Music Information Retrieval systems: why do individuals use them and what are their needs?

To date there has been very little research conducted on the behaviour of music information retrieval (MIR) users, in spite of the immense popularity of free music retrieval systems available on the Internet. In this study we examine the issue of music seeking behaviour through the examination of users life style effect of three different age groups using questionnaires. It was found that lifestyles had a significant impact on users need for music and hence their music seeking behaviour. The importance of social networks in music information seeking was reinforced in this study. An experiment was conducted with three different types of search on the Kazaa MIR system and the participants interviewed in order to collect data. Users found the Kazaa system intuitive and easy to use. Searchers used both song titles and lyrics for finding relevant music items. The insights provided by this study can be of assistance in the development of user focused Internet MIR systems.