The Endangered Song
A limited edition vinyl gradually deteriorates and must be saved from extinction, reflecting the plight of the Sumatran tiger


With less than 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild, Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute has decided to visualise the big cat’s plight in an interesting awareness project. Teaming up with Alaskan band Portugal. The Man, they’ve created a record that is equally at risk of extinction.
A limited run of 400 vinyl pressings have been designed to degrade over time unless they are digitally reproduced. As well as presenting a creative way to raise awareness for their cause, the project also - perhaps unassumingly - enters the interesting conversation of tangible versus digital media, offering a covetable analogue object which must be converted to a digital format to survive.
The institute has produced a video, above, that shows people how to digitise their record, while anyone who can’t get their hands on the vinyl can still contribute to the discussion by using the #EndangeredSong hashtag.

Discussion