Sonification maps data to sound to convey scientific meaning; music creates self-contained meaning in form — the same audio can be both

The chapter ‘Sonification ≠ Music’ argues that data sonification and music are conceptually distinct: sonification’s purpose is to convey information about an external dataset through sound, as part of a ‘cascade of inscriptions’ leading to scientific understanding. Music creates meaning intrinsically through its form. However, the same audio can function as both. The distinction is not sonic but intentional and contextual: what question is the listener trying to answer? A piece of data-driven music may be analyzed as sonification (what does this reveal about the data?) or as music (what aesthetic experience does this create?). This matters for live coders who use real-world data as compositional material.

Examples

An Ableton Live set driven by earthquake seismograph data: as music, it is experienced as rhythm and texture; as sonification, it conveys the temporal structure of seismic activity. The same audio, different frames.

Assessment

Explain the key distinction between data sonification and music. Then take a specific example (e.g., using real-time stock prices to control TidalCycles parameters) and analyze it from both the sonification and musical perspectives.