Pop-Up Music Memory Digitization Labs

You know the demo tape of your high school band you came across during spring cleaning? That cassette you taped of Rap Attack on KCMU? The VHS you inherited that just has “Re-bar, 1991” written on the label? That miniDV videotape of your favorite local band performing at Sit-n-Spin? That funny half-size-cassette-looking-thing from a friend who used to engineer and record live music performances around town? Those are just a few examples of the countless pieces of musical history that could be lost to time if left to their own devices. 

But guess what? The music doesn’t have to end just because you don’t have the equipment to play it back anymore! KEXP and the University of Washington Ethnomusicology Archives (UW) are partnering with Seattle Public Library (SPL), Moving Image Preservation of Puget Sound (MIPoPs) and Washington State University (WSU) to help our communities preserve their music memories. 

In an interview with GeekWire, KEXP’s media asset librarian Dylan Flesch had this to say:

We’re focused on music memories for this event — music memories that are considered valuable by our communities, undiscovered local gems from days of yore, home captured audio and video from music venues or events spaces that long ago went out of business. 

Join us on Saturday, July 28th from 11 AM -5 PM in the KEXP Gathering Space, for our Pop-Up Music Memory Digitization Labs. Archivists and librarians will be onsite with playback equipment ready to assist you in creating digital copies of your music memories from VHS tapes, cassettes, reel-to-reel recordings, digital audio tape and more at this special one-day pop-up event.

Register online to reserve time in the labs built to transfer your video, audio, photos, and small posters into digital file-based formats. Learn about best practices for preserving your music memories into the future. You can even take home a helpful zine covering the basics of digital preservation.

We’ll be providing thumb drives for your newly digitized materials. Finally, if you're feeling inspired, there will be a limited number of spots available to invite attendees into the KEXP recording booths for a short recording session where you can tell us the stories behind your materials.

This is a unique opportunity to create digital copies of your musical memories from obsolete audio-video and film formats is totally free but registration is required.

Music has value. Preserve the past for future listeners to experience.