Williamsburg Regional Library will now offer access to an ad-free music streaming service.
Starting July 16, library cardholders can stream up to three hours of music per day through Freegal Music, accessible anywhere on computers, tablets and mobile devices.
The Freegal Music library contains nearly 9 million songs from more than 28,000 music labels, including Sony Music’s entire catalogue. A glance at the Freegal Music webpage reveals everything from Tina Turner, Johnny Cash and Frank Sinatra to Adele, Meghan Trainor and Justin Timberlake.
“It does give you access to a huge collection of both older music as well as contemporary stuff,” said Barry Trott, the library’s special projects director.
Freegal is a free music service available to subscribing libraries. Williamsburg Regional Library has offered cardholders the ability to download three songs per week from Freegal Music since 2012.
Trott said, in that time, members have downloaded more than 94,000 songs. Members can continue downloading in addition to streaming music.
But, Trott said, “The trend is that people are moving towards streaming.”
He referenced recent research indicating 68 percent of U.S. smartphone users stream music daily. That statistic comes from consumer research by Parks Associates.
“If that’s the trend in the community, we’d like to support that,” Trott said.
The Friends of Williamsburg Regional Library, a nonprofit organization, has funded the Freegal streaming service for one year.
At the one-year mark, Trott said the decision to continue the service will be made based on analysis of its use.
“We’re hopeful that this is something that people are really going to get excited about and use a lot,” Trott said.
Bridges can be reached by phone at 757-345-2342.
To use Freegal Music Streaming
On a computer: Visit freegalmusic.com and log in with your library card.
On a mobile device: Download the Freegal Music app, enter your zip code, select Williamsburg Regional Library and enter your library card number.
For more information: Visit wrl.org/music.
