Information Retrieval Technologies and the “Realities” of Music Information Seeking

Abstract

Music information seeking incorporates the human activities that are carried out for the search and retrieval of music information. In recent years, the evolution of music technology holds a central role affecting the nature of music information seeking behavior. The research area that deals with the accessibility and the retrievability process of music information is known as Music Information Retrieval (MIR). This chapter focuses on the presentation of MIR technologies which has a direct impact in the way that individuals, as well as different music communities such as composers, performers, listeners, musicologists, etc., handle and utilize music information. The aim of this chapter is to investigate the way different music communities interact with MIR systems. Our approach is based on a selected literature review regarding the MIR systems and the information seeking behavior of the musicians.

Theoretical and Applied Issues on the Impact of Information on Musical Creativity

“…Musicians have access to a large amount of music information through digital information services and the Internet (Lavranos et al, 2015c) and via online musical professional and informal communities (e.g., composers, performers, listeners, musicologists, etc.) (National Research Council, 2003) and are increasingly becoming more exposed to music information in everyday life environments.…”

“…In addition, musicians' creative activities are supported in more robust, reliable and secure online information environments (Nanopoulos, Rafailidis, Ruxanda, & Manolopoulos, 2009) which create more opportunities for communication, exchange of information and collaboration (Nikolaidou, Hadjileontiadou, & Hadjileontiadis, 2004). Online collaborative and creative musical environments affect the way in which musicians interact with music information for different musical creative activities, such as music listening, music performance, or musical composition (Dittmar, Cano, Abesser, & Grollmisch, 2012) and enable meaningful and constructionist interactions to take place (Lavranos et al, 2015c), changing in that way the musical creative thinking practices (Heo, Suzuki, Ito, & Makino, 2006). Therefore, more and more direct links between music information and society are gradually established due to the advances of music information technology (Kostagiolas et al, 2015).…”

“…These tools should be able to facilitate either synchronous or asynchronous exchange of information found for different stages of the musical creative process, but also have a variety of functions to allow the collaboration and exchange of information for musical creative activities (Lavranos et al, 2015c).…”

“…Today, music information not only constitutes every musician's matter but also every musician has the opportunity to access a wide range of music information including both national and international resources that are available in print or digital format. Accordingly, many of those engaged with music information have adjusted their information seeking behavior in order to incorporate electronic or digital tools and information resources (Laplante & Downie, 2006;Dougan, 2012;Lavranos, Kostagiolas, & Papadatos, 2015c). Research further suggests that the rapid progress in the information and communication technology applications in the past few years has affected significantly musicians' information seeking behavior (Liem, Müller, Eck, Tzanetakis, & Hanjalic, 2011;Liem et al, 2012), a change which requires the development of effective information retrieval skills and techniques on different music online information retrieval systems (Lavranos et al, 2015c).…”

“…Accordingly, many of those engaged with music information have adjusted their information seeking behavior in order to incorporate electronic or digital tools and information resources (Laplante & Downie, 2006;Dougan, 2012;Lavranos, Kostagiolas, & Papadatos, 2015c). Research further suggests that the rapid progress in the information and communication technology applications in the past few years has affected significantly musicians' information seeking behavior (Liem, Müller, Eck, Tzanetakis, & Hanjalic, 2011;Liem et al, 2012), a change which requires the development of effective information retrieval skills and techniques on different music online information retrieval systems (Lavranos et al, 2015c). However, as the environment of music information is constantly changing and expanding with increasing information availability (Raimond & Sandler, 2008), the study of music-related information seeking behavior also presents an area of ongoing interest within a broader context, that of musical creativity.…”