Not so. At least not on the ‘late 2012’ version:
I haven’t connected a keyboard, mouse or monitor since the day I first set it up. It just sits there, small, silent and discreet. If powered iff, includjng a power cut, you just use the on/off button back right to restart - unlike a PC it has no care about being powered down incorrectly, and restarts perfectly every time. If I want to turn it off for any reason I just use that button.
I use the (free) VNC Viewer software from my phone or tablet in the event of needing to do anything with the Mac, whether update software, add more music, or anything else - just open the VNC app on the mobile device, it connects and shows a virtual screen, from which you have full control just as if monitor, mouse anx keyboard were connected, though the different physical actions compared to a mouse and keyboard take a few minutes to get used to. (I installed it on the MM when first setting up - if not done I guess you would indeed need monitor, mouse and keyboard to download and install on it.)