As a librarian, I was very intrigued when I heard about The Minnesota Music Archive hosted by DEMO (Diverse Emerging Music Organization) and thrilled when Executive Director, Mitch Thompson, said he’d tell me more about it. If you play or enjoy music, I think you’ll be interested too.
Please tell us about the Minnesota Music Archive.
The Minnesota Music Archive, or MMA, is a digital repository dedicated to preserving and celebrating all music with Minnesota roots. It’s often said that for an arts community in so-called ‘fly-over’ territory, we Minnesotans punch above our weight—and the MMA is here to document exactly what makes our music scene so special.
From polka to hip-hop, heavy metal to country, classical to Tejano, jazz to traditional Indigenous sounds, the archive reflects the full spectrum of Minnesota’s musical creativity. It’s not just about the well-known names—it’s about honoring every artist who has contributed to our state’s sound, and making sure their work is preserved for future generations.
The archive is stewarded by DEMO, the Diverse Emerging Music Organization, and we’re working to expand its reach and impact. Our goal is to make sure every Minnesotan can access and engage with this incredible body of work—now and for generations to come.
I believe this will be an online (digital) collection, but do you also keep actual items or ephemera? Will they ever be accessible?
Yes, the Minnesota Music Archive is primarily focused on building a digital collection—especially because so much music from the last 15 to 20 years has been born digital. We want the archive to be a space where the past and present collide, and starting with a digital-first approach helps us manage the scope in a sustainable way.
That said, we absolutely recognize the value of physical materials—CDs, cassettes, vinyl, posters, photos, and other ephemera that tell the broader story of Minnesota’s music culture. We’re currently in conversation with Hamline University about a potential physical home for some of these items.
In addition, we’re proposing a partnership with the University of Minnesota’s Performing Arts Archives to establish a dedicated Minnesota Music Archive Collection. This would serve as a long-term home for historically significant physical materials. Our first proposed donation includes a decades-spanning collection documenting the history of First Avenue—from band files and posters to local music magazines.
So while the digital archive is our core mission, we’re also building thoughtful pathways to preserve and eventually make accessible the physical artifacts that help complete the picture of Minnesota’s rich musical legacy
A nerdy question because I have a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science, what sort of database are you using? Did you create a new taxonomy or folksonomy for it? (I picture Jack Black’s diagram of music genres in School Rock!)
The Minnesota Music Archive is built on a digital-first model, and at the core of that system is Discogs—a globally recognized, community-driven music database. We’re using the taxonomy and metadata structure from Discogs as the backbone of our archive, which gives us a solid, scalable framework for organizing music by artist, label, format, genre, and more.
Many Minnesota artists are already listed in Discogs, but for those who aren’t, we add them ourselves as part of the archiving process. That not only helps build our collection—it also contributes to the broader music ecosystem.
Our public-facing website, launching at the end of the year, will use API data pulls from Discogs to dynamically display information about Minnesota recordings. This phase of the project is funded by Legacy Funds through the Minnesota Historical Society, which has reviewed and approved our approach. That gives us confidence that we’re following academically sound practices.
And while Discogs is a great platform, we’re also thinking long-term. We’re saving all the data we collect, so if anything ever changes—like, say, Mark Zuckerberg buys Discogs—we can migrate the archive without losing anything. It’s all about building something that’s sustainable, accessible, and future-proof.
One really cool thing we think we’re going to be able to pull off is a kind of ‘genealogy page’—a feature that lets you look up individuals and trace their recording history across bands, collaborations, and projects. It’s like musical family history. We love the nerdy questions, and we’re building the archive to help answer them.
How can people contribute to the collection? What sort of things (or help) are you looking for?
We welcome contributions from anyone who wants to help preserve Minnesota’s musical legacy—whether you’re an artist, a collector, a label, or simply someone with a box of old CDs in your basement. Every artist’s work matters, and if it fits our definition of a Minnesota release, we want it in the archive.
There are a few ways to contribute:
Digital submissions: We accept officially released music in WAV format. Artists or rights holders can submit their music through our secure upload portal and fill out a short form to provide metadata and context. If you don’t control the rights, you can still submit music for preservation purposes—we just won’t make it public until rights are cleared.
Physical materials: We also accept analog formats like CDs, vinyl, and cassettes. You can either donate them permanently or loan them temporarily for digitization. We host drop-off events and also accept scheduled appointments.
Record labels: Labels can submit full catalogs or select releases. We’ll work with you to clarify rights, digitize materials, and ensure your artists are properly represented in the archive.
Our trained volunteers help process submissions, verify or create Discogs entries, and prepare everything for inclusion. And as the archive grows, we’re also building pathways for physical access in partnership with institutions like Hamline University and the University of Minnesota.
So whether you’re sharing a single track or an entire catalog, you’re helping us build a living, inclusive record of Minnesota’s music history—and we’re grateful for it.
I will also add that we really want to grow our volunteer base. We have lots and lots of roles people can help with. People should reach out and find out more if they are interested.
What have been some of your (being you or the group’s) favorite submissions or stories about submissions?
One of the defining early moments for me was when the folk duo Curtis and Loretta dropped off their full catalog—music they’d made together over five decades. Up until that point, a lot of our early material had come through incredible collections from people like longtime First Avenue booker Steve McClellan, producer Tom Herbers, and music journalists and DJs like Andrea Swensson and Mark Wheat. Those contributions were foundational and gave us a strong start, but they weren’t as artist-to-archive direct.
This drop-off was different. It was deeply personal. Being able to receive that music directly from the creators, and to tell them, ‘We’re preserving this, and it matters,’ really captured what the archive is all about.
People put so much heart and soul into making music—effort, money, grit, anxiety. They lose friendships, make new ones, lose girlfriends, find love again. It’s all in there. So when someone hands over their work, they’re not just giving us recordings—they’re sharing a piece of their life.
Every submission has a story. I know it might sound trite, but honestly—everything is pretty moving. What’s powerful is that these aren’t just recordings—they’re cultural artifacts. And when someone contributes, they’re not just donating music—they’re trusting us with a piece of their story. That’s a responsibility we take seriously, and it’s what makes this work so meaningful.
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