Have you ever wondered what good music is coming out of Japan these days? Or have you pondered what those metalhead Estonians are cooking up in Europe’s Baltic northeast? Have you even given any thought to the goings-on in Indonesia’s underground indie scene?

The Music Alliance Pact is here to quench that thirst for new, global music. MAP, which celebrated its fifth anniversary last month, is an online gathering of multinational and multilingual music blogs that releases a monthly playlist of songs selected by each blog to represent different countries’ new music. The project has grown immensely in its five years, from 12 participating blogs in the first edition in October 2008 to 35 in October 2013. Every blog represents a different country, and every continent besides Antarctica is represented.

Release spoke with Jason Cranwell, MAP founder and editor of The Pop Cop, the collection’s Scottish contributor, about the project’s history, successes and where he hopes to take MAP in the future.

MAP began as many ideas do: with the recognition of an issue and the realization that there is a better way to go about it. Cranwell began to notice just how much time he spent sifting through the hordes of music blogs searching for quality new music, and how much more difficult the task became when he factored in his interest in music from other countries, many of which featured languages that he did not even understand.

“Since there was -and still is- such an intimidating volume of new music out there, trying to discover which of it was actually worth listening to was a challenge in itself,” Cranwell wrote in an email. “You only have to look at the success of bands such as Sigur Rós to realize there is so much great music out there that doesn’t come from the over-exposed territories of the UK and North America, so I thought MAP would be the perfect way to unite a global audience.”

The idea struck him: Why not take some of the greatest music bloggers from all over the world and get them together, in one place, to share their country’s best new music with readers and listeners of all different nationalities and backgrounds? Cranwell began enlisting some of his favorite music bloggers to join him and found that virtually everyone who heard his idea latched on immediately.

“In terms of putting it together for the first edition in October 2008, I simply emailed blogs that had the traits I was looking for in a MAP blog … explained the concept of the project and asked if they wanted to get involved. Pretty much all my first choices said ‘yes,’” Cranwell wrote.

Organizing MAP is an understandably daunting task. Every blog chooses its own song for a given month’s edition and provides a short description of the piece and artist in English, but once they have finished and send it in, responsibility lies solely with Cranwell.

“I set the deadlines and guidelines; I error-check, proof-read and edit every submission,” Cranwell wrote. “I liaise with all of the MAP bloggers, both collectively and individually, to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible; [and] I identify and recruit new members.”

The success of the project can be seen in its growth. Regardless of readership, which is high due to the popularity of the participating blogs, the project itself has grown to almost three times the size of its first edition. This month’s edition of MAP features a diverse array of music typical of its recent playlists, including songs in English (sung mostly by non-native speakers from Asia, Europe and beyond), Spanish, Portuguese and even Indonesian, as well as instrumentals ranging from subtle acoustic atmospherics to post-hardcore. That means that readers of The Pop Cop or any of the other participating blogs are discovering more good music from more countries and in more languages, which is exactly what the project was created to do.

“I am very proud of what MAP achieves,” Cranwell wrote. “It uses the principles of internet teamwork and global collaboration to increase the exposure of some of the best up-and-coming artists out there, while offering blog readers one of the most diverse, free-to-download compilations to be found on the net every month.”

MAP has grown so much more than expected that it is sometimes hard for Cranwell to keep up. While he has entertained thoughts of a MAP festival or tour, at the moment he is happy to continue doing what has made MAP a resounding success and what has pleased independent music fans from around the world. MAP provides a great service to the modern, globalized world: It breaks down some of the last barriers that separate us in a hyper-connected world and allows us to come together and celebrate the things that make us, our countries and our cultures unique. In a world where cultural differences have historically been dividers, it turns the equation on its head, for the better.

MAP is published on all participating blogs on the 15th of every month, with links to each blogger accompanying their respective song selection for the month. Readers can find this month’s edition of MAP on Cranwell’s blog, The Pop Cop.