Popular Music

Welcome to the Popular Music Research Guide! This guide introduces resources on popular music across its many genres, including rock, jazz, hip hop, musical theatre, film music, and videogame music. First visit the General Resources page to find resources which apply to the field of popular music studies as a whole. Discover online databases for reference and research, call numbers within the print Music Collection, recommended books, lists of societies and publications, and links to additional online resources like AllMusic, Billboard, and Discogs. Then begin exploring pages for specific genres like Country and Bluegrass, Jazz and Ragtime, Rap and Hip Hop, Rock Music, Stage and Screen, Traditional Pop, and Other Genres. Purposefully wide in scope, these pages introduce their genres and collect specific reference entries, recommended books, and other resources.

Beyond these are several pages on other facets of popular music. The page Instruments of Popular Music presents histories and learning manuals on instruments like the electric guitar, saxophone, drum set, banjo, and others. Composition and Songwriting is about the creation of popular music, and it provides resources on its musical and lyrical aspects as well as related topics like improvisation, instrumentation, and arranging. Music Industry is about making a career as a popular musician, including how to run a band, earn money, and promote shows. Know of a resource not included in this guide? Feel free to email the Music Librarian and they will add it. Or, suggest an item for purchase, if it is a resource not currently owned by University Libraries.