German National Library now collects digital music
From this year onwards, it will be possible to use the DDEX standard ERN to send a standardised publication notification for digital releases to the German Music Archive (Deutsches Musikarchiv, DMA). As a department of the German National Library (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, DNB), the DMA explains that the automatic delivery currently mainly affects labels and music distributors that are able to use the DDEX standard ERN. In particular, the DMA sees technical challenges for freelance performers and smaller independent labels. One task for the coming years will therefore be to develop an alternative solution for target groups without standardised metadata.
For several years, the German National Library has been collecting digital music, according to its own account. Digital music releases that are offered as downloads or streams are part of their legal collection mandate alongside the physical delivery of the sound recordings. The obligation to deliver to the DNB applies, for example, to labels based or operating in Germany.
The DNB offers two background articles on its homepage to explain the process: