria now presents a new online platform for scores – the music austria sheet music shop. Quick and easy to use, the shop offers Austrian-based composers the opportunity to sell and make their compositions accessible to a broad audience and new target groups.
To be quite honest, it is unfortunately still often the case that compositions, especially those of contemporary music, as good and as excellent as they may be, often disappear into some dusty drawer for all eternity after being performed by an orchestra or ensemble.
“The basic idea of the sheet music shop was to make these compositions visible – to make these accessible to an audience or musicians who want to perform these compositions,”
says Sabine Reiter, Executive Director of mica – music austria.
This definitely makes sense if you look at the ever-growing group of people interested in the genre of contemporary music. Especially young musicians, ensembles, music students and music teachers are becoming more and more interested in the artistic approach with contemporary sounds.
The problem so far has always been that contemporary sheet music is hard to find and involves a weary quest with many detours, where you possibly have to contact the composer directly without having the necessary contact data. There is a basic need for an easy manageable platform that simplifys the process of finding and obtaining desired compositions.
The music austria sheet music shop is unique in Austria and sets in precisely at this point. The intention of the shop is to provide interested people the opportunity to acquire the works in a simple and straightforward manner. To make this shop work, it obviously also relys on the cooperation with the composers. For this reason, the music austria sheet music shop is constantly on the lookout for composers who are willing to provide their works for the shop.
“With enough compositions online, we will take the next steps and actively promote and apply to musicians, ensembles and event organizers dealing with contemporary music,” says Sabine Reiter.
Hence the call to all Austrian-based composers to participate in this venture!
The shop is not only targeted to musicians, ensembles and orchestras. For the purpose of music education, the works will also soon be divided into difficulty levels, so that it will be easier for music teachers and educators to find suitable material for teaching or testing.
Another special feature of the music austria sheet music shop is the advanced search for certain instrumentations, as well as work lists or a specific piece by a particular composer. A sonata for violin and piano – no problem, just run the search and the sheet music shop will provide the appropriate results for you to choose from.
Another project for the future is to provide rentals for inspection. This applys to scores that are not commercially available and are only rented.
“In this sense ensembles can at least get a first impression and can contact the respective publisher if interested,” says Sabine Reiter.
All in all, it is obviously still in its elementary stage, considering that there are already 35,000 listed compositions in the music austria database. It is a great start, but there is still room to grow for the music austria sheet music shop.
Michael Ternai
(translated from German)
Related article:
New in the music austria sheet music shop: Johannes Berauer
http://shop.musicaustria.at