Nordic neonatal music therapy (NICU MT) and research is still in its infancy. Systematic implementation work was first initiated in Karlstad, Sweden in 2010. In Norway, a few music therapists have for shorter periods worked in neonatal intensive care, but a more systematic implementation was initiated in Oslo in 2017. An ongoing paradigm shift in neonatal health care globally isthe concept of family-centered care. The Nordic countries are in the front line of welcoming and including both parents in the care of their infant around the clock. The Nordic neonatal music therapists and researchers have here unique opportunities to be truly family-centered working in partnership with both parents, including parents from non-Nordic cultures, guiding them to be equally involved in the infant-directed communication. A research area of great interest globally is parental participation in neonatal pain management. Nordic NICU MT has pioneer status in researching the pain alleviating effect of live singing during painful procedures. Family-centered NICU MT has potential to improve procedural pain care for both infants and their parents.The authors of this paper, who are also the Nordic implementation pioneers in NICU MT in Sweden and Norway, will discuss early experiences from our implementation work and show that models of practice are not directly transferable between different cultural contexts and health care systems. The authors will emphasize the importance of a cultural sensitivity in NICU MT implementation, where parents’ participation can be included already on the planning stage when building clinical programs and designing research studies.