Research Subject Guides: Music: Boston Musical Communities

Northeastern's Student Musical Communities

Greenline Records "Green Line Records is Northeastern University's student-driven record label. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, our label aims to accelerate the careers of emerging artists. We offer our diverse lineup of artists a full range of services including studio and live recording, marketing, merchandising, booking, and management. For two decades, Green Line Records has served as the hub where learning and local arts collide."
Live Music Association "Live Music Association is a completely student-run group that books, promotes, and runs small concerts on campus that primarily feature up-and-coming artists that students want to see. Our club largely consists of non-music industry majors by chance, so it allows students who have an extracurricular interest in concerts and live entertainment to get hands on experience running a show in Afterhours and meet peers that have the same interests."
Northeastern University Songwriting Club "The Northeastern University Songwriting Club is a group for songwriters and musicians of all styles and experience levels to share their music and meet peers to collaborate with! It doesn't matter if you've never written a song in your life or you write every day."
Tastemakers "Founded in 2006, Tastemakers Magazine exists to give Northeastern students a voice in the music industry and help members develop their craft. Publishing four issues a year, producing its semi-annual Tastemakers Presents concert series, and actively involved in the Northeastern and Boston communities, We offer a wide variety of unique learning experiences for our members."
Northeastern University- WRBB 104.9FM

Local Blogs and Websites

Allston Pudding "Allston Pudding is operated and written by fans and musicians to highlight new music and live music from all over. We are supporters of local music, from our hometown to local scenes throughout the world. We hope to support and champion artists who may not receive their proper radio play or publicity, but definitely deserve your attention. "
BOSTON HASSLE "Your daily guide, since 2011, strictly focusing on underrepresented, independent & underground music / art / film scenes and communities in Greater Boston and New England at large, and the often marginalized cultures that comprise and support them. We foster a community of writers and citizen journalists who uncover vital elements of our city routinely ignored by mainstream media, and allow up-and-coming writers a platform for their work."
Boston Jazz Scene "the place to find out what happened, what is happening, and what is coming in jazz and other improvised music in Boston and surrounding communities."
The Boston Music Intelligencer "Our aim with The Boston Musical Intelligencer is to list every classical music concert in greater Boston (within Route 128) for the regular season, and in summer to expand coverage to include venues throughout New England. We also review as many concerts as possible, especially those our editors deem most unjustly neglected by the print media. Our reviewers are drawn from Boston’s most distinguished musicians, composers, music academics and musically literate listeners. Reviews and articles are professionally edited before publication. We invite participation from readers in our moderated but un-edited comment area."
Boston Ska "Launched in November of 2012, this site is a modest attempt at carrying the torch that bostonska.com lit so brightly. We are here to help build community and create awareness around the Boston-area ska, reggae, and rocksteady scene. We aim to capture all of it’s activity today, while honoring those who laid the foundation that got us here. We are here to share news, shows reviews and previews, record reviews, interviews, and maintain a calendar to the best of our abilities. This is about your news, and your scene. Any omissions are unintentional."
Bradley's Almanac "A Boston based music blog." "I'd say I write about mostly indie-rock/indie-pop type stuff. While the Almanac is 'not very active', my facebook and twitter feeds are (sometimes too-) frequently updated with music-centric shares."
DIGBos Digboston.com is a product of DigBoston, Boston’s always witty and never dull guide to nightlife, opinion and events. Find it in orange or black boxes around the city and inside your favorite places to go to. Dig Publishing founded the alternative weekly in 1999. Dig Media Group Corporation acquired the publication in 2017.
Graduation Music "Established in September of 2016 with the main goal of promoting the rising talent of Massachusetts and the surrounding areas."
Noise Floor "Noise Floor is a music blog founded by Ben Stas – freelance photographer/writer for The Boston Globe, Vanyaland, BrooklynVegan, DigBoston, Allston Pudding and elsewhere – accompanied by select contributors. Reachable at bstas@yardhawk.net."
Sound of Boston "Sound of Boston is an online music publication that covers the culture, events, and artists comprising Boston’s vibrant music scene. Our city has a lot of talent to offer to the music world; our staff works to raise awareness of local acts and to help them to reach an audience."
Vanyaland
WMBR Blog
WMBR is MIT's radio station.

Podcasts

Above the Basement- Boston Music and Conversation "Above the Basement offers casual and candid discussions with musicians, artists, producers and others from Boston and beyond. Conversations will inform and entertain listeners with experiences from those shaping Boston's music community and for whom music is a passion. You will hear their stories, hardships faced and overcome... and why they love what they do."
Kids Like You and Me (KLYAM)
Boston based show curator, record label, and underground rock 'n roll, punk, noise & weirdo resource discuss different things!

Boston Area Archives and Digital Collections-Please review guidelines about visits.

Berklee College of Music Archives Includes collections from Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory at Berklee, both physical (via appointment only) and digital: archives.berklee.edu, with a special emphasis on jazz, popular music, dance, and musical theatre. Most of their physical collections are housed off-site so there is usually a one-two week turnaround. They are happy to assist students and faculty at archives@berklee.edu.
Boston College, John J. Burns Library They invite reference inquiries via their contact form: https://libguides.bc.edu/Burns/contact
Boston Symphony Orchestra Archives BSO Archives is open to researchers on an appointment basis. Their collection documents the BSO and its many facets, including BSO, Pops, Tanglewood, Tanglewood Music Center, Symphony Hall, and the Boston Music Hall. Key digital resources can be found at: archives.bso.org (BSO’s performance history database that contains details for more than 32,000 performances by the BSO, Pops, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, and the Tanglewood Music Center); and at collections.bso.org (digital collections of photographs, program books, and some audio recordings of Tanglewood Music Center and Festival of Contemporary Music recordings). Inquiries can be addressed to the general archives email --- archives@bso.org
Boston University Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center Includes archives of prominent musicians. You must make an appointment to visit.
Brandeis University Archives & Special Collections Their collection of Carl Van Vechten portraits might be of interest: https://lts.brandeis.edu/research/archives-speccoll/exhibits/vanvechten/exhibit/under.html
Harvard University The Schlesinger Library’s collections are closed for renovations until September 12, but once they reopen they’d be great for students interested in feminism, activism, and popular music: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/schlesinger_musicians Harvard special collections are open and free; here’s what your students will need to know/do in advance: https://library.harvard.edu/how-to/use-harvard-librarys-special-collections-and-archives.

Annotated Bibliography Resources

Scholarly peer-reviewed articles

Use the "peer reviewed" filter!

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Citations and abstracts of articles on a global range of topics: historical musicology, ethnomusicology, instruments, voice, dance, music therapy.
- What this includes: Articles, books, bibliographies, catalogues, dissertations, conference proceedings, reviews, and more. Covers 1967 - present.

Scholar OneSearch
Search Northeastern's library books, articles, recordings, newspaper subscriptions, videos, and more.

Streaming Music

Smithsonian Global Sound This link opens in a new window
An international network of music audio archives grounded in the mission of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Offers access to the "smaller voices" of people all over the world via digital downloads. Aims to heighten communication among and about people and cultures. Also notes, images, videos, educational features, and lesson plans.
Set up a personal account to be able to create clips, bookmarks and playlists for sharing with a class or with others in the Northeastern community.

News and newspapers

Boston Globe (link to all Northeastern Library access points) This link opens in a new window
Boston Phoenix (1973-2013) (Internet Archive) This link opens in a new window
Boston's alternative newspaper of record, the first word on social justice, politics, as well as the arts and music scene.(1972-2013)
Ethnic NewsWatch (Proquest) This link opens in a new window
Interdisciplinary, bilingual (English and Spanish) full text newspapers, magazines and journals of American ethnic, minority and indigenous communities. Offers additional viewpoints from those proffered by the mainstream press.
Includes the Bay State Banner, an independent newspaper primarily geared toward the interests of Boston's African-American community, and the Boston Irish Reporter.
RIPM Jazz Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Facsimiles of 105 full text American jazz journals published between 1914 and 2006. Significant journals include, among others, Cadence, Down Beat, Mississippi Rag, and Record Changer. Images, advertisements included.

Northeastern Archives and Special Collections

View the archives website (appointments, hours, email help)

ArchivesSpace at Northeastern
Search the archives, learn about the collections and people in Northeastern's history and the history of our surrounding communities. Boxes, folders, series.
Digital Repository Service
Items from Northeastern's collections that have been scanned or digitized. Photos, documents, dissertations, presentations.