The year 2020 marked a turning point in virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR) technology consumption. On October 13, Meta released the Oculus Quest 2, a standalone VR headset with an accessible base price of 299 USD. By the first fiscal quarter of 2023, Quest 2 sales had reached approximately 18 million units, vastly outperforming previous VR/AR systems and significantly expanding mainstream adoption. The marketplace continues to diversify, with Meta and other companies unveiling ever-evolving systems.

Rhythm and dance-based games constitute a major sector of the VR/AR gaming industry. Catering to diverse musical tastes and gameplay motivations—including dance, fitness, socialization, and competition—these games reshape boundaries between physical embodiment and digital performance. Multiplayer modes create dynamic virtual spaces where players can interact in real time, forming self-selected communities around musical preferences, skill levels, and gameplay styles.

Building on discourse surrounding social play in non-VR rhythm games, this paper demonstrates how multiplayer VR/AR rhythm/dance games complicate notions of public and private performance, enhance machine evaluation and feedback mechanisms, and expand the possibilities for embodied co-presence in digital spaces. Examining Beat Saber (2019–) and Synth Riders (2019–) as case studies, this paper integrates insights from digital ethnography (Tom Boellstorff et al.) with ludomusicological perspectives on participatory digital performance (Kiri Miller), social gaming (William Cheng), and game sound (Karen Collins). I argue that these games not only reflect but actively shape new paradigms of musical interaction and social connectivity in the metaverse, positioning player actions within a (meta)diegetic framework where gameplay mechanics and self-expression become mutually reinforcing.

Social media has fundamentally reshaped musical practices, fostering new forms of community, participation, and engagement. This paper explores emerging modes of collective musicking on the Chinese video platform Bilibili, expanding Christopher Small’s (1998) concept of musicking to digital contexts. While Small positioned musicking as a countermeasure to the dominance of Western classical music, this study argues that collective musicking on Bilibili challenges the hegemony of offline music by facilitating participatory, interactive, and decentralized musical experiences.

Three key dimensions of digital musicking are examined. First, Bilibili’s unique danmu (弹幕, “overlaid commentary”) transforms seemingly solitary acts of listening, viewing, and remixing into highly participatory and community-driven engagements. Second, the paper investigates the role of AI-driven voice synthesis, particularly Sovits, as a case study in human-nonhuman musical collaboration. AI-singing technologies allow users to generate and manipulate vocal performances, blurring distinctions between performer, listener, and creator. Third, collective musicking on Bilibili transcends temporal and spatial constraints, enabling asynchronous yet interactive musical experiences that reconfigure traditional notions of liveness and co-presence.

Drawing on long-term participant observation and digital ethnography, this study situates Bilibili’s musicking culture within broader ethnomusicological discussions of virtual communities, digital co-creation, and participatory music-making. By analyzing how users engage with AI and platform-specific affordances, this research highlights the shifting dynamics of agency, authorship, and musical sociality in online spaces. In doing so, it underscores the significance of digital musicking as a transformative force in contemporary ethnomusicology.

A combination of urban planning and new social and cultural policies have significantly transformed Medellín, Colombia, during the last two decades, distancing the city from the image it had as “the World Capital of Drug Trafficking” and “the Colombian Capital of Murder.” Local authorities and international media enthusiastically named this transformation “Medellín’s miracle,” presenting it as an example of how holistic urban planning and social action through the arts can transform citizens’ lives positively. However, this narrative also positioned the city as a premier destination among tourists, digital nomads, and migrants who self-described as “expats.” The consequent changes in consumption patterns and increased demand for goods and services skyrocketed the cost of living. Thus, Medellin became the ground zero of gentrification and touristification in Colombia and one of the best examples of the impact of both phenomena in Latin America. Music and musicking have been instrumental in such a process, but they have been absent in debates about gentrification and touristification. By contrasting Karol G.’s reggaeton song “Provenza” and “Medellinificación,” a song by the rap band Alkolirycoz, this paper analyzes Medellín’s case to examine the auralities resulting from accelerated gentrification and touristification processes, suggesting that music can play different roles within them. Music can be a factor that contributes to touristification and gentrification by fostering expectations that shape the listener’s affective memory, promoting the commodification of urban spaces. However, music and musicking also can become a means for expressing dissent while denouncing gentrification to encourage civil resistance and political action.