Library Guides: Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Popular Music Studies

Tips for finding articles

Online Databases:

Discovery cross-searches a large number of databases. Use the Advanced Search for the best results.
Proquest Central is similar to Discovery, searching across multiple databases.
Google Scholar is a convenient search tool but you need to set up your Google Scholar preferences to search effectively. When linked, Google Scholar will display Find It@UniMelb links next to articles that are available online.

The most relevant subject-specific databases and journals are listed below.

Online version not available? Print journals are listed in the Library Catalogue.
If you know the name of the database or journal you want, you can search directly in individual databases or journals.
Staff and students may request document delivery through interlibrary loans.

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Key Journals

Key Journals - Popular Music

Journals are continuous publications issued regularly (daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly), and are the standard for scholarly communication. They can be published in print, microform and electronic formats.

Our collections include many journals relevant to the study of Popular Music. General musicology and ethnomusicology journals also include articles on Popular Music. Refer to the Key Journals in these tabs above.

The list below is in no way exhaustive, and more can be found by searching in our catalogue, or databases. Other online popular music journals can be found by performing a keyword search for "popular music" in the library catalogue and limiting the search to 'online journals.'

For comprehensive tips on searching for journal articles, please visit the Research Essentials guide.

Trouser Press
Trouser Press was a New York-based rock music magazine that specialized in a number of genres — British Invasion history, new wave, progressive and independent-label releases — during its existence, 1974 to 1984. In 1983, the editors of the magazine authored the first of a series of record guides. The entire run is scanned and indexed here. The contents of the books is in the Reviews section.
IASPM Journal
IASPM Journal is the peer-reviewed open-access e-journal of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM)
Journal of Popular Music Studies
This journal is the peer-reviewed, quarterly publication of the U.S. Branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music. The journal's purview encompasses all genres of music that have been dubbed popular in any geographic region.
Journal of the American Musicological Society
Publishes scholarship from all fields of musical inquiry: from historical musicology, critical theory, music analysis, iconography and organology, to performance practice, aesthetics and hermeneutics, ethnomusicology, gender and sexuality, popular music and cultural studies.
Musicology Australia
A peer-reviewed journal that features articles on the music of Europe, America, Asia, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Indigenous Australia, and Australian musical composition.
Perfect Beat: The Pacific journal of research into contemporary music and popular culture.
This journal is associated "with the popular cultural quest and mixed, eclectic references of the song are reflected in articles...that concern themselves with 'world beat' and/or 'world music' and the marketing of non-western musics in the western market and the analysis of local music production. As befits a journal originating in Australia, the journal remains focused on the popular music of the 'Pacific rim' and includes historical and contemporary studies with contributions invited from popular music studies, musicology, cultural studies and ethnomusicological perspectives."
Popular Music
This is an international multi-disciplinary journal covering all aspects of the subject - from the formation of social group identities through popular music, to the workings of the global music industry, to how particular pieces of music are put together.
Popular Music and Society
This journal encompasses all genres of music that have been dubbed popular in any geographic region. In addition to mainstream genres such as rock, hip hop, EDM, punk, or country, it explores popular forms ranging from broadsides to Broadway to Bollywood film music. It aims to present popular music scholarship from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including history, sociology, musicology, ethnomusicology, cultural studies, and communication.
Popular Musicology Online
This is a refereed academic journal with an international advisory panel of leading popular musicologists. Under continuous editorship since its original hardcopy founding in 1991 (as Popular Musicology Quarterly), PMO has been an innovative voice in the development of critical approaches to the field. Intended for all scholars of popular music, whatever their discipline, PMO offers its readers a stimulating window on some of the most pioneering work taking place in the fastest growing area of music research.

Key Databases

Key Databases - Popular Music

Databases aggregate content from many journal titles, and can be an excellent place to conduct your search. Databases like Google Scholar or Discovery, do not focus on a specific topic, and can return quite broad search results. The discipline specific databases listed below, will be much more likely to return relevant results for the study of Musicology.

The list below is in no way exhaustive, and more can be found by searching in our catalogue, or databases.

Rock's Backpages
Rock’s Backpages is the rock & roll library online with an archive of legendary interviews, classic features, and groundbreaking reviews by the rock writers. The archive draws on publications from Creem and Trouser Press to Rolling Stone, and from New Musical Express and Melody Maker to MOJO. It is fully searchable by artist, genre,writer or keyword (allowing search by album or single title, date etc). Rock’s Backpages also features a library of audio interviews.

Independent Voices
Independent Voices is an open access digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals, drawn from the special collections of participating libraries. These periodicals were produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press and alternative literary magazines during the latter half of the 20th century.

The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments
An extensive reference tool on worldwide musical instruments
Music Index (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Formerly The Music Index Online by Harmonie Park Press, this database provides comprehensive coverage of the music field and every aspect of the classical and popular worlds of music. With coverage commencing from 1970 to the present, the Music Index contains cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts of articles about music, musicians and the music industry for more than 490 periodicals. It also provides selective coverage for more than 200 periodicals.
Music Periodicals Database (ProQuest)
This database provides indexing and abstracts for several hundred international music periodicals from over 20 countries, plus full text for more than 140 of the indexed journals. The database currently includes over 770,000 records, the majority from the most recent ten years of publication.
Oxford Music Online (Oxford University Press)
Oxford Music Online is a gateway offering users the ability to search multiple music reference resources in one location. With Grove Music Online as its cornerstone offering comprehensive coverage of music, musicians, music-making, and music scholarship. It includes updated versions of previous Grove publications as well as hundreds of articles commissioned specifically for the online edition. In addition, users can search and access the Oxford Reference titles: Oxford Companion to Music and The Oxford Dictionary of Music
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (EBSCOhost)
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature is a comprehensive bibliography featuring citations, abstracts and subject indexing of content from the early 1800s through to the present. The database includes coverage of relevant articles from more than 10,000 journals, many of which are not specifically devoted to music, as well as music-related articles published in conference proceedings; articles in Festschriften celebrating music scholars; and articles in anniversary volumes published in honor of musicians, composers and institutions dating back to the 18th century. Updated monthly.
RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with full text (EBSCOhost)
This database combines RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with the RIPM Online Archive of Music Periodicals to provide a unique full-text collection for the study of music and musical life from 1760 to 1966. The index covers nearly 200 music periodicals, selected by international specialists, with detailed indexing of articles, reviews, illustrations, music examples, advertisements, press reviews and more. This is supplemented by an extensive full text collection of rarely-available music periodicals dating from the Early Romantic to the Modern period. The database is updated 6 monthly.
RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with full text (RIPM)
The RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals database provides detailed content analysis of writings on musical history and culture between 1800 and 1950. RIPM is updated biannually and currently indexes the contents of over 140 music periodicals, including articles, reviews, illustrations, music examples, advertisements, press reviews and more.
Bloomsbury Popular Music
From acid house to zydeco, and from Acapulco to Zanzibar, Bloomsbury Popular Music provides scholarly coverage of modern popular music worldwide, covering the mid-20th century to the present day. It is an ideal resource for students and academics across disciplines including music, ethnomusicology, the performing arts, media and communication, cultural studies, anthropology and sociology.
Sound Studies Library
Sound Studies digital resource provides students and researchers with wide ranging, cross-cultural, and interdisciplinary scholarly content in the study of sound. Subject areas covered include art, aesthetics, architecture, contemporary music, history, philosophy, technology, and cultural studies and the growing literature of sonic and auditory theory, methodology, and practice.