Long Term Preservation of Audio Assets

Moderator:
Jessica Thompson, Jessica Thompson Audio - Berkeley, CA, USA
Panelists:
Jeff Balding, NARAS P&E Wing
Rob Friedrich, Library of Congress
Jamie Howarth, Plangent Processes - Nantucket, MA, USA
Bob Koszela, Iron Mountain Entertainment Services - Boyers, PA, USA
Pat Kraus, UMG
Cheryl Pawelski, Omnivore Records
Toby Seay, Drexel University - Philadelphia, PA, USA

Throughout the history of the recorded music industry, masters have burned, been lost in floods, been mislabeled and misfiled, neglected, forgotten, even systematically destroyed to salvage the raw materials. This panel is an opportunity to learn from the past and move the conversation forward, addressing current challenges with long term preservation of audio assets. Beyond rehashing well-established best practices, panelists will discuss barriers to preservation including technical hurdles, cost, long term storage, deteriorating media, maintaining legacy playback equipment, legalities, and the very simple fact that we cannot and will not save everything.