Musée des ondes Emile Berliner | MOEB

What Musée des ondes Emile Berliner | MOEB does

Musée des ondes Emile Berliner (MOEB) is a private non-profit museum founded in 1992 and opened to the public in 1996 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It operates as the only Canadian institution explicitly dedicated to conserving sound technology, preserving and exhibiting the history of sound recording, electromagnetic waves, and broadcasting with a focus on Montreal's industrial heritage in Saint-Henri and the legacy of Emile Berliner, inventor of the gramophone. The museum houses a permanent exhibition of 400+ objects branded under the Nipper the dog trademark, alongside rare records, document archives, and photographs documenting the global evolution of sound capture and reproduction.

MOEB's core offerings span physical and digital channels. The physical museum at 1001 rue Lenoir (local A-108) offers self-guided Thursday visits at $15 per person, plus private tours and school/group outings by reservation. Digitally, it operates the Emile Berliner Sound & Image Archive (archive.moeb.ca), the History of Sound Recording in Montreal (HESM) virtual exhibition, interactive broadcasting timelines (timelines.moeb.ca), the Centennial of Broadcasting in Canada commemorative project (radio100.moeb.ca), and a periodic bulletin titled La voix de son maître (His Master's Voice). The institution also maintains a bilingual website, active Facebook and Instagram accounts, and an email newsletter for outreach.

The business model is a hybrid non-profit mix of earned revenue (museum admissions, private and school tour fees) and contributed revenue (donations, federal grants from Library and Archives Canada and the Museums Assistance Program, Ville de Montréal heritage funding, Fondation Familiale Trottier support, and academic partnerships with École Polytechnique de Montréal, École de technologie supérieure, and the Marvin Duchow Music Library at McGill University). MOEB serves general public visitors, K-12 school groups, private/corporate tour clients, and academic researchers studying sound recording and broadcasting history, with the 2020 Governor General's History Award for the Centennial of Broadcasting project serving as its primary credibility marker.

Name

Musée des ondes Emile Berliner | MOEB

Legal name

Musée des Ondes Emile Berliner

Website

https://moeb.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

MOEB is a Montreal-based non-profit museum and the only Canadian institution dedicated to conserving sound technology. It serves general visitors, schools, and researchers through physical exhibitions, the digitized Emile Berliner Sound & Image Archive, and bilingual virtual exhibitions on recording and broadcasting history.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural Heritage Museum

NAICS

Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (7121), Museums (712110)

SIC

Phonograph Records & Prerecorded Audio Tapes & Disks (3652), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Specialty Museums (e.g., Maritime, Aviation, Sports, Music, Film) (THAJADAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Science & Technology Museums (THAJADAD)

Keywords

• Sound recording history
• Radio broadcasting heritage
• Electromagnetic wave museum
• Cultural heritage preservation
• Educational museum programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Montréal

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Museum admission fees: Visitors pay $15 for self-guided museum visits during public opening hours on Thursdays.
2. Donations: The museum accepts donations from visitors and supporters to fund operations and programs.
3. Group and school tours: Revenue generated from guided group visits and educational programs for schools and organizations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

MOEB operates a physical museum in Montreal dedicated to preserving and presenting the history of sound recording, electromagnetic wave technology, and broadcasting. It offers self-guided and private museum visits, school and group educational programs, and maintains a digital archive (Berliner Archive) along with virtual exhibitions covering Montreal's recording studios, Canadian radio broadcasting history, and the legacy of Emile Berliner's gramophone invention.

Product overview

The Musée des ondes Emile Berliner (MOEB) is a cultural institution dedicated to preserving and presenting the history of sound recording and radio wave technology. The museum offers a combination of physical museum experiences, virtual exhibitions, educational programs, and digital archives. Key offerings include the in-person museum visits, the Berliner Archive containing disc and document collections, the History of Sound Recording in Montreal (HESM) virtual exhibition, the Centennial of Broadcasting in Canada commemorative project, and the His Master's Voice bulletin publication. The museum serves as the only Canadian institution focused on sound technology conservation, documenting Montreal's role in media and telecommunications development.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• MOEB Museum Visits Self-guided visits every Thursday from 10h to 15h at $15 per person, plus private visits available by reservation. Serves general visitors interested in Montreal's heritage and sound technology history.
• Educational Program

Quantifiable outcome

• 2020 Governor General's History Award recipient for Centennial of Broadcasting project

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and minor.

• Library and Archives CanadamajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Funding provided through the Documentary Heritage Communities Program for the Emile Berliner Sound & Image Archive digital access project.
• Société Québécoise des Collectionneurs de Radios Anciens (SQCRA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2019Co-organized the Centennial of Broadcasting in Canada (November 2019 - December 2020), combining museum expertise with radio collector community knowledge.
• Marvin Duchow Music Library, McGill UniversitymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with ARSC conference organization to create radio exhibition for music library; collaborated on centenary programming.
• École Polytechnique de MontréalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partner in centenary celebrations and educational programming.
• École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTechnical university partner contributing to centenary educational initiatives.
• Allied Properties REITminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommercial real estate partner supporting museum operations.
• AQPI (Association des Quarterbacks professionnels Inc.)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization contributing to centenary activities.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Phonogrammarchiv (Austrian Academy of Sciences): The Phonogrammarchiv in Vienna is one of the oldest sound archives in the world, dedicated to preserving recorded sound and conducting research. It is highly comparable to MOEB's Berliner Archive in mission and the type of sound-related artifacts and documentation preserved.
• Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center: The Library of Congress NAVCC in Culpeper, Virginia preserves American audio and visual heritage including recordings and broadcast materials. It mirrors MOEB's mission of preserving sound and broadcasting history, and its federal partnership model resembles MOEB's Library and Archives Canada collaboration.
• Grammy Museum: The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles is dedicated to the history and significance of music and sound recording, with interactive exhibits on recording technology and artists. It is highly comparable to MOEB given both focus on the cultural and technological heritage of sound capture and reproduction.
• Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP): MoPOP (formerly the Experience Music Project) in Seattle explores music, science fiction, and pop culture, with significant exhibits on recording technology and music history. Like MOEB, it preserves sound technology and provides educational programming on the evolution of audio.
• Musée de la musique (Philharmonie de Paris): The Musée de la musique in Paris is a music heritage museum preserving instruments, recordings, and broadcasting artifacts. It shares MOEB's core focus on the history and technology of sound reproduction and access to a specialized collection for public education.

Broad incumbents

• Canadian Museum of History: The Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau is Canada's national history museum covering social, cultural, and political heritage. It is comparable to MOEB as a federal-heritage player that documents Canadian history, though at significantly larger scale and broader scope.
• Canada Science and Technology Museum: The Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa, part of Ingenium, covers Canadian scientific and technological innovation including communications and media history. It overlaps with MOEB's technology-heritage scope but at a much broader national-museum scale.

Regional players

• Cinémathèque québécoise: Cinémathèque québécoise is a Montreal film and media archive and exhibition space preserving audiovisual heritage. It is comparable to MOEB as a Quebec-based cultural archive focused on screen-and-sound history, with similar grant-funded operations and educational outreach.
• Musée McCord Stewart: Musée McCord Stewart is a Montreal-based heritage museum with extensive photographic, material culture, and Canadian history collections. It competes with MOEB for the same Montreal heritage-tourism audience and operates similar educational programming and digital archive initiatives.

Emerging players

• Powerhouse Museum (Sydney): The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney applies applied-arts and science-museum formats to technology including communications and broadcast artifacts. While operating at larger scale, its exhibitions of media/broadcast technology position it as a thematic peer to MOEB's sound-technology mandate.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Mus%C3%A9e-des-ondes-Emile-Berliner-368583116562909
• Instagraminstagram.com/moebmtl
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/moebmtl

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Musée des ondes Emile Berliner | MOEB