In this article, the author describes major aspects of networked music as observed in the course of extended scholarship on the subject. The Internet protocols' condition of hosting systems for two-way communication is considered to mark the central difference from earlier media of audio dissemination. Musical uses of, and critical reflections on, this characteristic are shown to differ according to the diverse cultural lines or backgrounds of academic composition, media art or pop music. The author proposes that musical systems based on non-hierarchical networks primarily support the development of music as a collective communal activity.