Here’s a column from the NY Times earlier this month. \u00a0I’ll post a few thoughts in the comments section below.<\/p>\n

Library of Congress Gets a Mile of Music
\nBy LARRY ROHTER
\nPublished: January 9, 2011<\/p>\n

The Library of Congress has begun taking possession of a huge donation of recordings, some 200,000 metal, glass and lacquer master discs from the period \u00a01926 to 1948 that have been languishing in the subterranean vaults of Universal Music Group, the largest music conglomerate in the United States.<\/p>\n

The bequest, which is to be formally announced on Monday, contains music representing every major genre of American popular song of that era \u2014 jazz, \u00a0blues, country and the smooth pop of the pre-rock-\u2019n\u2019-roll period \u2014 as well as some light classical and spoken-word selections. One historic highlight is the master recording of Bing Crosby\u2019s 1947 version of \u201cWhite Christmas,\u201d which according to Guinness World Records is the best-selling single of all time.<\/p>\n

$\"Bing$

"Cowboy" Bing Crosby<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThis is a treasure trove, a mile-plus of material on the shelves, much of it music that has been out of circulation for many years,\u201d said Gene DeAnna, head of the recorded sound section of the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division of the Library of Congress. \u201cYou can\u2019t get any better copies than these, so this represents a major upgrade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the agreement negotiated during discussions that began two years ago the Library of Congress has been granted ownership of the physical discs and plans to preserve and digitize them. But Universal, a subsidiary of the French media conglomerate Vivendi that was formerly known as the Music Corporation of America, or MCA, retains both the copyright to the music recorded on the discs and the right to commercialize that music after it has been digitized. \u00a0\u201cThe thinking behind this is that we have a very complementary relationship,\u201d said Vinnie Freda, executive vice president for digital logistics and business services at Universal Music Logistics. \u201cI\u2019ve been trying to figure out a way to economically preserve these masters in a digital format, and the library is interested in making historically important material available. So they will preserve the physical masters for us and make them available to academics and \u00a0anyone who goes to the library, and Universal retains the right to commercially exploit the masters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The agreement will also permit the Web site of the Library of Congress to stream some of the recordings for listeners around the world once they are cataloged and digitized, a process that Mr. DeAnna said could take five years or more, depending on government appropriations. But both sides said it had not yet been \u00a0determined which songs would be made available, a process that could be complicated by Universal\u2019s plans to sell some of the digitized material through iTunes.<\/p>\n

Universal\u2019s bequest is the second time in recent months that a historic archive of popular music has been handed over to a nonprofit institution dedicated to preserving America\u2019s recorded musical heritage. Last spring the National Jazz Museum in Harlem acquired nearly 1,000 discs, transcribed from radio broadcasts
\nin the late 1930s and early 1940s by the recording engineer William Savory, featuring some of the biggest names in jazz. \u00a0Michael Cuscuna, the jazz record producer and historian who runs Mosaic Records, a label specializing in jazz reissues, said of the Universal donation, \u201cThis is very crucial material for us, and we\u2019ve been assured it will be an active archive that is not going to be tied up in bureaucracy, and that we and others will have access to it.\u201d \u00a0\u201cHaving lived in the vaults for many years,\u201d he added, he is aware that \u201cthere has been a lot of attrition\u201d to the archives of major labels because of \u201cstupid decisions, acts of nature, and material that has been lost, stolen, or never saved,\u201d so a transfer to the Library of Congress is theoretically welcome.<\/p>\n

Much of the material has been stored at Iron Mountain, the former limestone mine near Boyers, Pa., that also holds numerous government and corporate records. \u00a0Universal began delivering the material to a Library of Congress site in Culpepper, Va., just before Christmas, so it is still too early for archivists to know what historic recordings, rarities and curiosities may be lurking in the collection. But a quick look at the lacquer recordings, which are being examined first because they are the most vulnerable, has already given hints of the riches that might be there. \u00a0Many of the lacquer discs appear to be backup recordings of studio sessions, including the chatter of performers and producers between takes. \u201cCertainly there are many, many takes, 8 to 10, of some songs,\u201d Mr. DeAnna said, \u201cso that you can track the decisions made in the studio and get some sense of what they \u00a0were deciding, the criteria they were using\u201d to determine how a song should sound. \u00a0One such sequence of studio \u00a0recordings has Bing Crosby instructing backing musicians and singers how he wants to shape a song. Other discs feature Crosby and the guitarist Les Paul. Mr. DeAnna said there was even one session, which would have to be from the 1950s, of Crosby\u2019s encounter with the New York City doo-wop group the Jesters.<\/p>\n

The Universal Music Group, today the largest group of labels in the beleaguered recording industry, began its life in 1934 as Decca Records, the American \u00a0affiliate of the British recording company of the same name. Over the years as it was melded first into MCA and then Universal, it acquired or established subsidiary labels like Brunswick, Coral, Vocalion and Mercury, whose recordings from the era of 78 r.p.m. discs are also part of the archive.<\/p>\n

The collection bequeathed to the Library of Congress does not, however, include recordings from the vaults of some of the important blues and soul labels that MCA acquired on its way to becoming the largest of the \u201cbig four\u201d record companies. For example master recordings of both Chess Records (and its subsidiary Checker, Cadet and Aristocrat labels) and Motown Records (and its Tamla and Gordy subsidiaries) are excluded from the agreement, at least initially.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hoping this is a long-term relationship that could span decades,\u201d Mr. Freda said. \u201cIf all goes well, our hope is to eventually deliver another \u00a0tranche, maybe the 1950s and into the early 1960s, and cherry pick from that.\u201d \u00a0The exact monetary value of the collection is not known, and a formal assessment has not yet been made. But in addition to the savings that will be gained from no longer having to store the discs, Universal could be in line for a substantial tax write-off as a result of the donation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a complicated question for a lot of reasons,\u201d Mr. Freda said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a yes or no answer. Universal is a subsidiary of a much larger company, so it\u2019s got a lot of complications. But I can absolutely tell you that without a doubt that was not a consideration of why we did this. To the extent that we get a tax benefit, that will only be an extra plus.\u201d \u00a0Besides music by towering figures like Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Judy Garland, the collection includes songs by stars like the Mills Brothers, Fred Waring, Guy Lombardo and the Andrews Sisters. For connoisseurs of American roots music, there is also country music from Ernest \u00a0Tubb, bluegrass from Bill Monroe and a wide variety of guitar and piano blues, gospel and jug-band music.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to be the gift that keeps giving, that keeps our engineers and staff here busy for years,\u201d Mr. DeAnna said. \u201cOur challenge right now is to \u00a0decide where to start, because the sheer numbers are just staggering.\u201d<\/p>\n

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