Recordings range from near-studio quality to crowded and noisy house sessions, from digital media to old bits of tape, vinyl and 78s.
Straight-from-the-heart stuff by musicians who never recorded commercially, and old material performed by the stars of the day. Read more…
You can listen to all the music on this site, just:
We show links to MP3 files in the recording lists, so you can use other software to download- try the Songbird web player which will let you download into your own library or make playlists of your favourite RareTunes.
In modern Scots, 'rare' is often used to mean something really enjoyable. The Dictionary of the Scots Language quotes Ian Rankin in 'Black and Blue' (1999) writing: "Jings, but it was rare to be home."
If you would like to contribute, then please get in touch. Raretunes started in 2006, and is developed and maintained by Derek Hoy and Stuart Eydmann without any external funding.
The web site code is now open source.
"Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry."
Most of the recordings here are made available under Creative Commons licences, allowing you to copy them freely for your enjoyment- most only restrict commercial use without getting the owner's agreement.
Our recordings are archived on the Internet Archive.