Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Best place to buy new music?

Hi,

Does anyone have a favorite website they like to purchase music from (besides Amazon)?

that will depend on which country you are in. Amazon Australia isn't the best, and I have found Bookdepository.com to be pretty good. However I believe they are based in the UK and so there may be delays in shipments.

University of Tennessee Sheet Music Collection
Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection
YorkSpace Repository
Library of Congress Notated Music

There's a few to keep anyone busy for a very long time and none of them will cost you a cent.

(There's a fair bit of crap in these collections but there's some mighty good stuff too. I recommend Albert Von Tilzer, his brother Harry Von Tilzer and Irving Berlin as a place to start.

Music Espresso is in Boston (looks like you're in New Hampshire); they're awesome!!

well if we are talking about for free, then you also have imslp.org for sheet music in the public domain

I dont like too much Amazon just because most of the time the sheets have some flaws when they arrive. So i typically buy from specialized music on line stores. Most that i know are in europe or UK like Boosey. They can be sometimes more expensive (though not always) and the shipping is a little more costly but they arrive in perfect condition. I dont know the US market that well but I assume there are plenty of local online stores.

For downloadable/PDF purchases - https://www.musicnotes.com

What I like:
- they remember all my purchases
- download PDFs directly in ForScore
- many arrangements from popular online artists

If I lived in the US, I’d probably buy lots of stuff from sheetmusicplus.com. They seem to have everything I would want. I purchased a downloadable arrangement there once and was happy with it but haven’t purchased any hard copies yet because of the international shipping costs. Why pay for international shipping fees when I can buy locally for free shipping/pickup? But if I couldn’t find something locally (which I haven’t encountered yet) I wouldn’t hesitate to buy from sheetmusicplus.

I tend to first check at http://www.thejuilliardstore.com/ online music store
Great quality, nicely packed and much faster than others. Plus I like supporting an actual brick and mortar store.

I still remember the Carl Fisher store in downtown Chicago. I really miss it. It was wonderful to browse the music in your hands. Oh well times change.
I have used musicnotes and recommend them too for downloadable music. Sheetmusicplus I have gotten plenty delivered over the years. What I like about Sheetmusicplus is that the music so far has always been in "New" condition. Amazon my wife brought a few times and the condition was not the best. Plus I like to support the more specialty online shops if at all possible.

I like sheetmusicplus.com, although shipping is typically 1-2 weeks and it's usually not free. They often have good sales (20% of certain types of music) so I usually keep an eye on my wishlist and stock up when things go on sale.

It depends on what I'm buying. I like musicnotes.com a lot, and if I'm wanting to buy sheet for a single piece, I tend to buy from them. If I'm buying a book of something, I start with sheetmusicplus.com because I want to patronize them as much as possible so they stay in business. I like that a lot of times music is rated for difficulty.

I do buy from Amazon as well, depending on what I'm looking for. I don't think it's accurate to say "Amazon scores have mistakes," it really depends on who published the score.

I also will buy sheets direct from a composer's website (e.g., Nevue, McLaughlin, Wesley, who else?)

I have also had the problem of music books and other books arriving from Amazon in less than ideal condition. For me, it was because they ship books in paper/plastic bags instead of those nice protective cardboard book shippers. I hate that they do that!

Grrrr me too, because they get folded in half to fit in the mailbox.

I'm surprised that Amazon USA are so lax with their packaging.

In the UK, I've bought lots of books from Amazon UK: hardcover, softcover, music volumes & books, slim or thick, and they've all been packaged in sturdy cardboard cartons, or even (if bulky and heavy, or multiple) in boxes packed securely with foam. All the books arrived pristine: no creases or wonky edges or corners.

I downloaded a few pieces from Virtual Sheet Music. They have a good selections of Classical pieces. However, I did find some errors in their scores. Probably they re-notate original pieces into computer scores and along the way made mistakes.

Schultz Music Publications has good selections of piano music.

For online, downloadable music, I like http://www.noviscore.com/. They have different levels of a given piece and you can preview and listen to it before you buy it. There audio samples are top notch, not the cheap midi audio I've found elsewhere.

FWIW pianostreet.com has a lot of classical music in pdf for download if you are a member.
If you're not in a hurry and shop their sales (and join their rebate club) Sheetmusicplus.com has good prices and cheap (often free, but slow) shipping.

There is also https://www.musicroom.com/ who are pretty good. Have used them a few times, but I have so much stuff that I rarely need to buy (or just download from IMSLP).

wow...so many great suggestions. I will check them all out. Thank you!