Ocean Alliance PR — Interspecies InternetSave the Whales song: Historic Nature recording salvaged.
$50,000 grant from The Jeremy Coller Foundation will protect Roger Payne’s 1970 best-selling album and preserve 1206 degrading tapes for research and education
(Thurs 22 April, London)
Donations from The Jeremy Coller Foundation, The Ocean Alliance Chair Andrew Morse and Recordings at Risk will complete project of digitalising all original tapes and prevent loss of historic data
Became best-selling environmental album in history with over 100,000 copies sold, achieving multi-platinum Album spawned a global “Save The Whales” movement, leading to the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment 10-year global moratorium on commercial whaling
The Jeremy Coller Foundation today is donating $50,000 to the Ocean Alliance Inc, a US 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organisation, to support their digitisation of the ground-breaking field recordings of bio-acoustician Roger Payne’s 1970 best-selling album ‘Songs of the Humpback Whale’. The album was an unexpected hit, selling over 125,000 copies and going multi-platinum as the most popular nature recording ever.
Without the digitisation project, the degradation of the original tapes threatened the loss of historic data. Each tape will now be photographed, cleaned, have digitised reels-adjusted for speed changes and multiple tracks, WAV and Mp3 files created, and have finished files uploaded to The Ocean Alliance’s server and preserved and made available via the Interspecies Internet collection at the Internet Archive, where they will be made publicly available for historical relevance and the purpose of research and education.
By raising awareness of the intelligence and culture of whales, the album helped launch the “Save The Whales” movement into the global spotlight, leading to the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment 10-year global moratorium on commercial whaling.
Combined with a $30,000 donation from The Ocean Alliance Chair Andrew Morse, the grant will be used to digitalise 903 analogue tapes recorded in the fieldwork that went into the album’s creation. An additional 330 tapes are currently in the process of being digitised through funding by Recordings at Risk (CLIR) at the cost of $36,298.
The effort to protect the historic tapes and prevent their data from being lost began at the Interspecies Internet 2020 Conference last July. The event was supported by The Jeremy Coller Foundation, Google and MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms.
Lockdowns from Covid-19 have brought a drop in underwater noise pollution. In quieter seas, whales seem to be vocalizing more often, and this has enabled new research to be conducted into whale conversations and what benefits quieter oceans provide for whales and could potentially inform new policies to protect them.
“Over 50 years ago Roger Payne’s ‘Songs of the Humpback Whale’ album captivated audiences in homes and classrooms around the world. Most importantly though, it inspired global action with humpback whales becoming one of the first species protected under the Endangered Species Conservation Act and a global moratorium on commercial whaling. I am pleased that through this project, these tapes will now be saved forever and will continue to inform research and education as we seek further ways to protect the humpback whale.”
Notes to editor
For more information please contact:
Mike Weber, ESG Communications
t: +44 (0)7932 577755 | mike@esgcomms.com
Jo Carss, Jeremy Coller Foundation
jo.carss@collerholdings.com
Will Davis, Interspecies Internet will@interspecies.io
About The Jeremy Coller Foundation
The Foundation is a strategic grant-making organisation with two primary focus areas. Firstly, the Foundation is working to further venture and management education, partnering with Tel Aviv University on the Coller Institute of Venture and the Coller School of Management. Secondly, the Foundation seeks to address animal welfare and human health issues caused by factory farming through both grant-making and the Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return initiative (FAIRR).
About The Ocean Alliance
Founded in 1971 by renowned biologist Dr. Roger Payne. Ocean Alliance strives to protect whales and their ocean environment through research, scientific collaboration, public education, and the arts. Led by Dr. Payne and CEO Dr. Iain Kerr, we work with our scientific partners to collect a broad spectrum of data on whales and ocean life. Ocean Alliance uses this data to advise educators, policymakers, and the general public on wise stewardship of the oceans to mitigate pollution, prevent the collapse of marine mammal populations, and promote ocean and human health.