University of Washington

The University of Washington Libraries and the Music Library Association (MLA) will conduct a one-year project titled, “National Forum on Online-Only Music: 21st Century Sound Recording Collection in Crisis.” Today’s music industry is increasingly favoring online-only, direct-to-consumer music distribution. This project will examine the possibility of creating an online option to access music collections in library environments. UW and MLA will hire five expert consultants, hold one planning meeting, bring stakeholders together in three national forum meetings, analyze content of the meetings, and develop approaches to the issues including, ideally, a licensing scenario in which libraries may purchase and provide access to online-only music.