FAQ
For information about Oxford Music Online, including its history and how often it’s updated, please visit our About page.
For help using Oxford Music Online, including how to log in, search, and browse, please visit our Help pages.
Click on a question to be taken straight to the answer. If you cannot find an answer to your question, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
About Oxford Music Online
- Is Oxford Music Online free, or do I need a subscription to access it?
- How can I see the newest content published online?
- What is the difference between Oxford Music Online and Grove Music Online?
- What does my Oxford Music Online subscription include?
- How do I access the Encyclopedia of Popular Music?
- I would like to suggest a new article or an edit to an existing article. What should I do?
- What are your policies around the use of artificial intelligence?
How to Use Oxford Music Online
- How can I tell which articles come from specialized Grove publications?
- Why can’t a find a composer through search?
- How can I perform an advanced search?
- Do Boolean operators and other search helpers work?
- Why do the filtering options on my search or browse results keep changing?
- Where can I find information about abbreviations in Grove articles?
- Why do some articles include multimedia links at the end?
- Where are the playable Sibelius examples?
- How do I access a NAXOS link?
- Why don’t I see Grove Jazz or Grove Opera articles in search and browse results?
- Can I print content, or save it as a PDF?
- How much material can I legally print or save to PDF?
- How do I cite an article in Grove Music Online?
- I would like to reuse or reproduce excerpts from Grove Music Online. Do I need to get permission?
Technical and Access Questions
- Which browsers should I use?
- Will my screen-reader software work?
- What is your policy on third party data mining?
- How do I end a session when connected via IP?
About Oxford Music Online
Is Oxford Music Online free, or do I need a subscription to access it?
Yes, in order to access the content on Oxford Music Online you, or your library, must purchase access to the content. Find out how to subscribe.
How can I see the newest content published online?
You can view new and revised articles by month on our Recently Published page. To see only newly published online articles in chronological order, you can view by sorting in Search Results.
What is the difference between Oxford Music Online and Grove Music Online?
Oxford Music Online is a portal for access and cross-search to Grove Music Online and other Oxford University Press reference content in one location. You can also access Grove Music Online separately through its own URL at oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic.
What does my Oxford Music Online subscription include?
Your subscription to Oxford Music Online includes Grove Music Online, the Oxford Dictionary of Music, and the Oxford Companion to Music. Find more information on these titles on the About page, or visit our Help page to find out how to search these titles. Please note: when clicking on links to these titles they will take you to the article on Oxford Reference. If you are unable to access Oxford Reference, please contact us.
How do I access the Encyclopedia of Popular Music?
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music is available for perpetual access holders only and can be found on Oxford Reference, the home of Oxford University Press’s dictionaries, companions, and encyclopedias. It is no longer for sale. For questions about access and subscriptions for this resource, please contact us.
I would like to suggest a new article or an edit to an existing article. What should I do?
We welcome our readers’ feedback! Please contact us with as much detail as possible, and the editorial team will review your suggestion.
What are your policies around the use of artificial intelligence?
We do not permit our authors to use generative AI to write content or create images, unless they are being used to discuss or to illustrate artificial intelligence, and are clearly cited or credited. See Author Use of Generative AI for more information.
How to Use Oxford Music Online
How can I tell which articles come from specialized Grove publications?
To reinforce our vision of Grove as a single unified publication, we have removed the source book designations (Jazz, Opera, American Music, or Instruments) and have replaced them with what we think will be a clearer and more accurate disambiguation approach. The new approach involves adjusting some article titles to better define scope and in some cases identifying one article to serve as a primary entrance point to a topic through which other articles can be reached. Some of these changes are visible on the site currently and we are working to roll out the others as quickly as possible. If you are still having trouble finding what you need, please contact Customer Services.
Why can’t a find a composer through search?
We are in the process of removing individual biographies from family articles and publishing them instead on their own article pages so that they may be more easily found and searched. This process can temporarily affect the ranking of the individual biographies within search results. If search results do not display the individual family member you are looking for, go to the family article and then find the appropriate link in the Individual Members section.
How can I perform an advanced search?
Advanced search options are available in the left sidebar of search or browse results list. You can run a quick search, select a browse category, or click the magnifying glass icon in the quick search bar to browse the entire site first to access these options. For more information about narrowing search and browse results, see our Help page.
Do Boolean operators and other search helpers work?
Yes. Common searching commands, such as double quotes or parentheses around search terms, * wildcard, and Boolean operators AND/OR/NOT, will work when searching.
Why do the filtering options on my search or browse results keep changing?
Many of these filters are dynamic, and only appear when matching articles are present in the results list. For more on searching, see our Quick search section on the Help page.
Where can I find information about abbreviations in Grove articles?
Click here for lists of abbreviations. Bibliographic abbreviations or sigla that display their expansions when clicked can be found on the Abbreviations pages, where you can also perform bounded searches by clicking on individual abbreviations. You’ll be taken to a search results list of articles containing the abbreviation.
Why do some articles include multimedia links at the end?
Multimedia links are editorially-selected recommendations for listening or viewing on one of our partner sites (currently Alexander Street Press and Naxos) and include audio, video and musical scores. We add links regularly as we post and revise articles. If you would like to recommend a recording or request links for an article (your own or someone else’s), please contact us.
Where are the playable Sibelius examples?
Grove Music used to offer playable musical examples supported by the Scorch browser plugin, which (as of March 2016) is no longer supported by all internet browsers. In light of this we have temporarily converted the playable examples to static images for your reference, and are working on an improved solution for Grove Music.
To access a NAXOS link, you must be logged into NAXOS. Clicking on a NAXOS link will take you to the NAXOS log-in page if you are not already logged in. Once logged in, you should be directed to the linked article. If you continue to experience issues with NAXOS authentication, please contact the NAXOS customer support team.
Why don’t I see Grove Jazz or Grove Opera articles in search and browse results?
We have grouped together under a single search result articles on a single topic so that you can get to our primary treatment of the subject first. Any additional articles, usually written with a more limited scope and not part of our update program, are linked to the primary article under the heading “More on this topic".
Can I print content, or save it as a PDF?
Yes. You can print and save individual articles to which you have access. To generate a PDF of an individual article, simply click on the "PDF" icon link at the top right of the article text, then download the PDF using your web browser. To print an article hover over the “share” icon and choose “Print” from the list that appears. Please note that copyright restrictions apply.
Please note that due to the size and complexity of some articles in combination with the speed of internet connections, some articles may not be able to generate a PDF. If you are running into issues downloading the PDF of a particularly long article, we suggest using your computer's "Print to PDF" functionality to save the PDF. If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact us.
Find out more about the article page in our Help section.
How much material can I legally print or save to PDF?
You are limited by copyright restrictions to the amount of information you can print and download. It is very important that you read our Privacy Policy and Legal Notice, which includes information on downloading PDFs.
How do I cite an article in Grove Music Online?
Grove Music Online is an online resource and the current edition of all previous Grove titles. Citations should follow the online resource practices of your preferred style sheet. If you click the pencil icon to the upper right of any article, you can see a preview of the citation in APA, Chicago, and MLA styles and export the citation into standard citation programs.
I would like to reuse or reproduce excerpts from Grove Music Online. Do I need to get permission?
Yes, in order to reuse, reproduce, digitize or translate any except, chapter and image from Grove Music Online, you need to fill out a permissions request form, available at the following URL:
https://global.oup.com/academic/rights/permissions/
Depending on your request, please select the appropriate link on the online form, and follow the instructions.
Technical and Access Questions
Oxford Music Online is designed to display and function correctly on the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and MS Edge.
Will my screen-reader software work?
Oxford Music Online has full W3C Priority 1 and 2 compliance, as well as most applicable Priority 3 items. It is one of the most accessible sites of its kind and should work with most popular screen-reading software. We are committed to making our resources accessible for all scholars. Please contact us with questions or feedback.
What is your policy on third party data mining?
OUP recognizes the research benefit of Text and Data Mining (TDM) across a variety of research fields. As such, we are happy to accommodate TDM for non-commercial use. If you have any questions please e-mail Data.Mining@oup.com.
How do I end a session when connected via IP?
Scroll down to the bottom of any page and click “Sign out” in the bottom right corner. We also advise closing out of the tab once signing out so that a new session isn’t started.