This article analyses how the world of work, as a material dimension, is treated in the study of music in Brazil, based on a meta-research and systematic review. The corpus consists of articles taken from the Compós and Intercom conferences.There are 178 papers. The basis of the analysis was: if the subject of work is mentioned in the research, even if not in such terms; which words are associated with the world of work; what significance does work have in each of the studies into the field of music. In general, work seems to be a word that is not said and not considered, but it makes itself known through synonyms like practices, industry and professionalization, mainly in three areas: a) industry, business and the market; b) work activities; c) places and scenes where work activities take place.
