The team at Rabble is extremely excited to announce our plans for the Beta launch of MUSICat Chorus, a service that empowers more public libraries than ever to publish online local music collections.
Rabble’s Library Partners in Nashville, Seattle, Edmonton, and beyond are already using the MUSICat platform to share streams and downloads of local music. MUSICat Chorus expands access to this groundbreaking service via affordable pricing for libraries serving populations under 150,000. MUSICat Chorus has simple monthly pricing and no upfront fees, empowering more libraries than ever to share local music online, under artist license terms they control, with no holds, returns, or borrowing limits.
“We’ve talked to dozens of librarians in small towns and rural areas around the world who want to build online local music collections, and we’re thrilled that MUSICat Chorus will make that possible for them,” says Rabble CEO and co-founder Kelly Hiser.
MUSICat is more than just “Spotify for libraries”—Rabble partners with libraries to build a platform that supports local creative communities, respects and compensates artists for their work, protects user privacy, and facilitates library-led innovation under an open-source model. Using MUSICat, libraries license albums directly from musicians while also compensating artists up front. The sites share streams and downloads with authenticated library card holders, and engage communities with richly connected media and information about local artists.
MUSICat Chorus is made possible by Rabble’s work with its partner libraries in Edmonton, Nashville, Seattle, Madison, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, and Portland. MUSICat Chorus subscribers join a platform that has been imagined, developed, and thoroughly proven with these public library partners. “The Rabble team prides itself on building software that embraces public library values - the MUSICat collection model was developed by librarians, and we work closely with librarians as we build and improve MUSICat to ensure we’re creating real value for the communities we serve,” says Hiser.
Hiser adds that libraries of all sizes benefit from the types of community engagement that MUSICat collections foster: “A MUSICat collection is a nexus for new relationships and projects. We’re seeing our partners team up with artist collectives, documentary makers, record labels, music critics, podcasts, local businesses, and more on all kinds of projects that feature the collection and benefit the artists involved. We know that smaller libraries thrive off of these kinds of connections every bit as much as million-population cities.”
Rabble is currently seeking twenty public libraries to participate in the MUSICat Chorus Beta launch, and is offering a two month discount to encourage libraries to sign up by May 2018. The Rabble team expects to publicly launch MUSICat Chorus in the Fall of 2018. Hiser and her team are excited: "Talent knows no geographical bounds, and we can't wait to hear the collections that the thousands of amazing libraries serving smaller communities around the world put together."
For more info or to sign up, contact us at info@therabble.co