Snapshotmusic.com is a new kind of museum for a new kind of tourist: it's a virtual museum. Take a tour at www.snapshotmusic.com. Enter the vault and scroll through the performers' names chronologically, or refine your tour and search by name or date. The list represents more than 30 years of live performance recordings, primarily from Charlotte's Web, the legendary music club located in Rockford, Illinois, but also represented are the Woodstock Opera House Mozart Fest, the On The Waterfront festival, the Rockford Dance Company, the Mendelssohn Club, and many more. Music genres include: country/bluegrass, rhythm/blues, traditional/contemporary jazz, folk and contemporary with names such as: Doc Watson, Bill Monroe, Koko Taylor, John Hammond, Pat Metheny, Lionel Hampton, Steve Goodman, Odetta, Robert Fripp, Maria Muldaur, Jim Post, Bonnie Koloc, California Guitar Trio and Dr. Timothy Leary, (just to name a few).

In the fast paced world of here today, gone tomorrow, it is hard to make a lasting impression. But a live performance has the power to do just that. We are thrilled with sights, smells and sounds as we experience a live show. And then it is over and we go home. If only we could bottle that magic to savour again and share with others. Hey, we can! Modern technology has granted us the gift of preservation. In times gone by, it was the duty of the troubadours, scribes and "old ones" to tell the tales of what came before. Today, we have enormous new power to record, preserve and archive that which is written, sung, danced and told. It has become more important than ever to capture those fleeting moments in time and preserve and protect them for future generations to enjoy and learn from.

With the most sophisticated recording technology available, snapshotmusic has been recording the magic of live performance for more than three decades. Now, snapshotmusic.com is using the most sophisticated digital equipment available to preserve these recordings. We are transferring them from aging magnetic tapes to CD and DVD, digital formats.

All rights of access to these recordings remain with the artists or their heirs. Visitors to our museum can request a copy of a performance and thus begin the process of opening this access for all to treasure and enjoy. Snapshotmusic.com will contact the artist(s) or heir(s) and when permission has been granted, the performance name, date and location is added to the list of available archives. If permission to purchase is denied, the performance remains in the museum only but is just as importantly protected and preserved.

When you order from snapshotmusic.com, you receive the most accurate duplication of an event. We do not try to "wow" you with fade-ins or fancy graphics. We instead choose to provide you with a digitized reproduction that sounds as real in your living room as it did in the original venue.

Not unlike Public Radio and Television, snapshotmusic.com is supported by our members. Our Charter Members are partners with us. With their support, our passion for this project is invigorated. Another key component of snapshotmusic.com is the artist. In fact, artists are our backbone. Many use our services to create first class quality CDs and DVDs to sell to their fans while touring. Others choose to enrich our museum by remaining in snapshotmusic.com’s archive vault for future generations to study. (Links to artists' web pages is another feature we offer).

Like Public Radio and Television, our site is not cluttered with advertisements. No pop-up banners disrupt your tour. And thanks to your becoming a Charter Member, you are helping to assure others the same freedom from interruption.

Snapshotmusic.com's archive vault is overflowing with more than 15,000 hours of live performance, recorded on more than 400 reel to reel tapes, 300 3/4 inch video tapes, and countless 1/2 inch SVHS and mini DV tapes. We also have thousands of posters featuring original art by more than a dozen media artists. All of this must be preserved. It is our duty and our passion.

Since May of 2000, snapshotmusic.com has upgraded to digital recording equipment, so all our recordings are in a preservable format. We understand the importance of transferring the aging magnetic tapes and paper posters to the digital domain. In this way our children's children's children will be able to see and hear who we are today.

Art is not a sinful indulgence. Rather it is an essential means to understand our world. It provides a time to step out of our busy lives: time to sit down or stand up and dance, and truly enjoy a great show.

It is the mission of snapshotmusic.com to ensure the integrity of our cultural legacy by recording and preserving a diversity of performing arts. Join us and enjoy!