Defend the Internet Archive
Defend the Internet Archive
The Issue
Open Letter to the Record Labels Suing the Internet Archive
We, the undersigned, call on the record labels and members of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)—including UMG, Capitol Records, Concord Bicycle Assets, CMGI Recorded Music Assets, Sony Music Entertainment, and Arista Music—to drop your lawsuit against the Internet Archive.
Your $700 million lawsuit, targeting the Internet Archive’s efforts to preserve and provide access to historical 78rpm records, is not just about music—it’s about whether our digital history survives at all.
These fragile recordings are part of a vanishing American culture. They capture early jazz, blues, gospel, and folk—voices and sounds that might otherwise be lost forever. The Internet Archive’s Great 78 Project seeks to preserve that legacy, and make it available for research.
But your lawsuit doesn’t just threaten these recordings. It threatens the very existence of the Internet Archive, including the Wayback Machine, a vital public service used by millions every day to access historical snapshots of the internet. Journalists, educators, students, lawyers, and citizens use the Wayback Machine to check sources, investigate disinformation, and preserve public accountability.
This lawsuit is an existential threat to critical infrastructure for the internet. At a time when digital information is being deleted, rewritten, and erased, preservation is more important than ever. We cannot afford to lose the tools that safeguard memory and defend facts.
We urge you to drop this lawsuit and support, rather than punish, the preservation of our shared cultural heritage.
Defend the Internet Archive. Protect the Wayback Machine. Drop the 78s lawsuit.
38,744
The Issue
Open Letter to the Record Labels Suing the Internet Archive
We, the undersigned, call on the record labels and members of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)—including UMG, Capitol Records, Concord Bicycle Assets, CMGI Recorded Music Assets, Sony Music Entertainment, and Arista Music—to drop your lawsuit against the Internet Archive.
Your $700 million lawsuit, targeting the Internet Archive’s efforts to preserve and provide access to historical 78rpm records, is not just about music—it’s about whether our digital history survives at all.
These fragile recordings are part of a vanishing American culture. They capture early jazz, blues, gospel, and folk—voices and sounds that might otherwise be lost forever. The Internet Archive’s Great 78 Project seeks to preserve that legacy, and make it available for research.
But your lawsuit doesn’t just threaten these recordings. It threatens the very existence of the Internet Archive, including the Wayback Machine, a vital public service used by millions every day to access historical snapshots of the internet. Journalists, educators, students, lawyers, and citizens use the Wayback Machine to check sources, investigate disinformation, and preserve public accountability.
This lawsuit is an existential threat to critical infrastructure for the internet. At a time when digital information is being deleted, rewritten, and erased, preservation is more important than ever. We cannot afford to lose the tools that safeguard memory and defend facts.
We urge you to drop this lawsuit and support, rather than punish, the preservation of our shared cultural heritage.
Defend the Internet Archive. Protect the Wayback Machine. Drop the 78s lawsuit.
38,744
The Decision Makers
Record labels suing the Internet ArchiveNo response
The Supporters
Featured Comments
This lawsuit is no different from book burning. Under the guise of defending a copyright or what have you, this is oppressive use of legal power to shove these public resources under an umbrella of piracy. I have a background in Jazz and preservation is key to passing on this original American art form to the future. Without resources like IA to fill the books, we have nothing more than fragments to piece together the whole history.
As an academic archivist & librarian, I can attest to the incredible service Internet Archive's audio collections provide to student & faculty researchers working in a diverse array of fields. While I *strongly* doubt IA has any negative market impact to the recording industry, the positive educational value of historical sound recordings (and other archival materials) hosted by archive.org is something I witness every single day. Losing Internet Archive would be a tremendous blow to the global public's access to historical research materials, to education, and to the world's cultural heritage.
I have been utilizing the many different facets of the Internet Archive for the last decade as a means for inspiration to my artistic endeavors. The history they preserve cannot be understated and undervalued. Gifcities is a diamond in the rough when it comes to preserving a cultural era of community driven communication in the 2000s era of the Internet. I would like to think I've exhausted the search queries on Gifcities but it's an never ending treasure trove of cultural references and art that inspires me whenever a dry spell comes about in my imagination. The Wayback Machine is such a vital resource to artists, designers, web designers, and nostalgic heads alike. It preserves cultural landmarks in artistic history in the 21st century. The websites created in the 2000s for your favorite video game, cartoon, TV show, musicial act, and toy are most likely are preserved on the Wayback Machine. They were often crafted by a design team that was at the forefront of the Y2k scene. These sites mean something culturally and artistically and the INTERNET ARCHIVE have labourisly combed and preserved these gems because they understand the value of preserving history for future generations. The people of the future need to see how the internet functioned before corporations blugeoned it into a profit driven centralized 4 app distraction. The people of the present need to stand up for the Internet Archive to keep a bastion of internet culture from being bullied by corporations that are tone deaf to the importance of preserving internet culture.
Featured Videos
Sign and share why you care!
Petition updates
Share this petition
Petition created on April 15, 2025