Group subscriptions

Rock's Backpages is the biggest online database of rock music writing in the world. It is a unique resource unavailable elsewhere online.

Sourced from the pages of the music and mainstream press, it is a massive library of articles (reviews, interviews, features and more) from the early 1960s right up to the present day. In addition to our archive of text articles, we also provide exclusive mp3 audio files of original source interviews.

This archival database is of great value to media businesses, and university, college, school and public libraries.

We currently provide this resource to many university and other libraries and publishers worldwide.

These include:

North America

USA
Berklee College of Music
Bucknell University
Central New Mexico Community College
Columbia University
Cornell University
Delaware County Library System
Harvard University
McNally Smith College
New York University
Penn State University
Skidmore College
Smith College
Syracuse University
Truman State University
University of California - Los Angeles
University of California - San Diego
University of the South
Wesleyan University
Western Illinois University

Canada
Carleton University
McGill University
Université Laval
Western Ontario University

Other overseas

Australasia
Auckland City Libraries - New Zealand
Central Queensland University - Australia
Curtin University - Australia
Griffith University - Australia
Monash University - Australia
University of Queensland - Australia
Wellington City Libraries - New Zealand

Scandinavia
Jyvaskylan Yliopisto - Finland
Norwegian Academy of Music - Norway
Oslo University - Norway
Roskilde University - Denmark
Sibelius Academy - Finland
Turku University - Finland
University of Agder - Norway

United Kingdom - Higher Education Institutions
Birmingham City University
Kingston University
Leeds College of Music
Leeds Metropolitan University
Liverpool John Moores University
Loughborough University
Oxford Brookes University
Southampton Solent University
St Andrews University
Thames Valley University
University for the Creative Arts
University of Central Lancashire
University of Derby
University of Edinburgh
University of Glasgow
University of Gloucester
University of Hertfordshire
University of Huddersfield
University of Hull
University of Leeds
University of Northampton
University of Salford
University of Sheffield
University of Surrey
University of Wolverhampton

United Kingdom - Further Education Institutions
Belfast Metropolitan College
Bournemouth and Poole College
Castle College, Nottingham
Colchester Institute
Central Sussex College
Hull College
Knowsley Community College
Liverpool Community College
Manchester College
Middlesborough College
Newcastle College
Northbrook College
South Downs College
Truro and Penwith College
West Herts College

Hear about the database

To hear Barney Hoskyns talk about Rock's Backpages, click here

Details of the database 

• There are currently over fourteen thousand articles on the site. These feature over two thousand five hundred artists and range from 500-word album (or concert) reviews to 10,000-word interviews and features.
• The articles are full text and fully searchable (by artist, date, genre, keyword etc.) including a sophisticated ‘advanced search’ option.
• Written by over three hundred of the biggest names in rock journalism, they are taken from the widest possible range of publications in the US and UK: from Creem and Trouser Press to Rolling Stone, and from New Musical Express and Melody Maker to MOJO.
• The archive covers all types of popular music from the 1950s to the present: from Abba to Zappa, the Stones to the Stone Roses and from Elvis to Eminem. There are, for example, 130 articles on the Beach Boys and 185 on the Rolling Stones.
• The library includes previously unpublished pieces about The Beatles (by Michael Lydon in 1966), The Doors (by Lester Bangs in 1975), and seminal interviews with major artists from Bob Dylan to Radiohead.
• The library is currently increasing in size by approximately 50 new articles a week.
• All the material in the database is presented with the full agreement and permission of the copyright holders – freelance writers and journalists – or of their estates, and the vast majority of this material is exclusive to Rock’s Backpages for online distribution.

Subscription services and costs

Using a group subscription, all end users within the group (e.g. all university faculty members and students) will have access to every one of the articles on the site plus the opportunity to print out articles.

They can also receive a weekly email informing them of the latest additions to the library.

Access to the site is usually arranged via a specific IP address which enables users to access the library through the group intranet without the need for a specific site password. We also provide access via Shibboleth.

Testimonials

“Rock's Backpages has become an invaluable resource to students studying music, media and communication at the University of Leeds. On our popular music BA the archive provides material to support study on, for example, genre, politics and subcultures, for essays at all levels, all the way through to final dissertations, and as a library for primary sources for the popular music journalism module I run it is perfect.”
– Simon Warner,
Senior Teaching Fellow
Director, PopuLUs, the Centre for the Study of the World's Popular Musics
School of Music
University of Leeds, UK

“I have made extensive use of Rock's Backpages over the past couple of years. Not only am I impressed by its ease and speed of access, but also by the way that it is constantly improving and updating its archive. I consider it an invaluable asset to any researcher or serious fan of the subject.”
– Dr Ron Moy,
Senior Lecturer in Popular Music Studies,
Liverpool John Moores University, UK.

“For anyone exploring the history of popular music, Rock’s Backpages is a gold mine. Its vast yet constantly expanding database of hard-to-find primary materials is high in quality, wide in scope, easy to access, and fully cross-referenced. Whether you’re a student or professor, journalist or archivist, researcher or fan, Rock’s Backpages puts you in the front row.”
– Dale Carter
Associate Professor of American Studies
University of Aarhus, Denmark

“Rock’s Backpages has been an invaluable addition to the Syracuse University library. I frequently search its holdings for my own research. Beyond that, we teach a number of classes - ranging from the History of Rock survey to the Popular Music Studies seminar - where students have used Rock's Backpages to aid with paper projects and presentations. In addition, our numerous Arts Journalism students have found the site to be an amazing resource and introduction to the history of rock music criticism. I highly recommend this database.”
– Theo Cateforis
Author of The Rock History Reader (Routledge, 2007)
Assistant Professor of Music History and Cultures
Department of Fine Arts, Syracuse University

The Next Step

If you are interested in subscribing to this invaluable resource, please email tony@rocksbackpages.com We will then provide you with free access to the site for a limited period so that you can find out how valuable it could be for your staff and students.

We will also propose a subscription charge at a substantial discount to individual subscription charges.