Thousands of musicians make up Minnesota’s deep and wide-ranging music scene: from polka halls to hip-hop studios, basement punk shows to internationally-known classical performers.

An ambitious new project is trying to capture all of it in one place.

The Diverse Emerging Music Organization, or DEMO, has relied on a small staff and many volunteers for years to meet one goal: to collect, digitize and preserve all music released by Minnesota artists.

The archive launched Wednesday and DEMO is throwing a launch party Thursday night to celebrate. DEMO Executive Director Mitch Thompson joined MPR News host Nina Moini to talk about it.