Beatles Recordings Will Be Preserved in a Bomb-Proof Vault for 1,000 Years

"Built to withstand the kind of extreme electromagnetic pulses that could result from a nuclear explosion"

BY Megan LaPierrePublished Jul 27, 2021

Somewhere between Norway and the North Pole, there's a place — and that place is an island, where a vault will be installed for "future-proof digital storage" for music, including that of the Beatles. The doomsday repository is aiming to preserve the recordings for at least 1,000 years.

Oslo-based Elire Management Group is the firm behind the vault dedicated to cultural preservation in the most literal sense, Billboard reports. It is plotting for the crypt to be "built to withstand the kind of extreme electromagnetic pulses that could result from a nuclear explosion, which could permanently damage electronic equipment and play havoc with digital files."

The Beatles are not the only pinnacle of musical achievement to be honoured with this apocalypse-proof time-capsule. Elire are teaming up with the International Music Council to select the music that will be stored. They plan to get the general public involved, with aims to select "the most precious and loved" recordings from around the world — a list which currently also includes Australian Indigenous music, according to Billboard.

However the respective copyright owners must grant permission for any music to be stored in the vault.

The president of IMC said in a statement: "This is about safeguarding the future of music in having these archives of the past."

Elire also aspires to eventually make the musical archive accessible to listeners.

Abbey Road is about to outlive us all and honestly? We're not mad about it.

A new Paul McCartney docuseries hosted by Rick Rubin is currently streaming on Disney+ Meanwhile, George Harrison's getting ready to release the 50th anniversary reissue of All Things Must Pass.

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