LibGuides: Music: Audio/Video

Finding Audio & Video Materials in the library catalog

The Library's collection of videos and sound recordings in indexed in our online catalog OneSearch. In Advanced Search, select "Audio Visual" under "Resource Type" to search our collection of sound and video recordings -- available in a variety of formats including CDs, DVDs, LPs, tape and streaming audio.

The Cohen Library maintains a collection of films and documentaries, available for circulation. To request a video at Cohen, take the call number to the Circulation desk.

The Music Library maintains a rich collection of CDs, DVDs, LPs and VHS tapes to support research and creative work in Music and the Performing Arts. Playback equipment and headphones are also available for in-library use.

OneSearch catalog
In Advanced Search, limit Resource Type to "Audio Visual" to search our collection of sound and video recordings.
Music Library LP collection list
Browse CCNY's LP record collection

Streaming Audio

American Music
The database includes songs by and about American Indians, miners, immigrants, slaves, children, pioneers and cowboys. Included in the database are the songs of Civil Rights, political campaigns, Prohibition, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, anti-war protests and more.
Contemporary World Music
The database will contain important genres such as reggae, worldbeat, neo-traditional, world fusion, Balkanic jazz, African film, Bollywood, Arab swing and jazz, and other genres such as traditional music - Indian classical, fado, flamenco, klezmer, zydeco, gospel, gagaku, and more.
Classical Music Library
Labels represented inclue EMI, Warner Music and Deutsche Grammaphone.

DRAM: Database of Recorded American Music This link opens in a new window
A scholarly resource of recordings, including CD quality audio, liner notes and essays from several important labels.

Jazz Music Library
Covers a variety of artists, labels, genres and periods.
Naxos Music Library
Available through the New York Public Library
Popular Music Library
A wide range of popular music from around the world, including sub-genres of pop music like alternative, country, Christian, electronic, hip-hop, metal, punk, new age, R&B, reggae, rock, and soundtracks.
Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries
Collection of traditional, folk and world music.

Streaming Video

Academic Video Online (AVON Alexander Street) This link opens in a new window Academic Video Online (AVON) is a collection of 70,000 videos covering all academic interests. Videos are fully transcribed and indexed. Users can create & share playlists, video clips, and embed content in Blackboard.
Popular Channels Include:
1. Film Platform
2. American History
3. Anthropology
4. BBC Landmark
5. Black Studies
6. CNN
7. Counseling and Therapy
8. Documentaries
9. Music and Performing Arts
10. PBS
11. Science and Engineering
12. SONY Pictures Classics
Format: Streaming Videos
Kanopy This link opens in a new window CCNY's access to movies in Kanopy is limited to licenses we have purchased. Professors can order a film for a class by filling out a purchase request at https://library.ccny.cuny.edu/services/purchase .
As of September 2023 , the CCNY Library has licensed the following Kanopy titles.
5 Broken Cameras - Non-Violent Resistance in the Middle East
8 1/2
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
A Woman Under the Influence
Adventure Never Ends: A Tabletop Saga
Alphaville
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch - How Humans Have Impacted the Planet
Balseros - Cuban Rafters
Battleship Potemkin
Be Natural - The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché
Bicycle Thieves
Black Orpheus
Blood Memory
Boy
Breathless - À bout de souffle
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Cleo From 5 to 7
Close-Up
Concerning Violence - Nine Scenes from the Anti-Imperialistic Self-Defense
Criterion Essential Collection
Dogtooth - Kynodontas
Eraserhead
Grey Gardens
Hoop Dreams
Hyenas
I Am Not Your Negro - James Baldwin and Race in America
In Jackson Heights - One of America's Most Ethnically Diverse Neighborhoods
In the Mood for Love
Ixcanul
Kino Lorber Essential Collection
La Haine
La Jetée
Last Year at Marienbad - L'année dernière à Marienbad
Long Day's Journey into Night - Di qiu zui hou de ye wan
M
Metropolis
Modern Times
Mountains May Depart - Shan He Gu Ren
Nosferatu
Obit. - The New York Times Obituary Writers
Pather Panchali
Quo Vadis, Aida?
Rabble Rousers - Frances Goldin and the Fight for Cooper Square
Rashomon
Rome Open City
Seven Samurai
Stagecoach
Stalker
Taqwacore - The Birth Of Punk Islam
The 400 Blows - Les quatre cents coups
The Battle of Algiers
The Birth of a Nation
The Conformist
The Edge of Eachother's Battles
The Five Obstructions
The General
The Harlem Renaissance & Beyond
The Holy Mountain - Der heilige Berg
The Pearl Button - The Coastline of Chile
The Tin Drum
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down
Tout Va Bien
What Is Democracy? - A Philosophical Journey Exploring Government
Within Our Gates