In this chapter we propose an integrated framework that links the perception and cognition of music to the production of emotion by means of psychobiological pathways recruiting various subsystems of the central and autonomous nervous systems. These pathways (which we call routes) are Appraisal, Memory, Entrainment, Empathy, and Contagion, and they permit to describe the nature and substrate of a wide variety of emotional responses to music. We focus on music characteristics, more precisely the musical structure and performance variables, as the determinant factors of emotional indication, while considering a variety of possible modulatory effects related to listener characteristics and states, the performer, and the listening context.