American Musicological Society

What American Musicological Society does

The American Musicological Society (AMS) is a private, member-controlled non-profit professional society founded in 1934 and headquartered at 20 Cooper Square, New York City. It is the largest professional organization for musicology in North America, serving music educators, scholars, graduate students, music administrators, and creative professionals engaged in music studies. AMS operates a portfolio of scholarly programs including three peer-reviewed journals (the Journal of the American Musicological Society, the Journal of Musicology and Pedagogy, and Musicology Now), a book series (AMS Studies in Music), and an annual meeting that in recent years has been held jointly with the Society for Music Theory. The society is structured around 15 regional chapters across the US and Canada, 22+ thematic study groups, and over 60 committees and subcommittees, with day-to-day operations run by a small paid staff under Executive Director Siovahn Walker and governance provided by an elected Board led by President Julie Cumming.

AMS generates revenue primarily through income-tiered membership dues ($45–$245 across seven tiers), annual meeting registration fees, publication sales distributed through the University of California Press, donations, and restricted grant funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. It disburses approximately $80,000–$100,000 annually in publication subventions and administers several named fellowships of $25,000 each, including the Alvin H. Johnson AMS 50 Fellowship, the Howard Mayer Brown Fellowship, and the William F. Holmes/Frank D'Accone Dissertation Fellowship in Opera Studies. It operates fellowships, travel grants, registration waivers, and publication funds as its core member-facing products, alongside career services through the AMS Career Center. AMS does not develop proprietary technology; it relies on Submittable for application workflows and Scholastica for peer-review management, and its 2026 Annual Meeting will be held online on November 14–15 and 19–20 to broaden international access.

Name

American Musicological Society

Legal name

American Musicological Society

Website

https://amsmusicology.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1934

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The American Musicological Society is a 1934-founded non-profit professional society that supports music scholars, educators, and graduate students through peer-reviewed journals, annual conferences, fellowships, publication grants, and a network of 15 regional chapters and 22+ thematic study groups.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Scholarly Society Services

NAICS

Professional Organizations (813920), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Scholarly Society & Association Publishing (EDAGAFAK)

Keywords

• Musicological research
• Scholarly publications
• Academic fellowships
• Professional conferences
• Membership organization

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: AMS generates revenue through annual membership dues that are tiered based on income level, ranging from $45 for students and low-income individuals to $245 for high-income members. Additional chapter and study group dues are collected separately.
2. Annual Meeting Registration: Revenue generated from registration fees for the annual meeting, with waivers and travel grants available for international attendees and students.
3. Publication Sales: Revenue from the sale of publications including books, journals, and special issues published under AMS imprint.
4. Publication Subventions: AMS administers approximately $80,000 annually in publication subvention funding to support music studies publications. While this is primarily disbursed to support scholarship, it represents a grant-making function of the society.
5. Donations and Contributions: The society receives donations to support various funds including fellowship programs, publication subventions, and general operations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The American Musicological Society is a non-profit scholarly membership organization that delivers programs supporting musicologists and music educators, including tiered annual memberships, peer-reviewed journals (JAMS, Journal of Musicology and Pedagogy, Musicology Now, Field Notes), the AMS Studies in Music book series, and the AMS Annual Meeting (sometimes held jointly with the Society for Music Theory). It administers competitive fellowship and grant programs (Alvin H. Johnson AMS 50 Fellowship, Howard Mayer Brown Fellowship, William F. Holmes/Frank D'Accone Dissertation Fellowship in Opera Studies), publication subventions of approximately $80,000–$100,000 per year, a centralized AMS Career Center, and recognition awards for scholarship and teaching, while maintaining 15 regional chapters and 22 thematic study groups for community engagement.

Product overview

The American Musicological Society (AMS) operates as a professional membership organization rather than a technology product company. The society provides a portfolio of scholarly programs including annual meetings, fellowship and grant programs (Alvin H. Johnson AMS 50 Fellowship, Howard Mayer Brown Fellowship, William F. Holmes/Frank D'Accone Dissertation Fellowship in Opera Studies), publication support through subventions and named publication funds, career services via the AMS Career Center, and academic journals (JAMS, Musicology Now, Field Notes, JMP). The society also supports 15 regional chapters and 22 thematic study groups, annual conferences, summer institutes, and advocacy initiatives for music education. The organization does not offer a commercial software product or technology platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• JAMS (Journal of the American Musicological Society): The society's flagship peer-reviewed academic journal
• AMS Career Center
• Alvin H. Johnson AMS 50 Fellowship
• Howard Mayer Brown Fellowship
• William F. Holmes/Frank D'Accone Dissertation Fellowship in Opera Studies

Products and services

• Alvin H. Johnson AMS 50 Fellowship Year-long fellowship providing a $25,000 stipend for ABD students at North American universities to support the final year of PhD dissertation work in music studies, awarded based on academic merit.
• Howard Mayer Brown Fellowship Twelve-month fellowship providing a $25,000 stipend for graduate students from historically underrepresented groups pursuing a PhD in music studies at US or Canadian universities.
• William F. Holmes/Frank D'Accone Dissertation Fellowship in Opera Studies Year-long fellowship providing a $25,000 stipend to support dissertation research and completion focused on the study of opera.
• Journal of the American Musicological Society (JAMS) Flagship peer-reviewed academic journal of the AMS, published by University of California Press, covering all aspects of music studies and distributed to members and institutional subscribers.
• AMS Studies in Music Book series published under the AMS imprint supporting scholarly publications in music studies, distributed through the University of California Press.
• Publication Subventions Grant program providing approximately $80,000 annually to help defray publication expenses for works of musical scholarship, including books, essay collections, articles, and multimedia works. Individual applications up to $2,500; institutional applications up to $4,000.
• AMS Career Center Centralized online hub for jobs and opportunities in musicology, replacing the previous AMS Listserv as the primary channel for posting and finding positions in the field.
• AMS Annual Meeting Flagship annual conference bringing together music scholars, educators, and professionals for presentations, sessions, and networking, held both in-person (such as the 2025 joint meeting with the Society for Music Theory in Minneapolis) and online (such as the 2026 meeting on 14-15 and 19-20 November).
• Musicology Now Online publication providing news, essays, and updates about musicological scholarship and AMS activities, maintained by a multi-editor team including an Executive Editor, Deputy Editor, and student editors.
• Journal of Musicology and Pedagogy (JMP) Peer-reviewed journal published by AMS focusing on the intersection of musicology and pedagogy.
• Field Notes Periodical publication of the society covering topics in music studies.
• Summer Institute Annual summer institute event for AMS members focused on professional development and scholarly topics (e.g., the 2026 session on Studying Early Music with Computers).
• Teaching Music History Conference Specialized conference focused on teaching music history at various educational levels.
• Annual Meeting Travel Grants Travel grants for AMS members to attend annual meetings, providing up to $350 within North America and $500 outside North America, with supplemental grants of $500 for undergraduate and master's students.
• AMS 75 Publication Awards for Younger Scholars Publication awards supporting early career scholars in all areas of music research, funded through NEH and Mellon Foundation support.
• Contemporary Musical Modernisms Study Group Newly formed AMS-sponsored thematic study group focused on contemporary musical modernisms, organized by Seth Brodsky, Christine Dysers, and Samuel Wilson, providing a community for scholarly dialogue on the topic.

Quantifiable outcome

• ~$100,000 disbursed annually in publication subventions
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Society for Music Theory (SMT)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAMS holds joint annual meetings with the Society for Music Theory, combining their conferences to create a comprehensive event for music scholars. The 2025 Annual Meeting is being held jointly with SMT in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• College Music Society (CMS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCMS joined AMS in submitting a public comment to the U.S. Department of Education regarding the STATS and earnings accountability framework, expressing concerns about impacts on music education.
• Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSEM joined AMS in submitting a public comment to the U.S. Department of Education regarding concerns about the proposed STATS framework and its potential effects on music and arts education.
• Society for American Music (SAM)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSAM joined AMS in submitting a public comment to the U.S. Department of Education expressing concerns about the proposed earnings accountability framework and its impact on music education programs.
• University of California PresscoreTechnology or IntegrationUniversity of California Press is the publisher of the Journal of the American Musicological Society (JAMS), working with AMS on editorial and production processes.
• Coalition of Music OrganizationscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA coalition of music-related organizations that includes AMS institutional members. Coalition members are eligible to apply for institutional publication subventions.
• AMS-MLA Joint RISM CommitteesupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerA joint committee with the Music Library Association (MLA) focused on RISM (Répertoire International des Sources Musicales), an international music documentation project.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Society for American Music (SAM): A scholarly society focused on American music studies, also a coalition partner with AMS on federal policy advocacy. Comparable membership/governance model and academic conference cadence.
• Music Library Association (MLA): A scholarly society for music librarians and scholars; AMS maintains a joint committee with MLA on RISM (Répertoire International des Sources Musicales). Comparable academic-music membership and publication model.
• College Music Society (CMS): A membership society for music faculty in higher education; CMS partners with AMS on joint DOE advocacy. Comparable structure: dues, conferences, publications, member services — but broader music-faculty focus vs. AMS's musicology focus.
• Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM): A parallel scholarly society focused on ethnomusicology. SEM partners with AMS on advocacy (joint DOE comments) and serves an overlapping but distinct academic music community.
• Society for Music Theory (SMT): The most directly comparable peer: SMT is a scholarly society serving music theorists with similar membership, journals, and annual meetings. AMS holds joint annual meetings with SMT, underscoring their structural similarity.

Emerging players

• American Music Center (New Music USA): A music advocacy and grant-making organization that overlaps with AMS in supporting American music scholarship and creators, though oriented more toward living composers and performers than musicological research.
• Society for Music Perception and Cognition (SMPC): A smaller, more specialized scholarly society for cognitive music research. Comparable academic-music membership and conference model, but narrower scientific focus than AMS.

Broad incumbents

• National Association for Music Education (NAfME): A much larger US music-education membership organization. NAfME operates K-12-focused music education, complementing AMS's higher-ed and scholarly focus; both are dues-funded advocacy-oriented societies.
• International Musicological Society (IMS): The global counterpart to AMS, organizing international musicology congresses. IMS is broader in geographic reach but narrower in scope of musicology specialization; comparable scholarly society model.

Regional players

• Royal Musical Association: The UK-based scholarly society for musicology; comparable publications, conferences, and membership model to AMS but serving a different (primarily UK) geographic constituency.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@amsmusicology/videos
• Facebookfacebook.com/AMS.musicology
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/american-musicological-society
• Instagraminstagram.com/ams_musicology

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about American Musicological Society