Open Music Atlas

Open Music Atlas

Curatorial policy

1. What inclusion means

Including a place in the atlas — and the way the atlas names, groups or maps it — is a curatorial and geographic decision made so that people can hear and learn about the world. It is not a statement about sovereignty, borders, diplomatic recognition or political status, and should not be read as one.

2. What the Founding Edition includes

The 2026 Founding Edition gives a song to 203 places: 195 countries — the member states of the United Nations and its two observer states — and 8 further places chosen because they have a distinct geography, people and culture of their own:

Where classification is itself contested, the atlas uses the neutral label “place” and makes no claim about status. Antarctica is included as a continent.

3. Names

Places are given the common English name most readers will recognise. Where a place is widely known by two names in a sovereignty dispute, both are given — for example, the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas).

4. Disputed and partially recognised places

Songs for disputed places are about the land, its people and their culture. They take no side in a dispute, do not describe a place as belonging to any state, and do not dwell on conflict. Their pages carry a note that inclusion is not a statement about sovereignty.

The atlas shows no national flags, since a flag for a disputed place would take a side.

5. The map

The map follows common atlas practice. Somaliland is shown as part of Somalia and Northern Cyprus as part of Cyprus, and selecting them opens those places. Places too small to be drawn at world scale appear as dots near their capital. Territories without a song of their own, such as the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, are shown but not selectable.

A place's map point and region follow the United Nations M49 geographic scheme and are for orientation only.

6. How the songs are made

Lyrics are drafted with AI writing assistance to a brief — geography, history, peoples, languages and culture, using only facts the writer is confident of — and revised where a place needs care. Music is composed with an AI music system in a style drawn from the place's own traditions. Every song is reviewed by the curator before publication. Despite that care, a song may contain a mistake; see below.

7. Editions, preservation and corrections

A published edition is frozen: its songs, lyrics, styles and descriptions do not change, so the edition remains a faithful historical record. Where an error is found in frozen content, it is acknowledged in a curator's note on the song rather than silently rewritten, and it can be addressed in a later edition.

Operational details — artwork, accessibility text, rights information, map coordinates — can be corrected at any time.

8. Raising a concern

If you believe a place is represented inaccurately or unfairly, please get in touch through the Topics Archive contact page. Concerns are reviewed by the curator.