How do the modes of music production and consumption change in the transforming digital technological context? How do communities organised along musical taste communicate, and what does the transforming of the music industries in the 21st century involve? How can we understand the social embeddedness of communities forming around music? What are the relations between gender, the use of technology, and musical taste? In addition to these questions, the popular music research conducted at the department is also aimed at the main challenges of the contemporary digital music industries, from business models to copyright collection societies. .