New music now streaming on MNspin

Hennepin County Library’s free music streaming service, MNspin, has released its 2025 collection of music. This year’s selection includes more than 75 new albums, growing the collection to more than 600 albums across 14 genres.

Connecting artists and audiences

MNspin connects Minnesota artists with new audiences and offers listeners an ad-free exploration of the rich, diverse Minnesota music scene. Anyone can stream from the platform, and library cardholders can download songs for free.

"It was a really unique way to engage with local music," said Mark Engelmann, composer, musician, and performer. "Even as someone actively involved in parts of the music community in the Twin Cities, there are so many scenes and people that you just never encounter. This showed me corners of my community that I never would've found otherwise. Plus, having a statement from the artist about their music adds another layer of depth to the listening process that one doesn't always have access to."

On the platform, listeners can discover music by artists such as Christy Costello, The Customers, Handsome Midnight, Journal, Asuka Kakitani, and Kashimana, and many more Minnesota artists.

About MNspin

Hennepin County Library launched MNspin in 2017. Each spring, the Library holds a statewide call for artists to submit new music. Submissions are reviewed by a panel of prominent local music influencers with strong connections within the Minnesota music scene. Individuals on the curation panel bring eclectic tastes, backgrounds, and broad areas of musical interest, helping create a diverse collection of local music.

"It was so much fun to explore the amazing submissions shared by so many talented artists, thanks to the fabulous work of the MNspin team," said Jessica Abbazio, music librarian and collections coordinator at the University of Minnesota. "It was incredibly easy to engage with the curation process and the curation platform.... It's been so much fun to participate in this project, and I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to do so! The only challenge was having to choose between so much great music!"

Selected artists sign a license agreement and receive $250 to make their album available on the streaming platform.

Start listening

Discover MNspin’s robust Minnesota music collection and start listening.