Developments leading up to the opening

Since 1966, the Library of Toyama Music Foundation (Toyama Music Library) had been making an effort to collect and preserve materials related to modern Japanese music to show to the public.
In 1984, a large number of people engaged in music formed the Establishment Committee of the Documentation Center of Modern Japanese Music to establish research archives on a national scale in this field. In response to this activity, the Toyama Music Foundation was reorganized and the Modern Japanese Music Foundation was established. In 1987 it renewed activities the Documentation Centre for Modern Japanese Music.
In 2009, Meiji Gakuin concluded an agreement about materials with the Modern Japanese Music Foundation and received all materials from the Foundation in 2010.
In 2011 the Archives of Modern Japanese Music opened.