The theoretical significance of current databases has long transcended the scope of traditional archival science,constituting a new paradigm of cognition and knowledge production driven by data.The structure of databases is isomorphic to humanities research,and even directly predetermines research paths at a certain level.The relationship between metadata schemas and ontology often determines the way and scope in which researchers formulate questions,and different types of music databases mirror distinct knowledge organization logics.Through a typological construction of music databases and based on the author's participatory practice in ethnomusicology data-base,this study provides an in-depth understanding of the mapping of metadata and ontology structure types onto the inherent logic of knowledge organization,and it further envisions the landscape of digital humanities for ethnomusicology adopting“database-as-method.”