Downloads getting a global beat
These days, 99 cents will get you an online download of a classic rock tune or a Top 40 hit. But starting this summer, the pay-per-tune world will broaden to include the likes of tracks from “Rhythms of Rapture: Sacred Musics of Haitian Vodou,” “The Eskimos of Hudson Bay and Alaska” and “Humorous Songs From the Kranga People of Zimbabwe.”
They’re among the classic ethnographic and folk sounds being digitized into a 15,000-track collection to be offered by a new Smithsonian Institution project, Global Sound (www.globalsound.org).
In addition to exposing the work to a broader audience, the project has larger mission, says Toby Dodds, Global Sound’s technology director. “We will generate royalties from the sale of recordings, which will help artists and the preservation of sound recordings worldwide.”
The site is set to go live June 23 to coincide with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C.
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