The archive was founded in
West Berlin on 1 January 1970, during the
division of Germany as a department of
Frankfurt am Main based
Deutsche Bibliothek—the national library for
West Germany. It incorporated its precursor, the
Deutsche Musik-Phonothek (1961–1969), and was located (until 2010) at the
Siemens-Villa in
Berlin-Lankwitz. In the process of
German reunification, the West German
Deutsche Bibliothek and the East German
Deutsche Bücherei formed one national library with two seats in Frankfurt and Leipzig. The DMA moved to Leipzig in 2010, to be housed in an extension of the
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Construction work began in 2006 and was completed in 2011. In July 2000, the DMA also assumed the role as repository for
GEMA,
Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte, a German music copyright organization. Since then, music publishers only have to submit copies to DMA, which covers both national archiving and copyright registration. The 210,000 works of printed music previously held by GEMA were transferred to DMA. == Collections ==