Introduction

Our world is filled with sounds that impact our lives, if it isn't music, it's a storm that scares us or rain that soothes our soul similar to tranquil meditation music. Life has become much more complicated than in recent years and for many people, there aren't many places to turn that give them peace of mind. For some people, meditation doesn't work or they can't seem to use its benefits properly. How do you create harmony in your life when the going gets tough? This article is about the relationship between music and culture and how the entertainment industry has blossomed while the planet is in a state of cultural and political chaos.

Brief History of Music Entertainment

You could date music back to the beginning of mankind. The first instruments known to humans were the human voice and body. People started chanting and beating on their skin to create beats. In the beginning times of musical development, music was used for rituals, not entertainment.

It isn't certain when music became a form of entertainment. Music was sacred and used to unlock communication with gods. It wasn't thousands of years later when music became a form of entertainment. When looking through the history books, if I had to choose a time period when music became entertainment, it would have to be close to medieval times. The reason is, that you'll find pheasants through parties in the streets for festivities, and if history is correct, those were times for people to gather and have fun. It wasn't a place for people to go to connect with god or as a political ritual of any sort.

As civilization grew, music also became entertainment for the rich as well. Theaters were used for concert halls and orchestras were formed to entertain the upper class. And still, the lower class had their own fun creating music in the streets.

Overtime music merged as a source of spiritual rituals and entertainment and was used for dance, theater, meditation, and social, cultural, and political movements. In each case, music could be a source of therapy for any class of people.

The Therapeutic Power of Music

Music can be therapy. For many years the ancient Om chant was used in sequence in spiritual meditation settings, churches, and temples, as a means of releasing negative energy from the body.

Tribes worldwide practiced ceremonies that incorporated chants and drum beats that reflected the rhythms of our hearts and souls. These ceremonies impacted the cultural development of the youth and tribes as a whole. Music was sacred and was used in spiritual practice, not so much in a fun setting. This was a form of therapy for Aboriginal people.

Over time, music became a means of communication, expression, entertainment, and spiritual meditation. It helped people connect with God and cope with life's struggles.

Today, science has made its way into the world of music showing the connection of human beings with frequency. Our bodies are of electrical and chemical construction which resonates with music harmony. We're finding out that even particles such as Nitrogen, resonating at the key of E. Frequency is a clear indication of our body's connection to music, and how music has the power to create harmony in our emotions.

Moreover, according to  Frontiers of Psychology, in an article written by Kailimi Li titled (The State of Music Therapy Studies in the Past 20 Years: A Bibliometric Analysis), there have been a lot of publications on music therapy, and the results were "Results: In this study, a total of 1,004 studies met the inclusion criteria. These works were written by 2,531 authors from 1,219 institutions. The results revealed that music therapy publications had significant growth over time because the linear regression results revealed that the percentages had a notable increase from 2000 to 2019 (t = 14.621, P < 0.001). The United States had the largest number of published studies (362 publications), along with the following outputs: citations on WoS (5,752), citations per study (15.89), and a high H-index value (37). The three keywords “efficacy,” “health,” and “older adults,” emphasized the research trends in terms of the strongest citation bursts." 

The conclusions are positive, psychologists see music as providing positive therapy for people with anxiety, depression, and different types of social traumas. 

Music and Culture

Music helps to shape and develop culture, and culture influences the music musicians compose for the world. Music is an art form that many times reflects the culture happening around the musician. Politics and social norms shape musicians. The music written around a certain topic has divided people, brought people together in peace, and created new cultural movements.

Nearly every country has a unique spin and taste of music. For example, although African beats influenced much of Europe, Spain was a country that took much of their beats and rhythms and put them into their style which became flamenco music. Italy and France are close countries in proximity, however, have very different styles of music where Italians have more of a dance groove to most of their music and the French have more classical and soft dinner music.

India and China are Asian countries with very different styles of music that have developed over thousands of years. India's music is tranquil and wavy with chants and has a spiritual vibe to it. The Chinese have a unique twist to their music where they use and develop what we know of the pentatonic scale, and their music has a square tonality to it.

On the other side of the ocean, Brazil inherited culture from Spain and has similar influences, however, they created their unique music form called Bossa nova. Much of South America inherited African beats though their music is very different. Some parts have an upbeat and funky feel and others are more majestic and smooth. 

In America, music has come from all parts of the world. Chants from slaves developed into the blues, which eventually curated into rock, and eventually merged with classical harmonies creating Jazz, and eventually merging Austrian fiddle music into Bluegrass music.  

What runs parallel with each of these styles and cultural developments of music is, how the people gravitate toward a sense of spiritual relief, using music as a way to escape the struggles of the day-to-day life,  music becomes a means to balance harmony in their lives. 

Politics and Music

Politics is like culture where it is also a reflection of music. Politics influences music and vice versa. When you look at politics worldwide and the music that has risen around time periods, you can see a correlation between the culture and rituals from the hierarchies of those civilizations and cultural systems.

The reason politics matters when it comes to music creating harmony within chaos is, many times politics is the direct cause of chaos, driving people insane, feeling surprised, and influencing the majority of our lives.

Looking at politics in the current state of the world, you can see political systems dismantling in every country. There isn't one country in the world today that seems to be in complete balance. Wars are breaking out on every continent, inflation rising at extraordinary rates, droughts affecting crops and food systems, and people are left with few places to turn to for relief.

Remember, when you look through history, musicians like artists, create music as a reflection of their individual lives, and the current state of the world around them, which provides a place for people to turn to for an understanding of what is happening around them. When political systems create chaos in people's lives, even if musicians aren't composing music that reflects political events, people are forced to find happiness somewhere, and that place is music.

Music Entertainment Today

According to Nicolo Conte (Oct 20th, 2023), music revenue in the United States grew steadily 7 years in a row to $15.9BB today. What is shocking to see is, looking at individual bands' revenue over the past few years after the pandemic, bands have doubled their revenue even with people struggling with inflation and bills, they still pay for live music.

Band margins are also much higher than ever before, and whether that is due to rising prices or inflation, it shows that people are paying top dollar when they're in a bad financial situation. Why are people paying top dollar for something that they can barely afford? How are concerts being packed in and sold out when economies are doing so badly?

This goes back to people needing to find happiness when their lives feel chaotic.

Music is a place to not just entertain people, it is a place for people to find harmony in their lives even for just a few hours. Dancing and screaming, singing with their favorite artists is deeply ingrained in our history and is very similar to the origins of spiritual rituals.

It doesn't need to be meditation music. It doesn't need to be political music. It doesn't need to be correlated with therapy to be therapy for people. Music in it of itself is a form of therapy for all people. This is why music is considered to be a universal language.

And with all the rising prices and inflation, the facts and statistics that show music streaming revenue growing, live music revenue growing, individual artists going viral, and people spending their hard-earned money on every part of music, show how music is a therapeutic relief that helps create harmony in peoples lives.

Conclusion: Music is Therapy

When life gets tough and there seems to be nowhere else to run, music is a place that provides a level of safety in our souls. All types of music provide therapy for people and there is evidence behind that. If people are willing to spend money they're not able to spend, but spend it anyway, is a clue people gravitate to music for relief. Additionally, there are quantifiable measurements to the brain that music enhances the body's vibrations and more than enough studies with psychologists on the therapeutic power of music. When life gets chaotic, look into different types of music to help you balance your emotions. it doesn't need to be meditative, it doesn't have to be live music, it just needs to resonate with you at that moment. Sit and listen, dance, sing, and allow it to provide therapy in your life.

Citation Links :

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.697726/full

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/music-industry-revenues-by-format/

https://toneisland.com/music-industry-statistics/

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/music-industry-sales/