This Special Issue is motivated by, but not limited to, the current processes and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global civic rights movement related to “Black Lives Matter”, which highlights systemic racism as an epidemic in many societies around the world. It gathers a broad range of scholarly and artistic perspectives on crises in popular music composition and production, labour, business, education, societies and cultures. It contains five articles, four statements on the crises specificities from different parts of the world, one of which in podcast format, and two book reviews.