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Sociomusicology (from Latin: ''socius'', ''companion''; from Old French ''musique''; and the suffix ''-ology'', ''the study of'', from Greek λόγος, ''lógos'', ''knowledge'' ) refers to both an academic subfield of sociology that is concerned with music (often in combination with other arts), as well as a subfield of musicology that focuses on social aspects of musical behavior and the role of music in society.

Sociomusicological issues

The work of scholars in sociomusicology is often similar to ethnomusicology in terms of its exploration of the sociocultural context of music, however sociomusicology maintains less of an emphasis on ethnic and national identity, and is not limited to ethnographic methods. Rather, sociomusicologists use a wide range of research methods and take a strong interest in observable behavior and musical interactions within the constraints of social structure. Sociomusicologists are more likely than ethnomusicologists to make use of surveys and economic data, for example, and tend to focus on musical practices in contemporary industrialized societies.

Since the field of musicology has tended to emphasize historiographic and analytical/critical rather than sociological approaches to research, sociomusicology is still regarded as somewhat outside the mainstream of musicology. However, with the increased popularity of ethnomusicology in recent decades (with which the field shares many similarities), as well as the development and mainstreaming of ''New Musicology'' (coinciding with the emergence of interdisciplinary Cultural Studies in academia), sociomusicology is increasingly coming into its own as a fully established field.

Among the most notable classical sociologists to examine the social aspects and effects of music were Georg Simmel (1858-1918), Alfred Schutz (1899-1959), Max Weber (1864-1920) and Theodor Adorno (1903-1969). Others have included Alphons Silbermann, Charles Seeger (1886-1979), Howard Saul Becker, Jacques Attali and John Mueller (1895-1965).