Dr Tao Li is currently an associate professor in the School of Computer Science, Florida International University. He received his Ph.D. in computer science from the Department of Computer Science, University of Rochester in 2004.

Dr Tao Li's research explores two related topics on learning from data---how to efficiently discover useful patterns and how to effectively retrieve information. The interests lie broadly in data mining and machine learning studying both the algorithmic and application issues. The algorithmic aspects involve developing new scalable, efficient and interactive algorithms that can handle very large databases. The underlying techniques studied include clustering, classification, semi-supervised learning, similarity and temporal pattern discovery. The application issues focus on actual implementation and usage of the algorithms on a variety of real applications with different characteristics including bioinformatics, text mining, music information retrieval and event mining for computer system management.

The research area of music information retrieval has gradually evolved to address the challenges of effectively accessing and interacting large collections of music and associated data, such as styles, artists, lyrics, and reviews. Bringing together an interdisciplinary array of top researchers, Music Data Mining presents a variety of approaches to successfully employ data mining techniques for the purpose of music processing.

The book first covers music data mining tasks and algorithms and audio feature extraction, providing a framework for subsequent chapters. With a focus on data classification, it then describes a computational approach inspired by human auditory perception and examines instrument recognition, the effects of music on moods and emotions, and the connections between power laws and music aesthetics. Given the importance of social aspects in understanding music, the text addresses the use of the Web and peer-to-peer networks for both music data mining and evaluating music mining tasks and algorithms. It also discusses indexing with tags and explains how data can be collected using online human computation games. The final chapters offer a balanced exploration of hit song science as well as a look at symbolic musicology and data mining.

The multifaceted nature of music information often requires algorithms and systems using sophisticated signal processing and machine learning techniques to better extract useful information. An excellent introduction to the field, this volume presents state-of-the-art techniques in music data mining and information retrieval to create novel ways of interacting with large music collections.