Music Memory becomes the Dust-to-Digital Foundation
A gift to non-profit organizations helps sustain the world in which each of us desires to live.
A Brief History of Dust-to-Digital
As our most recent Substack covered, this month marks the 20th anniversary of Dust-to-Digital. For the last two decades, we have endeavored to create cultural artifacts of the highest quality. With our output of nearly 75 publications, we have garnered a reputation as what Pitchfork described as the “Gold-standard reissue label.”
Our first project, “Goodbye, Babylon,” was released in late 2003 and was eligible for Grammy consideration in 2005. That year, it was nominated for two awards – Best Packaging and Best Historical Album, a category for which we would become well known as demonstrated in this recent analysis. Looking at all of the nominations for Best Historical Album from 2005-2024 revealed that Dust-to-Digital is the only record company to receive double-digit nominations during that span of time.
As glamorous as the Grammys might sound, the reality of our work is much less lavish. During the 20 years of operating our company, we have seen the record industry contract in myriad ways. Even though our releases have consistently achieved critical success, we have understood from the very beginning that sales of niche titles such as ours will never come close to reaching the levels of mainstream artists. Our goal has always been sustainability — in order to continue to publish work we deem important, we need to keep our expenses at a minimum. With that in mind, we bought our house in 2005 with the idea that we could work in the finished basement to save on paying rent. In addition to saving on rent, our home has also served us well with the financing of projects. For example, in 2007, we were able to take out a loan using the house as collateral to cover the production and manufacturing costs for the “Art of Field Recording Volume I” box set. That risk was rewarded when the compilation led to a feature in The New Yorker and then became our first release to win a Grammy Award.
Establishing Our Non-Profit Organization
In 2011, we founded Music Memory with the following objectives:
to ensure the preservation and continued availability of historic and traditional American and international musical sound recordings and related media;
to oversee and facilitate the digital transfer of analog sound recordings of historic and traditional American and international music;
to oversee and facilitate the scanning of media, including publications and images, related to historic and traditional American and international music;
to oversee and facilitate the construction of a database to deliver information regarding historic and traditional American and international music to researchers and students; and
to engage in other activities and efforts related to educating the public about and promoting interest in historic and traditional American and international music.
In July of that year, Music Memory’s application for tax exempt status was granted by the Internal Revenue Service. Since then, we have digitized more than 50,000 recordings from some of the world’s most prominent private record collections. Our goal is to build a database to make these recordings publicly available to all. That will require licenses with the copyright holders with whom we are in dialogue and additional funding to construct a comprehensive database.
The Evolution of Music Memory
In early 2019, right after our “Voices of Mississippi” production won two Grammy Awards, we began discussing the logistics of creating a live show which would incorporate historical material from the box set. With the assistance of several individuals in the live-music business, we were able to launch the “Voices of Mississippi” multimedia live show in 2021. Featuring descendants of artists Otha Turner, Jim Dickinson, and R.L. Burnside among others, the musicians were able to interweave live performances with vintage films made by William Ferris.
After taking the show around the U.S. over the past two years, we have become aware how much need and desire there is from schools and universities for programs like this. We have also learned how great the artists on the “Voices of Mississippi” tour are with educational workshops. For example, after 89-year-old Bobby Rush made a presentation on his life in blues music at a school in Jackson, Mississippi several months ago, the assistant principal used words like “treat” and “magic” to describe Bobby’s interaction with the students. She also had this to say: “It’s not every day you see cynical teenagers jump to their feet and offer a standing ovation for anybody. Bobby Rush translated the music to the kids.”
Based on what we now know, we are refining Music Memory’s objectives to promote interest in historical music by increasing our efforts to engage with the public via projects like the “Voices of Mississippi” tour pictured above.
More Than Just a Name Change
Earlier this year, we discussed what we had observed regarding the “Voices of Mississippi” tour with Music Memory’s board of directors. That discussion led to a unanimous vote in favor of changing the name of the organization to the Dust-to-Digital Foundation to reflect the increased educational component of the non-profit organization. The board also voted in favor of incorporating outreach initiatives like the Voices of Mississippi live show into the non-profit’s work. The goal for the tour will remain the same, to produce a high-quality shows and offer intimate workshops and screenings of Bill Ferris’s films while compensating the artists very well and covering all of their travel and daily expenses in order to bring the experience to as many people around the world as possible.
Any contribution that you can make will go toward facilitating that vision and helping keep the legacies of the musicians represented in the show alive.
Donation Giveaways
Starting today, we will begin shipping copies of the following products to Dust-to-Digital Foundation donors. Here are the tiers we are offering:
Any donation of $50 or more will receive our latest release “Bolinus Brandaris: Flamenco from the Bay of Cadiz.”
Any donation of $100 or more will receive the multi-Grammy-winning box set “Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris.”
Any donation of $200 or more will receive the deluxe anthology “Excavated Shellac: An Alternate History of the World’s Music.”
Each set includes a hardcover book and would make a nice holiday gift.
A Raffle Contest
Also starting today, all donations made through the end of the year will be entered into a raffle to receive our complete digital discography. All of our paid subscribers on Substack will be entered automatically, and the winner will be notified by email.
Providing Inspiration
Whether it is the work of the Dust-to-Digital Foundation or Dust-to-Digital, we are constantly striving to inspire both casual and adventurous listeners, as well as a wide variety of artists, musicians, researchers, and writers. A recent example of our label’s influence include André 3000 featuring three tracks from the Dust-to-Digital catalog on a recent playlist to showcase the music that influenced his new album. Also, just yesterday, a package arrived with two beautiful books entitled “Gathering Sounds” by Tenali Hrenak. It included a note from Tenali that read: “Thank you for all your wonderful books and compilations. Those various projects helped inform my own writing about field recording at the Rainbow Gatherings for over 20 years. My deepest gratitude for all that you do.” We hope to continue to offer inspiration to our community.
From the Label Archives
Neil Young discusses songwriting, as well as our first release "Goodbye, Babylon" and how Bob Dylan gave him a copy of the box set. From “Weekend Edition” in 2005.
From Social Media
indiastreetkali commented: Dust-to-Digital compilations are always killer. This one is next level!!! So grateful to live on this musical planet!
Hello. I have a question about the transformation of Music Memory into the D-to-D Foundation. I set up a recurring donation to Music Memory in early November. I don't seem to be able to get into my account. What impact has the change had on recurring donations to Music Memory? I'd like to make some changes but all I can get to is the donation page.
Congrats on the evolution and all the great work! I love Goodbye, Babylon. The set was awesome, I borrowed it from a friend and burned some copies (sorry!) but gotta find it again.