International Music Day was created by UNESCO on October 1, 1975. Jack Lang, then Minister of Culture, and Maurice Fleuret, Director of Music and Dance at the Ministry, also influenced by Cohen, gave the event the decisive impetus and the first national holiday was celebrated on 21 June 1982.

In 2011, this festival became completely international: in less than thirty years, it has been revived in 110 countries on five continents (since 1985 in Europe) and in both hemispheres, with more than 340 participating cities around the world (among the latest, the city of Bogotá since 2012). In 2014, the French website lists more than 120 countries that have taken over this musical event.

The Music Festival takes place around the world on June 21 (a date that most often coincides with the first day of summer in the northern hemisphere), mainly in the evening and at night until the next morning. It is currently celebrated in about a hundred countries. Various local music festivals that used to take place on this solstice day are now taking part in this popular festival.