Photo courtesy of Seattle Public Library

On Thursday, October 11th, the Seattle Public Library (SPL) will host a launch party for the newest set of albums being added to its free streaming service, PlayBack. The free show, which takes place at Barboza, will feature local bands and newest additions to Playback: Bearaxe, Guayaba, and All Star Opera.

PlayBack, through which anyone can stream the available music — and library card holders can download! — is a free platform that launched in 2015. Different than other streaming services, PlayBack focuses on a distinct curation of local music through an open submission process. Local bands are encouraged each summer (this year’s submission process was in June) to submit their best track from their latest albums to be judged by a panel of SPL experts. Based on this track, these jurors choose up to 50 new albums to be added to the PlayBack collection. Artists are compensated if chosen.

“We wanted to find ways of reflecting our local culture in our collections. We wanted to build new partnerships to better support local artists….There was something about all working together to help the music community,” said Andrew Harbison, assistant director of collections and access at SPL. “We also wanted to find ways of compensating artists for their work because we knew that music in particular was an area where there was less and less of that.”

The full process, which involves the open call, processing the submissions, and curating the service, takes three to four months to complete. The launch party at Barboza serves as a capstone to this intensive process.

“Each time we’ve added 50 albums and gone through the process of submission and selection and curation —  that’s such an important effort, we wanted to really celebrate each of those milestones,” said Harbison.

With each iteration, the team behind PlayBack tries to pick albums that will add to the diversity of the streaming service. Diversity is a large focus of the project as a whole: the community jurors who help promote the service — such as Kelly O, a local journalist who has written and photographed for The Stranger — were also picked for their differing experience within the music community. The goal of the launch party at Barboza is to draw a wide group of people, which is why the roster for the evening brings together artists from across the spectrum.

“Music is best seen live. I’ve always felt that,” said Kreg Hasegawa, virtual reference & special project lead at SPL. “It’s a way to have a party and bring people together.”

Hasegawa also noted that the goal of PlayBack is to be a reflection of what is happening in the local community.

“In Seattle, everybody has a good handle on what rock or indie rock sounds like, but the hip hop community is somewhat removed from the mainstream,” said Hasegawa. “We wanted to make sure that we are really doing our best to tap into the creative energies available there, as well.”

With around 300 submissions this year, it’s apparent there are a lot of creative energies in our local music community. And, tapping into that local community is not only a goal for PlayBack, but for SPL as a whole.

“In addition to having an opportunity to celebrate local music and how the library is supporting our very rich local music scene, we also recognize the work that we’re doing as a library is more and more out in the community as opposed to in our libraries,” said Harbison.

So, PlayBack is that natural first step. In documenting what’s popular right now, PlayBack is also creating an archive for generations to come of this musical moment in time. When the next big artist comes out of Seattle, PlayBack will house the music that began their career in the city that gave them their start.

“There’s a lot of great musicians in Seattle right now,” said Hasegawa. “It kind of feels like we’re on the verge of another giant renaissance.”

To stream PlayBack, visit https://playback.spl.org/.