Library Guide
Music Reference and Research Services Librarian
Related Research Guides
- Entertainment and Mediaby Baker Library, Harvard Business School
- Music Industry Statisticsby Baker Library, Harvard Business School
Search for Articles and Books
Note: what follows is a list of databases. If you'd like some tips on how to quickly familiarize yourself with a new database, check out the Decoding a Database handout.
Multidisciplinary Databases
- HOLLISUse HOLLIS to find books, articles, scores, recordings, and more in one search.
- Academic Search PremierThis multi-disciplinary database is a great place to start: you'll see both MAGAZINE ARTICLES and ACADEMIC JOURNAL ARTICLES in your results. Use magazine articles to get a quick overview for a general audience: one way to find your bearings and get a sense of the vocabulary around a topic.
- Opinion ArchivesFull-text searching across a selection of HIGHBROW MAGAZINES (i.e. magazines for intellectuals that include well-researched, long-form articles, sometimes written by scholars in the field). Note: the search function in this database is *slow* and *clumsy*, but the content is awesome enough to make it worthwhile.
Discipline Specific Databases - MUSIC
If you know the discipline you want to search, a database devoted to that discipline is a powerful tool. You'll find ways of specifying your search terms that are just right (time period, protest movement, music genre, etc.), plus results you won't see anywhere else.
These are our top recommendations, but Harvard licenses many hundreds of databases---so please feel free to email for additional or alternative recommendations! (If you'd like to get a sense of the range, you can browse the database list.)
- RILM Abstracts of Music LiteratureAn international bibliography of music articles, collections, and books covering 10,000+ journals from the 1800s to the present.
- Music Index OnlineAn index of over 800 music periodicals; strengths are popular music, ethnomusicology, and reviews. The online version covers articles published from 1970-present.
- Music Periodicals DatabaseCovers the full spectrum of subjects and all aspects of music, including music education, performance, ethnomusicology, musical theatre, theory, popular music forms and composition.
Discipline Specific Databases - BEYOND MUSIC
- ERICA major resource for research in all areas of EDUCATION.
- Sociological AbstractsA core resource for researchers, professionals, and students in SOCIOLOGY, social planning/policy, and related disciplines.
- PsycInfoFor PSYCHOLOGY and behavioral science.
- Race Relations AbstractsGreat for anything related to RACE, including ethnic studies, discrimination, immigration studies, etc.
- Gender WatchArticles, books, and NGO, government and special reports related to GENDER.
- Diversity - Alexander Street Press CollectionDocumentaries, interviews, biographies, performances, and lectures relevant to Asian studies, black studies, LGBT studies, North American Indian studies, and women's studies.
- America History and LifeFor AMERICAN HISTORY. History databases allow for very fine-grained searching on your subject dates: check out the options under "Advanced Search."
- International Encyclopedia of Revolution and ProtestA comprehensive resource covering major rebellions and protest movements over the past 500 years, and the idealogies and activists that propelled them.
Search for Audio and Video
- KanopyKanopy provides access to films, documentaries, and television shows from a variety of independent filmmakers and distributors, including the BBC, PBS and the Criterion Collection.
- Music Online (aka Music and Performing Arts)Includes Smithsonian Global Sound, a collection of folk recordings including protest songs, American folk, and world music.
Market Research Resources
- Music and Activism: Market Research ResourcesBaker Library, Harvard Business School guide to finding market research and trends by demographic, location, and platform (e.g. social media, streaming services, etc.)
