John Peel's Record Collection to Be Preserved in Online Archive

John Peel photographed at home in Suffolk in 1991.Alastair Indge/Photoshot/Getty Images

The British Arts Council is recreating a large portion of the late, beloved radio DJ John Peel's extensive record collection for an online museum project called The Space. "What we're hoping to do is create an online interactive museum which answers [the question of what was in Peel's collection], but also provides the audience with a visualization of it," Tom Barker, director of the John Peel Centre, told the BBC. "This is the first step in the journey of making one of the most important archives in modern music history available completely."

Peel, who died in 2004 at 65, was a DJ on BBC Radio 1 for nearly 40 years, and was famous for being at the forefront of new music, both from the United Kingdom and abroad. In that time, he amassed a collection of approximately 25,000 vinyl LPs, 40,000 vinyl singles and a vast number of CDs.

Photos: Random Notes

The online archive project will be ongoing, with the Centre planning to upload about 100 new records each week, as well as making available some of Peel's personal notes, filmed interviews and archives of his live sessions with bands.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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John Peel's Record Collection to Be Preserved in Online Archive

John Peel photographed at home in Suffolk in 1991.Alastair Indge/Photoshot/Getty Images

The British Arts Council is recreating a large portion of the late, beloved radio DJ John Peel's extensive record collection for an online museum project called The Space. "What we're hoping to do is create an online interactive museum which answers [the question of what was in Peel's collection], but also provides the audience with a visualization of it," Tom Barker, director of the John Peel Centre, told the BBC. "This is the first step in the journey of making one of the most important archives in modern music history available completely."

Peel, who died in 2004 at 65, was a DJ on BBC Radio 1 for nearly 40 years, and was famous for being at the forefront of new music, both from the United Kingdom and abroad. In that time, he amassed a collection of approximately 25,000 vinyl LPs, 40,000 vinyl singles and a vast number of CDs.

Photos: Random Notes

The online archive project will be ongoing, with the Centre planning to upload about 100 new records each week, as well as making available some of Peel's personal notes, filmed interviews and archives of his live sessions with bands.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

Neil Young: Steve Jobs Would've Preserved Vinyl

Neil Young at the premiere of 'Neil Young Journeys' in Park City, Utah.

Neil Young wants to preserve the sound quality of current rock recordings – and he believes he had an ally in the late Steve Jobs.

"My goal is to try and rescue the art form that I've been practicing for the past 50 years," Young said during a panel discussion at this week's D: Dive Into Media conference in Southern California. "We live in the digital age and, unfortunately, it's degrading our music, not improving it."

Young explained that "some rich guy" would ultimately offer a solution by creating new hardware to preserve more audio content in digital formats, and heralded Jobs as a like-minded soul. "Steve Jobs [was] a pioneer of digital music, and his legacy is tremendous," Young said. "But when he went home, he listened to vinyl. And you've got to believe that if he'd lived long enough, he would have done what I'm trying to do."

The musician also decried the lessened sound quality of MP3s and other digital media formats, while noting their added convenience. "It's not that digital is bad or inferior, it's that the way it's being used isn't doing justice to the art . . . The convenience of the digital age has forced people to choose between quality and convenience, but they shouldn't have to make that choice," he explained.

Surprisingly, Young revealed that he has no apprehension about illegal fire-sharing, currently a hot-button issue in the wake of Megaupload's closure. "Piracy is the new radio," he said. "That's how music gets around."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

Neil Young: Steve Jobs Would've Preserved Vinyl

Neil Young at the premiere of 'Neil Young Journeys' in Park City, Utah.

Neil Young wants to preserve the sound quality of current rock recordings – and he believes he had an ally in the late Steve Jobs.

"My goal is to try and rescue the art form that I've been practicing for the past 50 years," Young said during a panel discussion at this week's D: Dive Into Media conference in Southern California. "We live in the digital age and, unfortunately, it's degrading our music, not improving it."

Young explained that "some rich guy" would ultimately offer a solution by creating new hardware to preserve more audio content in digital formats, and heralded Jobs as a like-minded soul. "Steve Jobs [was] a pioneer of digital music, and his legacy is tremendous," Young said. "But when he went home, he listened to vinyl. And you've got to believe that if he'd lived long enough, he would have done what I'm trying to do."

The musician also decried the lessened sound quality of MP3s and other digital media formats, while noting their added convenience. "It's not that digital is bad or inferior, it's that the way it's being used isn't doing justice to the art . . . The convenience of the digital age has forced people to choose between quality and convenience, but they shouldn't have to make that choice," he explained.

Surprisingly, Young revealed that he has no apprehension about illegal fire-sharing, currently a hot-button issue in the wake of Megaupload's closure. "Piracy is the new radio," he said. "That's how music gets around."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »