A sensor processing unit comprises a microphone and a sensor processor. The sensor processor is coupled with the microphone. The sensor processor is configured to operate the microphone to capture an audio sample from an environment in which the microphone is disposed. The sensor processor is configured to perform music activity detection on the audio sample to detect for music within the audio sample. Responsive to detection of music within the audio sample, the sensor processor is configured to send a music detection signal to an external processor located external to the sensor processing unit, the music detection signal indicating that music has been detected in the environment.