Music is an important aspect of all human cultures. Music is meant to give new experiences, to give sense and meaning to life, to console and to promote social coherence and personal identity in and across very diverse social and ethnic groups. Rooted in the biology of every human being, music is a core occupation of our technological society. By 2020, music will have become a commodity as ubiquitous as water or electricity. Its content and the activities surrounding it will promote new business ventures, which in turn will bolster the music and cultural/creative industries. Sound and Music Computing (SMC) will provide the core technologies for this ongoing revolution in electronic music culture. Its major research contribution to advances in the field will be to bridge the semantic gap, the hiatus that currently separates sound from sense. This contribution will stimulate fruitful interaction between culture, science and industry.