Not only is MuchMusic being celebrated with the new documentary 299 Queen Street West, the station's extensive tape archive is finally being digitized.
Much's owner, Bell Media, has apparently undertaken the project over the past few years, and it's about 70 percent finished. There are tens of thousands of videotapes, and Bell has been prioritizing which ones to preserve and which ones to scrap.
The music video introductions from VJs are being ditched, while shows and specials like Too Much 4 Much and Snow Job are being saved. The famed Speakers Corner, featuring clips recorded by passersby, was previously bought by Rogers Media, so it won't be part of the digitization project.
"At some point, you've got to pick what's valuable and what's not. And anything that was a noteworthy moment or interview is being captured," said Justin Stockman, Bell's vice president of content development and programming, in an interview with the Canadian Press. "Basically, any interview with any artist you could imagine."
A small portion of the tapes had already been digitized: some appear on MuchMusic's YouTube, and others were used for 299 Queen Street West, while footage from Woodstock '99 appears in Netflix's docuseries about the festival.
The documentary 299 Queen Street West recently had its premiere. The film will be touring across Canada with appearances from VJs. Read our review of the film here.
Much's owner, Bell Media, has apparently undertaken the project over the past few years, and it's about 70 percent finished. There are tens of thousands of videotapes, and Bell has been prioritizing which ones to preserve and which ones to scrap.
The music video introductions from VJs are being ditched, while shows and specials like Too Much 4 Much and Snow Job are being saved. The famed Speakers Corner, featuring clips recorded by passersby, was previously bought by Rogers Media, so it won't be part of the digitization project.
"At some point, you've got to pick what's valuable and what's not. And anything that was a noteworthy moment or interview is being captured," said Justin Stockman, Bell's vice president of content development and programming, in an interview with the Canadian Press. "Basically, any interview with any artist you could imagine."
A small portion of the tapes had already been digitized: some appear on MuchMusic's YouTube, and others were used for 299 Queen Street West, while footage from Woodstock '99 appears in Netflix's docuseries about the festival.
The documentary 299 Queen Street West recently had its premiere. The film will be touring across Canada with appearances from VJs. Read our review of the film here.