In 1949, immigrant recording engineer Moses Asch embarked on a lifelong project: documenting the world of sound produced by mankind, via a small record label called Folkways Records. By 1986, when Asch died, he had amassed an archive of over 2200 LPs and thousands of hours of tapes; so valuable was this collection that it was purchased by the Smithsonian Institute. This is an account of how he built this business, against all odds - and against all conventional thinking and common sense.
Author Biography
Tony Olmstead is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Alberta, Canada. He has presented several papers on the music business, and is the recipient of several academic awards and fellowships.
