A library card is a gateway to countless universes of storytelling, visual art and audio — and St. Louis County Library aims to expand the reach of locally produced music through Listen Up STL.
The library launched the service in 2016 to build a collection of original music created by St. Louis musicians for library patrons to stream for free. Sarah Kuntz Jones, assistant manager of the Grand Glaize Branch, told St. Louis on the Air that the music is accessible via BiblioBoard.
“St. Louis has a breadth of amazing musical talent. We wanted to give local musicians a platform where they could be heard [and] a chance to amplify their efforts,” she said. “BiblioBoard is a wonderful collection that allows for community input [and] a way we can connect musicians with a broader audience.”
This year’s submission window closes Aug. 31. Kuntz Jones said that the stipulations to submit music are simple: It must be an album of at least three songs in MP3 format, original music or in public domain and original cover art in JPEG. All genres are welcome.
“[In 2024,] we had 294 or so albums added to the collection,” Kuntz Jones said. “There’s a lot of excitement from people who are playing music and recording music … for the outlet [Listen Up STL] provides and the creativity they’re able to expend. This gives them an opportunity to have [their music] exist out in the larger world that they can direct friends and families to.”
Kuntz Jones said that music fans have also responded well to Listen Up STL.
“St. Louisans are very interested in local things in general. We are very proud of the creativity we have in our communities,” she said. “We have such a wealth of artists in general … and a lot of the bands that are contributing are folks who you’ll find at a coffee shop or a restaurant playing on the weekend.”
To learn more about music programming at St. Louis County Library, including how musicians could record their music at the Clark Family branch, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or click the play button below.
Related Event
What: Listen Up STL music submission
When: Aug. 31
Where: Online
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Darrious Varner is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
