Thirteenth International Conference on The Arts in Society

Abstract

In 2016, the University of Calgary began to acquire the EMI Music Canada Archive from Universal Music Canada. The archive consists of 5,500 boxes of archival material, including more than 2 million documents and photos and 40,000 audiovisual recordings in more than 40 media formats. It is remarkable that this complete corporate archive of a major record label is now available in a public research institution. With support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the University of Calgary will migrate and preserve 100% of the audio recordings in this archive. Digitization efforts often involve a process of selection and canonization; however, in the case of this archive, every audio recording will be migrated, digitized and preserved. In this paper, we will examine the importance and implications of preserving and making available the totality of a record label’s output for posterity, and we will describe methods by which preservation efforts of this nature can inform the study of popular culture and society.