World’s largest physical archive of contemporary music is looking for a permanent home

The ARChive of Contemporary Music (ARC) is looking for a permanent home for its physical archive of contemporary music.

The non-profit organisation holds over 90 million physical tracks in physical formats, and is currently looking for a new location to store the archive.

Founded in 1985 by B. George and the late David Wheeler originally, ARC was based in New York City however it was forced to move to Hudson Valley in 2020 due to a rise in rent and a lack of space.

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Now in Hudson Valley ARC is once again in need of financial support.

“The space we have now is zoned for agricultural storage and not for offices,” George tells Billboard. “We could be forced to move at any time.”

“Without a new home, more than three million recordings, as well as millions of historic materials spanning all cultures and races, could disappear forever,” a press release reads.

As the world’s largest physical archive of contemporary music, there are over than 2,500 signed albums from legendary artists including The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley and the Sex Pistols.

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The board of advisors at ARC include Jellybean Benitez, Youssou N’Dour, Q-Tip, Keith Richards, Nile Rodgers, Todd Rundgren, Fred Schneider, Martin Scorsese, Paul Simon and Mike Stoller.

Its emeritus board includes the late David Bowie, Carl Bernstein, Jonathan Demme, Michael Feinstein, Ellie Greenwich, John Hammond, Jerry Leiber, Earl McGrath, Lou Reed, and Jerry Wexler.

The fundraiser has seen an anonymous donor send ARC $1 million towards finding a permanent space.

Becky Buckle is Mixmag's Multimedia Editor, follow her on Twitter