The Svalbard archipelago is gradually becoming a multifunctional archive for everything created by mankind. There is already a repository with samples of seeds of major crops, the secret archives of the Vatican and program codes from GitHub. Now the Doomsday Music Vault will join them .
It was built by the Norwegian company Elire Management. The purpose of the archive is to preserve important musical works of a wide variety of genres, from Australian ethnic music to The Beatles. The archive, called the Global Music Vault, will be located at a depth of about 300 meters under snow and ice and, according to the company, will last a thousand years – thanks to the dryness and coldness of Svalbard.
For storage, a technology developed by Piql is used: audio recordings are translated into binary codes and high-density QR codes and recorded on high-strength optical film. Such a design, according to the developers, is resistant to electromagnetic interference from a nuclear explosion – and they, as you know, can permanently disable electronics and digital storage media.
What music will be archived will be decided by Elire Management in conjunction with the International Council in Paris, created specifically for this purpose. They plan to choose music from different countries by popular vote. Luke Jenkinson, managing director of Global Music Vault, said they are not going to perpetuate just one genre or one era – and want countries and regions to choose which music to archive.
According to plans, the archive should begin work in the first half of 2022. First of all, they will send the music of the indigenous peoples of the world, and then they will take up pop music.
What kind of tunes would you send to such a repository?