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The Abbey Road studios library and EMI Archive

Abbey Road has always been at the heart of the British music industry. We place great value on heritage and sustainability, and are world leaders in modern preservation techniques and asset management.

As part of the studios group, the EMI Archive is home to one of the world’s largest and oldest music archives. Our collections cover many aspects of the music industry, from its tin-foil origins in 1877 to the digital age of today, from The Beatles to Lily Allen.

The collection of rare musical assets is so diverse that the archive is housed in a purpose-built facility where the temperature and humidity is controlled at optimum levels. The expert team of librarians and archivists carefully store, catalogue and track EMI’s master tapes, artwork, photos, recording information, CDs, vinyl and 78s.

In conjunction with Abbey Road, there is a continuing programme of transferring degrading formats on to modern digital platforms.

For more information on digitisation services please see SMARTLAB.

Insights

“Such happy memories. Recording in those early days was exciting and fun and a brand new experience. Like The Beatles, The Shadows and I always loved Studio Two. ”

Cliff Richard