@General Lighting 371317 wrote:

whilst I appreciate what you are saying I’ve randomly googled some tune names from when I first started raving from 1990 onwards, and I’ve found loads of links to info about the tunes.

but my selection is of course UK and Europe tunes, maybe this is more of a USA problem?

what you’re doing is a good idea but I’d strongly suggest you link it into youtube as its very common to find oldskool tracks being shared on there, OK its “naughty” but if the label is dead (and sadly often so are the artistS) no ones being ripped off – often in the cases the music maker is dead either overdose or drug-related gang violence has claimed them, and they are survived by their parents who sometimes don’t want the “tainted” money… however That said I also hope if this situation arose people would still at least try and offer some royalties to surviving family members if they wanted them….

Actually your post pointed out some key things. First, the mission statement should be more clear; the project is more about saving studio release mix cd’s and albums which have become rather scarce in their entirety. You’re correct in saying that individual track can be found on youtube and other similar site but I believe, especially in the case of the mix cd, that the format is often just as important as the content. This all started when I was looking for one of my favs from the past DJ Micro’s Tech-Mix Live @ Avaland and couldn’t find a single digital copy of it in its entirety and when I went to purchase a cd the average price was $40 US. I bought that CD twice and really did want to pay 4 times what I paid then to listen to it again. Micro isn’t going to see a dime of that $40 and I think if he had a choice of second handers making a killing or old fans being able to enjoy his music and share it with others he would probably choose the later. But thanks for your feedback as you pointed something very important out to me.

@General Lighting 371323 wrote:

ah, I see what you mean now.. there might be a different culture here, as I’ve not seen that many studio mix CD’s what aren’t still on sale or widely shared on p2p networks etc..

in my country and the scene this forum originally represented , the free or “outlaw” party as you call them, mixes were often widely shared for free.

One issue we do have from back in the day (well my early days at least) is that mixes were initially recorded on analogue tape cassettes or if people were really flash DAT or (towards the end of the 90s) minidisc, which are becoming obsolete formats.

that said this looks like a good project, particularly if its going to be international..

Of course I want the project to be international as many of the ground breakers, especially in drum n bass (I’m listening to DJ Dara as I write this), were European. Electronica is largely a European invention so we gladly invite our brethren from across the pond to help in our mission. The fact that so much of our music exists on dead formats is exactly why MEMPI will be so important.

What we are trying to figure is how to facilitate the actually procurement of material from the people who own it. Of course we want to promote and encourage people to rip/record the music themselves but in the case of anything but CD’s many people might not have the gear or knowledge necessary to do so. Because of this we are trying to come up with a system that allows people to send their material in for digital archiving, at no cost to them, and then return it.