“If I lose the files, the songs are just gone”: Preserving Composers’ Process in the Digital Age

ABSTRACT Digital tools, including notation software, digital audio workstations, and other technologies have become ubiquitous in the process of music composition. Composers likewise use digital means to document their lives and careers. Musical scholarship and the cultural record relies upon continued documentation. Yet, obsolescence of hardware and software, the fragility and variety of digital file formats, media prone to degradation, and poor metadata place this material and subsequent scholarship at risk. This poster presents survey results of composers regarding their process, workflows, and knowledge of preservation practices. Our findings illustrate the challenges faced by music creators, and will inform the creation of a toolkit to bridge the gap between composers’ personal preservation practices and their archival partners’ ability to provide access to the historical record.