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National Pop Institute (NPI)

The NPI collection comes from the former National Pop Institute (NPI) and consists of more than 15,000 CDs, both albums and singles. The collection contains only music by Dutch artists: established names, but also local talent or undiscovered acts. The NPI collection contains all kinds of pop music, from pop and rock to house, metal, hip hop and world music.

The National Pop Institute was founded in 1975 and began receiving a subsidy from the Dutch government in 1977. The aim of the NPI was the development and quality of Dutch pop music. The NPI was engaged in various activities. It was involved in various festivals, gave advice and support, did promotional campaigns for Dutch music abroad, had its own album series for new talent (Unsigned), published the magazine Fret and stimulated Dutch pop music by awarding various prizes and awards. In addition, the NPI also had an extensive media center with information about Dutch pop music (magazines, books, photos, sound carriers) and maintained the Popencyclopedie.

In 2008, the NPI was merged into Muziekcentrum Nederland (MCN), the sector institute for Dutch music. In a major budget cut in 2013, the MCN was abolished. The MCN collections were then transferred to the Special Collections department of the University of Amsterdam (UvA).

Muziekweb took over the CD collection from the NPI in cooperation with the UvA in 2018. The CDs will first be inventoried, after which the NPI collection that is not present at Muziekweb will gradually be added to its own collection. The CDs can be borrowed with a library card, or can be listened to in full within the library.

The provisional list of NPI CDs in the Muziekweb collection can be viewed on this list (PDF).