Within the last decade, the heritage of music subcultures has been a focus of exhibitions, programming, and collecting initiatives undertaken by national institutions including the British Library and Museum of London. These activities have succeeded in attracting large audience numbers and diversifying museum visitor profiles, cementing the position of popular music within museum holdings. However, as museums profit from representation of these histories, grassroots music communities actively struggle to survive in the face of issues, including the regular closure of music venues, the impact of gentrification and the housing crisis, cuts to cultural funding, and the declining value of recorded music in the streaming era.

Beginning within these communities at this point of crisis, Information Lives in DIY Music examines the role of information and heritage in UK-based DIY music communities through the framework of critical information studies. The first part of the book explores the impact of institutional historicisation and archiving on DIY music community members, then proceeds to identify and examine the grassroots information and archival practices which underpin these communities. Finally, the book considers how information and records created by currently active communities are affected by socioeconomic, cultural and technological developments in the 21 st century.