While the Music and Dance Library’s display may be celebrating the royal wedding this month, it does not mean that we forgot NZ Music Month.

In 2015, Murray Cammick (founder of Rip It Up and Southside and Wildside Records) donated the entire catalogue of New Zealand on Air recordings to the Music and Dance Library. These CDs are where the New Zealand pop music content on radio comes from, and span top 40, indie, Māori, and Pasfika artists.

As part of the New Zealand on Air Kiwi Hit Disc series, there is a set of companion discs called the Kiwi Talk series. The Kiwi Talk series are CDs of New Zealand pop artists talking about their songs. The CDs tracks are soundbites from artists introducing and/or talking about their songs, and are designed to be inserted at the end of an interview, or in a promo. The tracks range from 4 seconds to over a minute, and can be a simple “hi” and introduction to the song, through to deeper comments about the track. Interestingly, the longer soundbites have a certain research value as they give researchers small, but important, insights into what the artist was thinking about a particular track at a very specific point in time – just after it was released.

The New Zealand on Air recordings are part of our Listening Room reference collection, and while they cannot be taken out of the library, you are encouraged to come and use them in the library.

• Kiwi hit discs
• Kiwi talk discs

Music and Dance Library