Every Moment Has A Song

The Internet can be a wonderland of musical discovery and discourse, but it’s not built to be a permanent archive. Photo illustration: Claire O’Neill/NPR. Photos via iStockphoto and Flickr Creative Commons hide caption itoggle caption Photo illustration: Claire O’Neill/NPR. Photos via iStockphoto and Flickr Creative Commons

(via npr music)

by Ann Powers

Excerpt:

“Archiving used to be the domain of the tangible,” Cheyenne Hohman, the director of the Free Music Archive, wrote in an email. Hohman holds a degree in library science, and she sees pluses and minuses in the shift to the cloud. “Now that we’re in a sea of born-digital media, storing and accessing information and media has shifted to favor the ubiquity of web-based collections. But would I call an aggregator like Spotify an archive? Not really, because if they go bankrupt, they’ll probably shut down, and they’re not motivated by preservation and access as much as they are interested in providing a commercial music platform for consumers.” Hohman’s concerns echo Marshall’s, and reflect the reality that commercial streaming services aren’t primarily intended for the public good. They exist to make money, whether through subscriptions or ad revenue.

Read article: http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/03/411666224/digital-underground