We wish we were millionaires.
Once in the money swim like Scrooge Duck from Duckburg. Unfortunately, this story is not written that way. The “Music Information Association” is a non-profit association of interested musicians. Many support the association by membership fees, others by orders over the data base, by which the association can obtain additional incomes.
Many things are offered on the Internet as a free service. But actually free is almost nothing. Surely you also use Google or another search engine. There you leave then traces “in the snow”, which are then analyzed and resold to strange companies. Many practicing musicians also use YouTube or similar platforms. Many videos and sound recordings are preceded by advertisements that generate billions for the group. The copyrights are not clearly clarified and taxes? They prefer not to talk about it. Wikipedia, on the other hand, is free, but even this organization needs money to offer the service. Therefore, from time to time we ask for donations, which we as an active user also make available. However, if every Wikipedia user donates € 1,-, a few million are quickly collected.
The association for music information as operator of www.musicainfo.net is in relation to Google and YouTube a dwarf, nevertheless this data base is already for nearly 20 years in the Internet. That is to be owed to the many faithful members, who pay annually the small Obolus of ? 25, -. And this amount has remained the same since the beginning of our work. In relation to the annual inflation the membership fee has become cheaper. The web radios, where only works of which there are printed sheet music are broadcast, are available to all musicians free of charge. Without advertising! The number of datasets has increased considerably and is constantly linked to additional information. So the database is alive and active.
Even if you are not a member of our organization, but use the database www.musicianfo.net for searching or the radios, you can support the work of the association. Simply order sheet music via www.musicianfo.net from one of the freely selectable delivery partners. They pay a small commission to the association. This is € 3,- for orchestral works and € 1,- for other orders. The sheet music does not cost you more than if you order elsewhere or from the publisher. With your order you support the work of the association and thus enrich the variety of www.musicianfo.net.
Helmut Schwaiger
