A look at trends in audio archiving and preservation among members of the Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing and the Audio Engineering Society

By Iron Mountain Entertainment Services

In June 2021, IMES and the Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing co-hosted a summit on International Archives Day entitled, “Protecting Legacies: The Art, Science and Value of Music Archives.” The purpose of the summit was to start an industry-wide conversation about the importance of educating artists and their teams about thoughtful music archiving. Safeguarding these precious collections will ensure they are able to realize the full value of future monetization opportunities. The virtual event featured stakeholders from all corners of the recorded music industry, including artists, producers, engineers, lawyers, publishers, and archivists.

Based on key topics raised at the summit, IMES created a survey, with input from the P&E Wing, with the intent to discover current trends and best (or worst) practices in audio archiving within the recorded music professional community. The survey was sent to 4,000 members of the P&E Wing and 11,000 members of the Audio Engineering Society. The survey received a phenomenal 10% response rate, clearly indicating that this is a topic many audio professionals have an interest in. The following pages are the results of that survey.