the world of music (new series) is a continuation of the journal the world of music edited from 1988 to 2007 by Max Peter Baumann at the International Institute for Traditional Music (IITM), Berlin, since 1997 as Journal of the Department of Ethnomusicology at Otto-Friedrich University of Bamberg. From 2008 to 2009 the world of music was edited by Jonathan Stock at the University of Sheffield.

The history of the journal began in 1959, when it was founded as the world of music. Bulletin of the International Music Council edited by John Evarts. In 1967, it turned into the world of music. Quarterly Journal of the International Music Council (UNESCO) in Association with the International Institute for Comparative Music Studies and Documentation (Berlin), still edited up to 1974 by John Evarts.

Since the foundation of the International Institute for Comparative Music Studies and Documentation (IICMSD), Berlin, in 1963, the journal had been hosted by this institution, which was later renamed in International Institute for Traditional Music (IITM). From 1975-87 the journal was edited by its director Ivan Vandor (1975-87) and then by his successor Max Peter Baumann beginning with the year 1988.

When the International Institute for Traditional Music was closed in 1997, Max Peter Baumann continued the editorship and brought, until 2007, the journal to the Department of Ethnomusicology at the University of Bamberg. Since 1996 the journal has been published by the VWB-Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung, Berlin.

From 2008 to 2009, Jonathan Stock assumed the editorship and the journal moved to the Ethnomusicology Programme at the University of Sheffield.

In 2012, the title of the journal was renamed into the world of music (new series) and Birgit Abels took over the editorship at the Department of Musicology at the Georg August University Göttingen. Barbara Titus is now serving as co-editor. As of 2023, the world of music (new series), the journal is published open-access by Göttingen University Press. 

 

History and issues up to 2012

Vol. 1, 1959(1-4)—Vol. 8, 1966(1-6):
the world of music.
Bulletin of the International Music Council / Bulletin du Conseil International de la Musique / Organ des Internationalen Musikrates. Published quarterly by the International Music Council with the assistance of UNESCO.
Executive Secretary: Jack Bornoff / Andre Jurres
Associate Executive Secretary: John Evarts
(with English, French and German contributions and information).
Vol. 1, 1959 (four times a year)
Vols. 2, 1960—8, 1966 (six times a year).
1959-1966 Printed and distributed by Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe (Germany).

Vol. 9, 1967(1-4)—Vol. 16, 1974(1-4):
the world of music / die welt der musik / la monde de la musique.
Quarterly Journal of the International Music Council (UNESCO) in Association with the International Institute for Comparative Music Studies and Documentation.
Editor: John Evarts
Assistant Editor: Rudolf Heinemann with Christian Poche / Wilfried Scepan / Ivan Vandor (Berlin)
from 1973: Published with the assistance of the Berlin Senate
1967-1974: Kassel, Basel, Paris, London, New York: Bärenreiter
1970-1974: Mainz: B. Schott’s Söhne

Vol. 17, 1975(1-4)—Vol. 19, 1977(1-4):
the world of music / die welt der musik / le monde de la musique.
Quarterly Journal of the International Institute for Comparative Music Studies and Documentation (Berlin) in Association with the International Music Council (UNESCO). Published with Assistance of the Berlin Senate and UNESCO.
Editor: Ivan Vandor
Assistant Editor: Wilfried Scepan, Marie-Francoise Guilluy / Beatrix Schulz-Raanan / Ulrich Wegner
1975-1976: Mainz: B. Schott’s Söhne
1977: Cosenza, Italy: Edizioni Lerici

Vol. 20, 1978(1-3)—29, 1987(1-3):
the world of music / die welt der musik / le monde de la musique.
Journal of the International Institute for Comparative Music Studies and Documentation (Berlin) in Association with the International Music Council (UNESCO). Published with Assistance of the Berlin Senate and UNESCO (three times a year).
Editor: Ivan Vandor
Assistant Editor: Wilfried Scepan, Marie-Francoise Guilluy / Beatrix Schulz-Raanan / Ulrich Wegner
1978-1984: Wilhelmshaven: Heinrichshofen`s Verlag.
1985-1987: Wilhelmshaven: Florian Noetzel Verlag, Heinrichshofen Books. ISSN 0043-8774.

Vol. 30, 1988(1-3):
the world of music / die welt der musik / le monde de la musique.
Journal of the International Institute for Comparative Music Studies and Documentation (Berlin) in Association with the International Music Council (UNESCO). Published with Assistance of the Berlin Senate and UNESCO (three times a year).
Editor: Max Peter Baumann
Assistant Editor: Ulrich Wegner
Review Editor: Habib Hassan Touma. ISSN 0043-8774.
Wilhelmshaven: Florian Noetzel Verlag, Heinrichshofen Books. ISSN 0043-8774.

Vol. 31, 1989(1-3)—Vol. 32, 1990(1-3):
the world of music / die welt der musik / le monde de la musique.
Journal of the International Institute for Comparative Music Studies and Documentation, Berlin (three times a year).
Editor: Max Peter Baumann
Assistant Editor: Ulrich Wegner
Review Editor: Habib Hassan Touma.
Wilhelmshaven: Florian Noetzel Verlag, Heinrichshofen Books. ISSN 0043-8774.

Vol. 33, 1991(1-3)—38, 1996(1-3):
the world of music.
Journal of the International Institute for Traditional Music (IITM), Berlin (three times a year).
Editor: Max Peter Baumann
Assistant Editor: Ulrich Wegner
Review Editor: Habib Hassan Touma
Record Review Editor: Janet L. Sturman (from 1995).
1991-1995: Wilhelmshaven: Florian Noetzel Verlag, Heinrichshofen Books. ISSN 0043-8774.
1996: Berlin: VWB—Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung. ISSN 0043-8774.

Vol. 39, 1997(1-3)—49, 2007(1-3):
the world of music.
Journal of the Department of Ethnomusicology, Otto-Friedrich University of Bamberg (three times a year).
Editor: Max Peter Baumann
Co-Editor: Linda Fujie (1997-2002); Jonathan Stock (2003-2007)
Book Review Editor: Jonathan Stock (1998-2002); Tina K. Ramnarine (2003-2007)
Record Review Editor: Janet L. Sturman (1997-2001); Gregory F. Barz (2002-2007)
Berlin: VWB—Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung. ISSN 0043-8774.

Vol. 50, 2008(1-3)-51, 2009(1-3)
the world of music.
The University of Sheffield (three times a year).
Editor: Jonathan P.J. Stock
Book Review Editor: Helena Simonett
Recording Review Editor: Dan Bendrups
Berlin: VWB—Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung. ISSN 0043-8774.

Vol. 52, 2010(1-3)
the world of music –Readings in Ethnomusicology.
Editor: Max Peter Baumann
Berlin: VWB—Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung. ISSN 0043-8774.

Vol. 53, 2011(1-3)
the world of music
Index Volumes 30-52, 1989-2010
Editor: Max Peter Baumann
Berlin: VWB—Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung. ISSN 0043-8774.

The following issues with specific regional and/or thematic emphases have appeared since 1996, published by VWB – Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung, Berlin.
Music of the Roma (Vol. 38, 1996/1)
Historical Performance Practices Across the Pacific (Vol. 38, 1996/2)
Folk Music Revival in Europe (Vol. 38, 1996/3)
Music and Healing in Transcultural Perspectives (Vol. 39, 1997/1)
Cultural Concepts of Hearing and Listening (Vol. 39, 1997/2)
[no topical issue] (Vol. 39,1997/3)
Music, the Arts and Ritual (Vol. 40, 1998/1)
Old Instruments in New Contexts (Vol. 40, 1998/2)
Music and Music Research in Croatia (Vol. 40, 1998/3)
Hearing and Listening in Cultural Context (Vol. 41, 1999/1)
Traditional Music in Bavaria: Regional Identity, History and Culture (Vol. 41, 1999/2)
Music, Travel and Tourism (Vol. 41, 1999/3)
Gothic, Metal, Rap, and Rave—Youth Education and Its Educational Dimensions (Vol. 42, 2000/1)
Spirit Practices in a Global Ecumene (Vol. 42, 2000/2)
Local Musical Traditions in the Globalization Process (Vol. 42, 2000/3)
Ethnomusicology and the Individual (Vol. 43, 2001/1)
Folk Music in Public Performance (Vol. 43, 2001/2-3)
Indigenous Popular Music in North America: Continuations and Innovations (Vol. 44, 2002/1)
Body and Ritual in Buddhist Musical Cultures (Vol. 44, 2002/2)
Traditonal Music in the Baltic Countries (Vol. 44, 2002/3)
Contesting Tradition: Cross Cultural Studies of Musical Competition (Vol. 45, 2003/1)
Traditional Music and Composition (Vol. 45, 2003/2)
Cross-Cultural Aesthetics (Vol. 45, 2003/3)
Contempory British Music Traditions (Vol. 46, 2004/1)
Japenese Musical Traditions (Vol. 46, 2004/2)
Women and Music in Sri Lanka (Vol. 46, 2004/3)
Musical Reverberations from the Encounter of Local and Global Belief Systems (Vol. 47, 2005/1)
Notation, Transcription, Visual Representation n (Vol. 47, 2005/2)
The Music of “Others” in the Western World (Vol. 47, 2005/3)
Music and Childhood: Creativity, Socialization, and Representation (Vol. 48, 2006/1)
Echoes of Our Forgotten Ancestors I (Vol. 48, 2006/2)
Echoes of Our Forgotten Ancestors II (Vol. 48, 2006/3)
Indigenous Peoples, Recording Techniques and Recording Industry (Vol. 49, 2007/1)
Music Archaeology: Mesoamerica (Vol. 49, 2007/2)
Music and Politics on the Korean Peninsula (Vol. 49, 2007/3)
Music, Languages and Dance: The Articulation of Structures and Systems (Vol. 50, 2008/1)
Kwaito (Vol. 50, 2008/2)
Accordion Culture (Vol. 50, 2008/3)
Music and Sustainability (Vol. 51, 2009/1)
Music for Being (Vol. 51, 2009/2)
Ethnomusicology in the Academy: International Perspectives (Vol. 51, 2009/3)
the world of music – Readings in Ethnomusicology (Vol. 52, 2010/1-3)
the world of music– Index Volumes 30-52, 1988-2010 (Vol. 53, 2011/1-3)