Three million vinyl albums are going up for sale. Who’s willing to pay?

The ARChive of Contemporary Music is a New York City non-profit that has one of the largest vinyl collections in the world. There are at least three million record on its shelves. That includes the personal collections of people like Keith Richards and has everything from signed LPS to old blue 78s to an array of 45. It covers rock, pop, blues, jazz, punk, country, and hip-hop was music styles from around the world, including Africa, Brazil, and Haiti. The founders, B. George and David Wheeler, started the collection in the mid-80s with the hope of preserving as much of the world’s recorded works as they could.

But there’s a problem. The collection is in trouble.

ARC has outgrown its space several times and is currently in a commercial spot in upstate New York. But it needs to get out of that building–known as The Piggery–because the building is on land zone for agriculture, a designation that apparently cannot be changed. So the collection has to move again.

A fan has already donated US$1 million to the cause, but that’s not enough. ARC needs more patrons if it is going to stay viable. The people in charge have set a drop dead date of February 14 to come up with enough money to find a new spot. There’s been some interest, but no one else has opened their chequebookyet.

George told Wired: “We’re still in limbo, and that’s really difficult. If we can’t get the money by February, we’ll have to move everything out and put it in storage. We’re kind of shocked that no one wants to put their name on a building to preserve the music, though. The more places that music is safe, the better chance it has of surviving.”

We’ll keep an eye on this.

(Via Wired)