Music library dedicated to collecting, preserving and providing information about popular music from around the world.

The ARChive of Contemporary Music is a not-for-profit music library dedicated to collecting, preserving and providing information about popular music from around the world.    Now in its twenty-eighth year of operation, ARC is the largest and most important popular music collection in the world – with over three million sound recordings and approximately four million  photographs, books, press kits, videos, memorabilia and related ephemera.   Our simple goal is to guarantee that the world’s musical heritage is preserved for future generations to study and enjoy.     We believe that all forms of popular music, jazz, be-bop, bluegrass, country, rock, rap, blues, enka, reggae, calypso, zydeco, and countless other forms are significant cultural expressions.  All musics entertain as well as reveal a people and their values to the rest of the world.