Twenty-Five Years of MIR Research: Achievements, Practices, Evaluations, and Future Challenges

TL;DR

This paper reviews 25 years of MIR research, highlighting key achievements, best practices like benchmarking and open research, societal impacts, and future challenges for the field.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of MIR's evolution, emphasizing successful practices and outlining future research challenges.

Findings

MIR has achieved significant progress in music analysis and processing.

Benchmarking and open research practices have accelerated MIR development.

Engagement with industry enhances societal impact and community diversity.

Abstract

In this paper, we trace the evolution of Music Information Retrieval (MIR) over the past 25 years. While MIR gathers all kinds of research related to music informatics, a large part of it focuses on signal processing techniques for music data, fostering a close relationship with the IEEE Audio and Acoustic Signal Processing Technical Commitee. In this paper, we reflect the main research achievements of MIR along the three EDICS related to music analysis, processing and generation. We then review a set of successful practices that fuel the rapid development of MIR research. One practice is the annual research benchmark, the Music Information Retrieval Evaluation eXchange, where participants compete on a set of research tasks. Another practice is the pursuit of reproducible and open research. The active engagement with industry research and products is another key factor for achieving large societal impacts and motivating younger generations of students to join the field. Last but not the least, the commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion ensures MIR to be a vibrant and open community where various ideas, methodologies, and career pathways collide. We finish by providing future challenges MIR will have to face.