In its earlier days, RILM production relied on manual processes that were quite different from today’s digital workflows. Contributors from around the world submitted records on color-coded paper forms, often in multiple languages. The forms were intentionally double-spaced, giving editors room to make extensive corrections and annotations. Because many submissions arrived from non-native English speakers, editors frequently rewrote abstracts to improve clarity while preserving the author’s meaning. Work was divided according to language expertise. Staff members handled languages they knew, while outside specialists reviewed others. This process often became an unexpected education, with editors gradually acquiring technical vocabulary in languages they had never formally studied. Once edited, the forms were sent to a keyboard operator who entered every record into RILM’s database from home.
The database itself lived on a mainframe computer housed in a separate facility on Manhattan’s West 59th Street. Staff accessed the system via dial-up modems (see first photo of this post) using WYLBUR, a versatile computing system for managing various text types, including computer programs, letters, and manuscripts, through typewriter terminals connected to a computer. It featured remote job entry and retrieval, along with text alignment and justification capabilities. While it may seem outdated today, WYLBUR was a revolutionary innovation at the time. Although mastering its commands posed a challenge for many, the system became user-friendly once learned. Meanwhile, another room in the RILM office housed thousands of paper copies of RILM Abstracts destined for distribution around the world. Each week, a staff member carefully sorted and organized the outgoing publications by hand–a reminder of how much invisible labor supported international scholarly communication before the internet.
RILM staff periodically contribute writings to EBSCOpost, a lively blog run by our partners that publishes pieces pertinent to librarianship, higher education, and beyond. Over time, some of these posts are removed, and even those that remain generally recede from view, following the ephemeral nature of much digital content. With 60 years of preserving the world’s writings on music and music-related topics behind us, we are now adding a small rescue project: bringing these blog posts back into circulation. However modest, they help document our history as an organization, and we hope they will continue to resonate with our international readership as well as with any music enthusiast who happens upon them.
In this installment, Executive Director Tina Frühauf ruminates on the place of music reference at a time when Wikipedia was changing how information was being generated, shared, and networked. Now 25 years after the platform’s release, the piece remains relevant, as the possibilities and potential dangers surrounding digital access points to knowledge, musical and otherwise, continue to surface in the context of generative AI and large language models (LLMs).
Why music reference still matters in the age of Wikipedia
The field of music reference has evolved continuously since the 1768 publication of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Dictionnaire de musique. But the advent of Wikipedia in 2001 has had a dramatic impact on this hitherto gradual evolutionary process in terms of format, authorship, and editorial structures. Assessments of Wikipedia’s impact differ widely, from the view of Wikipedia as a means and medium of internationality to complaints about Wikipedia’s elimination of the individual and avoidance of editorial control mechanisms. Whether Wikipedia strikes you as a net benefit or loss, it has triggered important questions as to how future reference works and bibliographies can and should be made accessible, to whom, and with what features. Technology has changed how much can be accomplished and how far one can reach. But where does all this leave musicologists and music librarians? Printed reference works are organisms in themselves, reflective of their time and culture, region and subject matter. Technology has the ability to transform each organism into a universe of musical reference works and bibliographies, easily accessible in multiple languages and across cultural and other divides. More concretely, technology can create such a universe by facilitating cross-database searching, hyperlinking, and complex keyword searches, while maintaining the identity and specificity of reference works as individual organisms. Indeed, why, in the age of advanced information technology, should one reference work exist without the other? Such a communal approach was first put forth by Wikipedia, but neither thought through nor further developed beyond the issues of open access and open authorship. Ideally, digital archives should not aim toward completeness and a global perspective, but toward carefully curated content by means of 21st-century technology.
With technological advances, currency becomes an important matter as well. But as music researchers continue to rely on established and existing reference sources and bibliographies for research on individuals and subjects not included in modern encyclopedias, and for historiographical work which compares the representation of individuals and subjects over time, “old” encyclopedias have now received the ability to become new encyclopedias for the digital age.
In the longue durée, music reference works have always been reflective of their time and location, and also of their editors and users. The aforementioned Rousseau Dictionnaire is a case in point, as it has been deemed both radical and traditional at the same time—radical, as Rousseau advanced philosophy on opera and revealed his rejection of French musical tradition; traditional, as he held on to existing categories—music as art and music as science—and views on music theory accepted in the 18th century. This presence of two (or more) distinct strands or “voices” can be best understood as a reflection of the dialogue process in the formation of musical ideas.
RILM supports such dialogue by comprehensively and accurately representing music scholarship in all countries and languages, and across all disciplinary and cultural boundaries. If you think your faculty and students could benefit from the kind of resources RILM provides, I invite you visit our website to learn more.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Dictionnaire de musique (Paris: Veuve Duchesne, 1775), one of the many historic reference works available in RILM Music Encyclopedias.
In the late 1990s, RILM began the development of a new editorial database system designed to modernize its bibliographic indexing operations. This project eventually became iBis–the Internet Bibliographic Indexing System–a web-based platform that fundamentally changed how RILM manages, edits, and shares its data. Developed by SoftWhite, Inc., a New York–based software company, iBis was designed by lead programmers Rick White and Will Limratana using a SQL Server database and a web-based interface built in ASP/VB. The system replaced existing workflows with a centralized, more efficient platform capable of supporting RILM’s expanding international network.
Development experienced significant challenges and delays due in part to the events of 11 September 2001. SoftWhite’s offices were located adjacent to the World Trade Center, preventing the development team from accessing their workplace for an extended period following the attacks. As a result, the anticipated launch schedule was pushed back considerably. Despite these setbacks, the vision for the new system remained clear. The International Center anticipated significant gains in productivity through IBis features such as automatic defaulting from authority lists, the ability to view abstracts while indexing records, and advanced filtering tools that would allow editors to focus on records within their areas of expertise. The system was also designed to support direct participation from national committees, enabling them to enter records into the database over the Internet while accessing RILM’s authority files and editorial tools in real time. This promised to improve data consistency, reduce duplication of effort, and eliminate the need for rekeying records at the International Center.
Screen shot of a form for accessing abstracts in the first iteration of iBis.
After several years of development, iBis entered beta testing in 2003. Editors at the International Center spent several weeks working simultaneously in both the old and new systems to ensure that the platform functioned as intended. The successful testing period paved the way for a full transition to iBis in August 2003. The move brought immediate benefits. One of the most important advances was the ability to output data in Unicode, allowing the accurate display of diacritical characters from languages around the world. While not all RILM’s publishing and distribution partners were prepared to support Unicode at the time, the transition represented a major step toward more accurate representation of international scholarship.
Furthermore, expanded access for national committees through iBis meant that committees would be able not only to create new records but also to modify existing ones directly within the database. Development of this committee access level was scheduled to follow shortly after the system’s launch, with testing planned in the months ahead. The final phase of development focused on creating tools that would support the export of data for RILM’s printed volumes.
Early iBis logo.
The launch of iBis at the International Center represented a milestone in RILM’s technological evolution. Although some components–specifically a new print production module–remained under development, the core system quickly showed its value. Twelve national committees adopted the new editorial database system during its initial rollout, joining the editorial staff in using iBis for their daily work. RILM envisioned expanding participation so that many national committees could work directly within the platform. To achieve this goal, ongoing refinements were planned to make the interface as efficient and user-friendly as possible. The successful implementation of iBis was aided by the contributions of numerous collaborators, including Lenore Coral and Julie Schnepel, who tested the system on behalf of the national committees and provided valuable feedback that helped shape its development. By storing data in Unicode and providing web-based access to editorial tools, authority files, and bibliographic records, iBis established a foundation for a more connected and efficient RILM.
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In recent years, digital technologies have enabled a blending of the real and imaginary within the broader event sector. Such events have blurred the lines between art, leisure, information, and entertainment, offered in an expanding array of multimedia spectacles. These advancements have enhanced visual presentations, incorporating programming, lighting, projections, special effects, and holograms to create seamless combinations of reality and fantasy. The rise of holographic companies in stage design has allowed audiences to experience performances by deceased musicians such as Tupac Shakur, Maria Callas, Roy Orbison, Teresa Teng, and Whitney Houston. Digital holography has also paved the way for virtual pop stars, including Hatsune Miku from Japan and Luo Tianyi from China. These characters are products of a blend of voice software, idol industry frameworks, and fan-driven creativity, enabling entirely new forms of entertainment and audience engagement.
Promotional material for a Whitney Houston hologram concert.
Luo Tianyi, a virtual pop star from China.
A Tupac Shakur hologram performs a live concert.
Like digital technologies, social media and smartphones are deeply embedded in the environments and material circumstances through which we experience, interpret the world, and connect with others. Rather than external forces acting on us, such tools are integral to our daily lives. Platforms–the systems, processes, and relationships they encompass–have also become increasingly significant in shaping, mediating, and expanding our understanding and experience of popular music. The rise of digital platforms, streaming services, and social media requires a rethinking of the economies and industries of popular music, along with the evolving dynamics between recorded and live music. This is particularly relevant in the context of live performances, where digital technology has played a significant role during a period when live events gained increasing commodity value within the “experience economy”, especially as concert ticket prices skyrocketed and the cost of recorded music formats fell.
This according to “Stages, platforms, streams: The economies and industries of live music after digitalization” by Zhang Qian and Keith Negus (Popular music and society 44/5 [2021] 539–557; RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2021-17913).
Below, watch a Maria Callas hologram performance, backed by a live symphony orchestra and a video of a Teresa Teng hologram performance with Jay Chou.
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For nearly two centuries, Beethoven’s ninth symphony, which premiered on 7 May 1824 at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna, has held musical audiences captive. Few other musical works hold such a prominent place in the collective imagination, and each subsequent generation has rediscovered the work for itself and made it its own. Understanding the significance of the symphony in contemporary culture requires a dialog between Beethoven’s world and ours, marked by the earth-shattering events of 1789 and of 1989.
What is special about the ninth in contemporary millennial culture is that the music is encoded not only as score but also as digital technology. We encounter Beethoven 9 flashmobs, digitally reconstructed concert halls, globally synchronized performances, and other time-bending procedures. The digital artwork 9 beet stretch by Leif Inge, for instance, presents the ninth at glacial speed over the span of 24 hours, challenging our understanding of the symphony and encouraging us to confront the temporal dimension of Beethoven’s music. In the digital age, the ninth emerges as a musical work that is recomposed and reshaped; robust enough to live up to such treatment, and continually adapting to a changing world with changing media.
A presentation of <9 beet stretch> by Leif Inge.
Learn more in Beethoven’s symphony no. 9 by Alexander Rehding (New York City: Oxford University Press, 2018). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature 2018-4097]. In case you missed it, the 200th anniversary of the premiere of Beethoven’s ninth symphony was on 7 May 2024.
Below are three videos of Beethoven flash mobs in Hong Kong, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the last in Azerbaijan.
Hong Kong
Minneapolis
Azerbaijan
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AI voice, as a groundbreaking phenomenon, highlights two possible meanings that are often not problematized: the voice embedded into AI-based devices and the voice created using AI algorithms. To clarify the distinctions and the intersections of these two meanings, approaches inspired by media archaeology and social constructionism may be used to explore a social phenomenon constructed by the interaction of a discursive level of representation and a non-discursive level of material practice and operation.
The interaction of these two levels results in a tension between anthropocentrism and posthumanism–a characteristic of AI voice. Two case studies represent this tension, namely the commercial of the smart speaker Amazon Alexa and the phenomenon of voice cloning. While the first example demonstrates how at a discursive level the “voice in the machine” is represented to personify AI technology, the second, which consists in the possibility of reproducing the features of an embodied and personal voice, provides an example of how the materialization of that cultural idea depends on the technical possibilities and material practices required by data-driven algorithms.
Read on in “AI voice between anthropocentrism and posthumanism: Alexa and voice cloning” by Domenico Napolitano (Journal of interdisciplinary voice studies VII/1 [August 2022], 35-49).
Below is a video that jokingly explores the voice behind the Amazon Alexa.
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