HP to build cloud-based digital library for Paul McCartney

From HP, September 22, 2010:

PALO ALTO, Calif. — HP and McCartney Productions Limited (MPL) today announced an agreement to digitize and deliver the library of legendary musician Paul McCartney via a private cloud.

McCartney has one of the most comprehensive libraries of any artist, much of which has never been viewed before. His library includes images, artwork, paintings, film and videos, as well as masters of some of the most popular songs ever written. Additionally, during his successful career, he has accumulated iconic imagery, including the cover artwork for the multimillion selling No. 1 album, “Band on the Run.”

Under the agreement, HP will work closely with MPL to digitize the material and design and build a state-of-the-art content management system. McCartney’s library will then be delivered through a private cloud environment. Portions of the library will be made available to fans so they can have a personal and unparalleled glimpse into McCartney’s work.

“I’ve always been interested in creative ideas and new ways of reaching people, so this is a really exciting initiative for me,” said McCartney. “I hope it will allow people who might be interested to access parts of our archives they might otherwise not be able to. I’m looking forward to working with HP on this project.”

The agreement marks the first time that HP has collaborated with an artist in this way. In addition to changing how fans and artists will interact, the digitization of McCartney’s library will help preserve the history of one of the world’s most loved artists for future generations.

“Paul McCartney has always been a trendsetter in the music industry and HP has been at the forefront of technology innovation,” said Tom Hogan, executive vice president, Sales, Marketing and Strategy, Enterprise Business, HP. “We are proud that he turned to HP as a trusted partner to help him preserve his legacy and set a new vision for the industry.”

I’ve always been interested in creative ideas and new ways of reaching people, so this is a really exciting initiative for me. I hope it will allow people who might be interested to access parts of our archives they might otherwise not be able to. I’m looking forward to working with HP on this project.

Paul McCartney

Lauren Laverne: You certainly did. And that’s very kind of skilfully woven in with conversations with friends and family. Tell me a little bit about that, Morgan, putting that archive together. I mean, that must have been quite an undertaking.

Morgan Neville: Yeah. I mean, I think when I first talked to Scott about it and I said, “Well, what kind of archive does Paul have?” And he said, “Well, next to a presidential library, Paul has the best archive.” And I got very excited. Uh, and there were a lot of people and everybody who spent years kind of helping take everything we can. It also helped that you married a photographer, she took this list of pictures of everything, and took whole movies, the fact that you took so many home movies too.

Paul McCartney: Well, I thought I’d lost it all, you know, cuz in the in the 60s and 70s, um, you’d have a lot of breakins. Well, you wouldn’t really bother locking your door too much. So, fans would come in and just nick a lot of stuff and so it’s just like how it worked.

So, I kind of automatically just thought, well, it’s all gone. But kids at my office were fantastic. They looked in every little, you know, storage unit and every little drawer and everything and they found it all. And so they they locked it. We deal with Hewlett Packard. We were on tour. Instead of taking a lot of money off them, we did a deal where they logged it all. They digitized it all. So it all come together with, like I say, the kids in my office. And so it’s all there. It’s amazing stuff that I didn’t even… I thought we lost them all.

From Q&A with Paul McCartney and Morgan Neville

Going further

• https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-11394194