Music Collection Donation Guidelines

Donate Your Music Collection

Need a home for your collection?

Let's talk

You (or a loved one) have carefully curated your record collection for years. It’s special to you. As fellow music lovers, we get it — it’s a piece of your history.

If it’s time to part with it, there may be an adoptive home for it in CKUA’s legendary library. Your music could join a million and a half songs already ensconced in our purpose-built, climate-controlled space. With a full-time library technician and dedicated team of volunteers, it’s a safe place for music to live.

Please get in touch, using the form below. Then we can start a conversation to decide if your collection and our library make for a good match.

Music Donation Inquiry

Tell us about yourself:
Name*
First Last
Address
Street Address Address Line 2 City State / Province / Region ZIP / Postal Code Country
Phone*
Email*
What are you donating?
- Select All
- LPs
- 78s
- CDs
- Other
What genres?
How many items? Even your best guess is helpful.
Is there a timeline? Do you need to move the collection by a certain date?
Anything else we should know about it?

Common Questions

Q. I have a great record collection that I’d like to donate. Can I just drop it off at CKUA?

Unfortunately we don’t have the space or resources to accept everything — there is a lot of music out there!

All donations must first be approved by library staff. Please start by filling out the form above. We’ll be in touch and start the conversation from there. We do reserve the right to decline unsuitable material. It is not a slight against your collection if we’re unable to accept it — we might just already be drowning in 1940s Bebop, for example.

Q. If I donate my collection, who owns it?

Once a donation has been accepted, it is the sole property of CKUA. We are only able to accept unconditional donations. CKUA reserves the right to manage donated material (keep it, sell it, give pieces away as prizes or gifts, dispose of it etc.) as deemed necessary or most beneficial to CKUA and its community.

Q. Will my donation be appraised?

For collections valued at less than $1,000 experienced CKUA library staff or volunteers may appraise it. Collections valued at more than $1000 must be must be assessed by an expert independent appraiser, in accordance with Canada Revenue Agency guidelines, at the cost of the donor. Please contact our library staff with any questions.

Q. What sort of shape does my collection need to be in to be considered?

Please ensure that all items are in excellent condition: playable, presentable, and without significant scratches or torn booklets.

Q. Will CKUA pick up my donation for me?

Gift donors are responsible for delivery to CKUA. As a donor-supported radio network, CKUA runs quite a lean ship and we just don’t have the resources to pick up donated collections. If your collection donation has been approved, please arrange drop-off with library staff before bringing gifts of any size to our headquarters in Edmonton’s Alberta Hotel.

Photo credit: Nicole Froitzheim