UPDATE: The site is now live.
The digitized collection of the legendary BBC disc jockey and journalist goes live tomorrow (Tuesday).
Learn more about John Peel.
From The Guardian:
John Peel‘s record collection is about to go online. Starting on Tuesday, the John Peel Centre for Creative Arts will begin uploading details of the late DJ’s cherished vinyl, unveiling 2,600 albums over the next six months.
Every week, the Centre will expand the scope of its virtual museum, adding another 100 records, covering everything from Appalachian mountain music to zouk. “It’s a very personal look at John’s collection,” producer Charlie Gauvain said. According to Sheila Ravenscroft, Peel’s widow, curators will highlight one artist from each batch, picking through more than 65,000 items in his archive. Peel kept meticulous files about his records: each sleeve was given a typed filing card, with all sorts of information.
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Although copyright prevents the centre from streaming the records, links will be included, when available, to purchase or stream the music on Spotify and iTunes. “I think people are going to be very interested as to what’s in the collection,” Ravenscroft said. “They will be amused and intrigued by it.”
Read the Complete Article
More Info From the Archive Web Site:
John Peel’s vast record collection contains over 26,000 LP’s, 40,000 singles and many thousands of CDs – it really is quite awesome. With the help and support of John’s family, we are taking the first steps in making John’s amazing collection available through an interactive online archive. The John Peel Archive is featuring on The Space – an Arts Council funded and BBC supported digital arts service, which will be available for 26 weeks from May – October 2012. The £3.5 million funding for The Space is being shared between 53 different arts projects, of which ours is one.
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…on 1st May we will release the first 100 A’s, on 8th May the first 100 B’s, 15th May first 100 C’s, and so on.
We also hope that by doing it on a week by week basis, you will keep coming back week after week, eager and excited to explore more of John’s collection.
Each of these releases of 100 records will be accompanied by one mini documentary video of a featured artiste for that week. These are pretty special, as the artistes have been chosen by Sheila, John’s wife, and their children – so they are all artistes who meant something to John and his family.
When you come to the website you will see John Peel’s home studio, from which you will be able to access the contents of the record collection as it is added each week, as well as other videos added each week, photos, peel sessions and radio shows. Once in the collection you will be able to move up and down the shelves of the record collection, picking out certain choice records and going through the first 100 as though you were standing in front of the shelves in John’s studio.
You will be able to see the hand-typed cards that John diligently typed for every album in the collection, the record sleeves, as well as listening to tracks via spotify and itunes where available.
The Archive Will Go Live on TheSpace.org
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