Birmingham Music Archive

What Birmingham Music Archive does

Birmingham Music Archive (BMA) is a Birmingham-based cultural organisation founded in 2008 by Jez Collins that documents, preserves, and shares the popular music history, heritage, and culture of the city. It operates a publicly accessible digital archive (built on WordPress CMS) containing thousands of items including tickets, posters, photographs, documents, audio, and video contributed by a community of more than 15,000 citizen archivists. The organisation complements the core archive platform with a portfolio of project-based products: the Brum SoundTracks location-based augmented reality walking tour app for iOS and Android (developed with BOM and funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund); the On Record concept album and podcast series produced for the Birmingham 2022 Festival and distributed via Spotify, Apple Music, BBC Radio WM, BBC Sounds, and Acast; and physical exhibitions such as Amplify Town Hall (with B:Music, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund), Ceremony: Pop Comes to Campus (with the University of Birmingham), and In The Que: Celebrating The Que Club (at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery). BMA is structured as a private, founder-owned entity with 1-10 employees and no external equity investment. Its revenue is derived primarily from public grants (National Lottery Heritage Fund, UK Shared Prosperity Fund), community donations, and modest commercial income from limited vinyl and streaming royalties. GTM is community-led and event-driven, reaching audiences through exhibitions, walking tours, talks, youth projects, films, radio, podcasts, digital archives, and a direct-to-consumer mobile app, with no formal pricing model across core services.

Name

Birmingham Music Archive

Legal name

Birmingham Music Archive

Website

https://birminghammusicarchive.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Birmingham Music Archive is a private, founder-owned cultural organisation that runs a community-sourced digital archive, augmented reality walking tours, podcasts, and exhibitions documenting Birmingham's popular music history, serving residents, tourists, and academic researchers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural Heritage and Music Archiving

NAICS

Libraries and Archives (51921), Museums (712110), Museums (71211)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Reissues, Remastering & Archive Services (MPAIAAAG)

Keywords

• Music heritage archive
• Cultural preservation services
• Augmented reality tours
• Community archiving platform
• Music history exhibitions

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding: Funded primarily through grants from public funding bodies including The National Lottery Heritage Fund and UK Shared Prosperity Fund. B:Music also launched a public fundraising appeal for £200,000 for Amplify Town Hall accessibility upgrades.
2. Donations and Community Support: Accepts donations from the public and offers sponsorship opportunities such as naming Town Hall seats. Community members contribute memorabilia and items to the archive.
3. Vinyl Record Sales: Limited vinyl release of On Record concept album available across streaming platforms. Revenue from physical and digital music sales.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Birmingham Music Archive documents, preserves, celebrates, and shares Birmingham's popular music history, heritage, and culture through a digital archive platform, augmented reality walking tours, physical and digital exhibitions, podcast series, and music album releases. The organization engages a community of over 15,000 citizen archivists who contribute memorabilia, stories, and materials spanning multiple genres and decades.

Product overview

Birmingham Music Archive operates a digital archiving platform at its core, enabling users to browse, search, comment, and share memories of Birmingham's music history. The platform integrates with the Brum SoundTracks augmented reality app, which extends the archive experience into immersive location-based walking tours. Supporting products include the On Record concept album and podcast series, both produced as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival cultural programme. The organisation also produces physical and digital exhibitions—including In The Que (Que Club), Ceremony (University of Birmingham), and Amplify Town Hall—each accompanied by documentary films and permanent digital archives. The Birmingham Town Hall Archive provides an online repository of the venue's 191-year history with over 2,866 catalogued items.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Birmingham Music Archive Digital Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• 2,866+ items digitized and made accessible through the Birmingham Town Hall Archive
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• BOM (Birmingham Open Media)coreTechnology or IntegrationBOM (Birmingham Open Media) is the technology development partner for Brum SoundTracks app. BOM developed the augmented reality app using their expertise in immersive technology and digital storytelling, combining BMA's archive content with their technical capabilities. The partnership creates AR experiences featuring Jez Collins throughout Birmingham's music locations.
• B:MusiccoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerB:Music partnered with Birmingham Music Archive for the Amplify Town Hall heritage project in 2025. BMA contributed archive expertise and community engagement while B:Music provided venue access and funding for the £200,000 accessibility upgrade project. The partnership culminated in a permanent on-site archive installation and digital archive at Birmingham Town Hall.
• University of BirminghamcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversity of Birmingham collaborated with BMA on the Ceremony: Pop Comes to Campus project, with UoB student researchers tracing three decades of popular and alternative music on campus. The installation at Bramall Music Building celebrates the university's rich but often overlooked role in local and global music culture.
• Birmingham Museum & Art GallerycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBirmingham Museum & Art Gallery hosted the In The Que: Celebrating The Que Club exhibition during the Birmingham 2022 Festival and Commonwealth Games. The venue provided space for the exhibition celebrating the legendary Que Club music venue with newly discovered photographs and documentary.
• BBC Radio WMcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerBBC Radio WM broadcast the On Record In Conversation podcast series, which was programmed as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival in partnership with B:Music. The podcasts feature 22 conversations with Birmingham musicians, promoters, managers, venue owners and entrepreneurs.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• British Library Sound Archive: National UK sound and music archive within the British Library, holding vast recorded sound collections. A broad incumbent whose archival mandate overlaps with BMA's preservation mission at much greater scale and institutional backing.
• Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Iconic US music heritage museum and archive preserving rock and roll history through permanent and travelling exhibitions. A larger-scale incumbent demonstrating the global museum-archive model BMA operates within at a city scale.
• Grammy Museum: US-based music heritage museum operating physical and digital exhibits on recorded music history. Comparable in combining archival content with exhibitions, education, and digital engagement, but at substantially greater scale.
• V&A Museum: Major UK museum holding significant music and performance collections and exhibitions. A broad incumbent whose music-heritage activities partially overlap BMA's remit but within a much larger cultural portfolio.

Direct peers

• National Jazz Archive: UK charity dedicated to preserving and sharing the heritage of British jazz through archival collections, exhibitions, and educational programming — comparable in scope, archival approach, and public-engagement mission.
• Scottish Music Centre: Scotland's national archive of contemporary music, preserving manuscripts, recordings, and oral histories. Shares BMA's archival-and-public-engagement operating model, though focused on contemporary composition rather than popular music.
• The Beatles Story: Liverpool-based visitor attraction and museum dedicated to The Beatles' history. Most directly comparable as a music-heritage attraction monetising tours and exhibitions in a UK city — though focused on a single act rather than a whole city scene.
• National Music Centre (Calgary): Canadian music heritage facility combining a music museum, archive, AR/immersive experiences, and live programming. One of the closest operating analogues to BMA's multi-format (archive + exhibitions + immersive tech) approach.
• Manchester District Music Archive: City-focused music archive documenting and preserving Manchester's popular music heritage. Closest comparable in mission, scope, and community-led preservation model to BMA, but anchored to a different city.

Others

• Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery: BMA's primary exhibition partner and host venue for projects including In The Que. Not a direct competitor but a closely adjacent cultural-heritage institution in the same city that shares audiences and curatorial territory.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/birminghammusicarchive
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/birmingham-music-archive

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 Birmingham Music Archive