LibGuides: Music &amp; Sound: Finding articles

What is a journal?

Journals are publications that are published on a regular and ongoing basis, for example, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually. They contain a selection of articles in a subject area by different authors. These articles are known as journal articles. Academic journal articles are written by researchers and their articles are reviewed by other experts in the same subject area, in a process called peer-review. Peer-reviewed journal articles are considered to be the best quality journal articles available. Journal articles are the best place to find the most recent research on a topic.

Looking for a journal article

If you would like to find journal articles on a subject, try searching by keyword using Advanced Search in FINDit.
You can browse a specific journal through the journals finder. This journal browser allows you to explore journal collections by subject.
Try going directly to a specialist database for results focussed on a subject area.
If you have found an article for which we do not provide access, you can request it from another library.

Sound resources

BBC Sound Effects
The BBC Sound Effects makes available 16,000 WAV format effects to download for use under licence, for personal, educational or research purposes.
British Library Sounds
(Formerly Archival Sound Recording) allows users to listen for free to 50,000 tracks of music, spoken words and environmental sounds. Listeners at licensed UK universities and colleges may dditionally download tracks for their research.
British Library Sounds : Case Studies
examples and case studies of the use of BL Sounds in research by lecturers and students.
Independent Radio
(Learning on Screen) - the archives of Independent Local Radio from 1973 to 1996.

Useful websites

AIM - Association of Independent Music
BPI - British Photographic Industry
MU - Musician’s Union
Music Publishers Association
UK Music - including Research Reports e.g. This is Music 2021.

Key databases

These are some of the most important databases for your subject:

ACM Digital Library This link opens in a new window
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Full text of every article ever published by ACM and bibliographic citations from major publishers in computing.
Date Range: 1985 - present
British Standards Online This link opens in a new window
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NB: You need to download the File open plug in. On USW computers this is available through Uniapps. https://uniapps.southwales.ac.uk/login
British Standards Online is the most authoritative and up-to-date site for all publications from the British Standards Institute. It includes current, historic and draft British Standards. NB you must download a plugin to access the pdf versions of the standards.
Date range - 1919 - onwards
Music Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window
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Music Periodicals Database (formerly International Index to Music Periodicals (IIMP)) provides indexing and abstracts to current music periodicals.
- Date Range: 1874 – onwards
Performing Arts Periodicals This link opens in a new window
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Performing Arts Periodicals database (formerly International Index to Performing Arts Full Text (IIPA)) provides indexing, abstracts and full text to more than 160 journals.
- Date range: 1997 – onwards

To access the complete list of databases suitable for Music & Sound, go here.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a great way of searching for information and is a useful supplement to database searches.