Announcement | 10. December 2025

4th NFDI4Culture Music Award: Announcement of recipients!

By Dipl. Des. (FH) Sarah Pittroff, M. A. and Dominik Leipold, M. Sc., M. A.

The jury, consisting of representatives from NFDI4Culture, the Society for Music Research (GfM) and the Centre for Music – Edition – Media (ZenMEM), shortlisted the best projects from the submissions received. The award is associated with project funds of up to €3,000, which can be used to finance billable expenses that contribute to the objectives of NFDI4Culture, such as travel expenses, publication costs or expenses for organising project-related workshops.

From hymnals to YouTube: Culture Music Award 2025 honors innovative music research

Their research interests particularly touch on everyday cultural life and practices at the heart of our society: The Culture Music Award 2025 honors two projects dedicated to scientific data in music research and mass media phenomena: from hymnals to YouTube, “the largest music archive of our time.” The Culture Music Award is being presented for the fourth time by the NFDI4Culture research data consortium, establishing itself in the field of research funding in the area of digital music research. The 2025 award goes to Aida Amiryan-Stein (University of Paderborn) for her “New Thuringian Hymn Book Digital” in the Student Projects category and Christoph Hust (Leipzig University of Music and Theatre) for his “YouTube Comment Miner” tool in the Projects category. 

Aida Amiryan-Stein (Universität Paderborn), Neues Thüringer Choralbuch digital

This edition of sheet music was widely used in Protestant congregations in Thuringia and far beyond, in both East and West Germany in the 20th century, and shaped Sunday church music for generations:: As part of her master's thesis, Aida Amiryan-Stein is currently creating a critical digital edition of the “New Thuringian Hymn Book” from 1955. Most of the songs printed here can also be found in the hymnals of other German regioanl churches. She is developing standardized musical notations that are optimized for computer-assisted analysis. They are also freely accessible online. For the first time, such a fundamental treasure trove of songs is available for digital research. 
The jury commends the perspectives this project opens up for broad networking of research data and of scientists with artists, such as choirs or organists.

Christoph Hust (Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig): Musikalische Rezeptionsräume und Kommentarnetzwerke in digitalen Plattformen

The work of Christoph Hust's research group responds to the rapid emergence of new ways of experiencing music on video platforms on the internet. Hust rightly describes YouTube as “the largest music archive of the present day.” The platform provides fertile ground for its own “cultural dynamics” and “aesthetic debates.” To tap into the data generated here, he developed a tool: the YouTube Comment Miner. It can be used to evaluate comments under YouTube videos scientifically and automatically. The protection of data privacy and personal rights plays a major role in this process. Unlike in real comments, an anonymization process ensures that no conclusions can be drawn about individuals in the scientific data. Hust convinced the jury with his project using the example of music from Studio Ghibli animated films and the computer game series The Legend of Zelda. In addition, the project showed that both the functionality and the field of research can be easily transferred to the mega-platform TikTok.

The five-member jury of the Culture Music Awards, consisting of representatives from NFDI4Culture, the Society for Music Research (GfM), the German Music Council, and the Center for Music, Edition, and Media (ZenMEM), extends its warmest congratulations to the winners!