Is there a free database or web service api for music information (albums, artists, tracks)?

Question

I need to look up artist/album/track information for song titles.

Is there a free database I could download or a open source web service/api I could use?

Answer 1

FreeDB is free, but may or may not have an API. It is user-generated content.

http://www.freedb.org/

And apparently Gracenote is the new CDDB (but probably not free). I guess they finally figured out that they didn't want to limit their database to CDs.

Answer 2

Try the last.fm api at http://www.last.fm/api.

If that doesn't work for you, you can look at the various APIs listed in this search result: http://www.programmableweb.com/search/music

This is a Silverlight tutorial, but since this is an HTTP REST API, it could seem agnostic to you to get started: http://www.devx.com/VisualStudio/Article/40158.

Answer 3

Yes! Echo Nest. Pretty hot startup outside Boston that just got more funding. Their API lets you search by artist, album, track, and more.