REC.MUSIC.INFO: List of Usenet Musical Newsgroups
Dave Walker
Last-modified: $Date: 1993/04/20 11:17:18 $
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[ Moderator's Note: From now on this list will be maintained by
Dave Walker -- give him a big hand, folks! (And be sure to send
updates any comments to him instead of me) -- Leo ]
*** rec.music.info - List of Usenet Musical Newsgroups
This fortnightly posted list of newsgroups is maintained by Dave Walker,
who can be reached at marm...@msen.com.
All comments, updates, new additions, etc. are more than welcome.
If you do not know what newsgroups are, or how to read them, check out the
introductory articles found in news.announce.newusers and news.answers, or
ask somebody more experienced to help you.
By the way: many periodic or FAQ articles, including this one, are
available for anonymous ftp on the archive site rtfm.mit.edu
in the directory pub/usenet/news.answers. The name under which a FAQ is
archived appears is the one that appears in the 'Archive-name' line at the
top of the article. The FAQ you are now reading is archived as
music/newsgroups.
If you can't do or don't know about ftp: there's also a mail server on that
machine. Just send a e-mail message to mail-...@rtfm.mit.edu
containing the word "help" in the body of the message.
USENET MUSICAL NEWSGROUPS
At the moment there are over 70 newsgroups on Usenet that deal with some
genre, or artist, or aspect of music. These groups can be divided into four
categories: moderated rec.music groups, unmoderated rec.music groups, alt
groups and 'other' groups. Groups in the 'alt' hierarchy are 'unofficial'
in that they are not created by standard Usenet voting procedures.
Therefore, some sites prefer not to carry (all) of the alt newsgroups.
'Other' groups are those groups that do not reside in the rec.music or alt
hierarchy, but which nevertheless might be of interest, musically.
Here follows a brief description of each of these newsgroups. An '[FAQ]'
behind the group name means that for this group a so-called Frequently
Asked Questions article is maintained, which you really should read before
attempting to post to the group in question.
--- Moderated Groups
-- rec.music.reviews
Reviews of albums, singles, movies, books, concerts -- anything as long
as it has to do with music. Moderator: Stewart Evans (stew...@sco.com)
-- rec.music.gaffa
Kate Bush, Kate Bush, Kate Bush, some other women performers, let's not
forget about Kate Bush, some other 'arty' performers, and did we mention
Kate Bush yet? Moderator: Bill Wisner (love-houn...@eddie.mit.edu)
-- rec.music.info [FAQ]
This group. Moderator: Leo Breebaart (rec-mus...@cp.tn.tudelft.nl)
--- Unmoderated Groups:
-- rec.music.afro-latin
Latin American music (Salsa, Merengue, etc) in general, with sidesteps to
other forms of World music.
-- rec.music.beatles
Beatles' music.
-- rec.music.bluenote [FAQ]
The newsgroup for Blues and Jazz.
-- rec.music.cd
Discussions of the *music* should go elsewhere, but all other aspects
of CD's, including non-(technical/hardware) ones, are discussed here.
-- rec.music.christian
Christian music, both traditional and contemporary.
-- rec.music.classical [FAQ]
Classical music.
-- rec.music.classical.guitar
Classical guitar music.
-- rec.music.compose
Creating musical and lyrical compositions.
-- rec.music.country.western
Country & Western music.
-- rec.music.dementia
Weird, strange, twisted, demented music (as in comedy & novelty). Ah-aaah!
-- rec.music.dylan
Bob Dylan's music.
-- rec.music.early
Early music, as in *before* classical.
-- rec.music.folk
Folk music, from sea shanties to singer-songwriters.
-- rec.music.funky
Dance, rap, funk and other 'black' music forms.
-- rec.music.gdead
The Grateful Dead's music
-- rec.music.indian.classical
Classical Indian (as in Asian) music.
-- rec.music.indian.misc
Other Indian (still as in Asian) music.
-- rec.music.industrial [FAQ]
Industrial music, both "dance industrial" and "traditional".
-- rec.music.makers.*
A hierarchy of newsgroups for people who make music instead of just
listen to it.
-- rec.music.marketplace
Got something for sale? Looking to buy something? This is the place.
-- rec.music.misc
Main musical discussion group. Musical omnivores read and post here.
-- rec.music.newage
New Age music.
-- rec.music.phish
Cult group Phish's music.
-- rec.music.video
Video clips and music video's.
--- Alt Groups:
-- alt.emusic
Music about things that start with an 'e' (as in electronic, exotic, ethnic,
etc.) No joke...
-- alt.exotic-music
World music, mostly Asian-oriented.
-- alt.fan.enya
Enya's (as in 'Orinoco Flow') music.
-- alt.fan.frank-zappa
Frank Zappa's music.
-- alt.fan.jimmy-buffett
Jimmy Buffett's music and tour information.
-- alt.fan.peter-hamill
Peter Hamill's music.
-- alt.music.a-cappella
Music featuring vocals, unaccompanied by instrumentation.
-- alt.music.alternative
Alternative or indie music. Generally defined as That Which Is Not Top 40.
-- alt.music.bela-fleck
Music by Bela Fleck and/or the Flecktones.
-- alt.music.canada
Music by Canadian artists.
-- alt.music.category-freak
Currently an empty group, probably created as a joke.
-- alt.music.enya
Enya's (as in 'Orinoco Flow') music. Don't ask me about the difference
between this group and alt.fan.enya...
-- alt.music.filk
Folk music, with usually funny or parody lyrics, often having to do with
Science Fiction.
-- alt.music.jewish
Currently an empty group.
-- alt.music.journalism
Discussion of music magazines and how to go about getting published
in them.
-- alt.music.karaoke
Currently an empty group.
-- alt.music.machines.of.loving.grace
Currently an empty group.
-- alt.music.pop.will.eat.itself
Currently an empty group.
-- alt.music.progressive
Progressive Rock, as it was defined in the 70's (i.e. what non-experts might
call 'symphonic'): groups like Yes, Gentle Gint and Genesis. Don't confuse
'progressive' with 'alternative'!
-- alt.music.queen
Queen's music and associated topics.
-- alt.music.rush [FAQ]
Rush's music.
-- alt.music.the.police
The Police's music.
-- alt.music.the.police.ctl
This group was created by error, and should not be used.
-- alt.music.tmbg
The music of They Might Be Giants
-- alt.rap
Rap music.
-- alt.rap-gdead
For fans of both rap music and the Grateful Dead. Really.
-- alt.rave
Techno, ambient, house, trance, and tribal music, and more.
Raves, smart drinks, Cat in the Hat and Vap-O-Rub...
-- alt.rock-n-roll
Rock music, of the 'soft' or 'classic' kind.
-- alt.rock-n-roll.acdc [FAQ]
AC/DC's music.
-- alt.rock-n-roll.hard
Rock music, of the classic 'hard' kind, e.g. Guns 'n Roses,
Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple.
-- alt.rock-n-roll.classic
Classic rock music.
-- alt.rock-n-roll.metal
Heavy Metal music, as in *real* metal (Slayer, Venom, Motorhead).
Definitely *not* for Classic Rock or for Def Leppard.
-- alt.rock-n-roll.metal.heavy
Death metal and other REAL metal, even realer than that discussed in
a.r.metal.
-- alt.rock-n-roll.metal.progressive
Progressive metal. They tell me groups like Queensryche, Fates Warning
and Crimson Glory belong here.
-- alt.rock-n-roll.metal.metallica
Metallica's music.
-- alt.ska
Ska music, bands, and culture.
-- alt.thrash
Hardcore, alternative (metal) thrash music.
--- Other Groups
-- bit.listserv.emusic-l
Technical discussion of electronic music.
-- bit.listserv.allmusic
Discussion of all forms of music.
-- comp.music
Applications of computers in music research.
-- k12.ed.music
Music and performing arts in schools.
-- rec.folk-dancing
A group not only about folk-dancing, but also about the dance music itself.
-- rec.games.trivia
This group often has lyrics or other musical quizzes.
-- rec.arts.marching.drumcorps
Discussion of drum and bugle corps.
-- rec.arts.marching.misc
Discussion of marching bands, color guards and related activities.
-- rec.radio.broadcasting
Discussion of radio stations, formats, programming, etc.
[ I'm looking for folks to give me some good, reliable info on some of
the other 'other' groups, most notably the .radio and the .makers
groups. Anybody? ]
--- Local Groups
Your site may carry local newsgroups (as in: local to your site, your area,
your country, your continent -- anything that does not have world-wide
distribution) that may very well be about music. Check with your news
administrator for more info on those groups.