Data Usage in MIR: History & Future Recommendations

The MIR community faces unique challenges in terms of data access, due in large part to country-specific copyright laws. As a result, there is an emerging divide in the MIR research community between labs that have access to music through large companies with abundant funds, and independent labs at smaller institutions who do not have such expansive access. This paper explores how independent researchers have worked to overcome limitations of access to music data without contributing to the crisis of reproducibility. Acknowledging that there is no single solution for every data access problem that smaller labs face, we propose a number of possibilities for how the MIR community can bridge the gap between advancements from large companies and those within academia. As MIR looks towards the next 20 years, democratizing and expanding access to MIR research and music data is critical. Future solutions could include a distributed MIREX system, an API designed for MIR researchers, and community-led advocacy to stakeholders.