“Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours.” These famous words from the music legend Elton John continue to resonate with the music and the scientific community even today.
As we step into the digital age, the digital health future has become a hot topic of debate and research in the medical world. Many predict that personalized and precision medicine will play a major role in the future to secure healthy well-being among the human population.
With advances in the medical sector embracing us at a neck- pace, we are heading toward an era of smart medicine. The advent of a myriad of smart devices coupled with emerging measuring techniques is likely to create a clear passage for optimized the overall well-being of our future generation.
Apart from these developments, there is considerable interest in understanding how the combination of music and technology could turn around the field of medicine in the upcoming years.
Will music go beyond entertainment and redefine medicine? Will the marriage between music and medicine transpire into something revolutionary? Continue reading to find out.
There are two main reasons why music is a potential game-changer for digital wellness and health.
While there are a bunch of factors that are steering these trends, there are two standout reasons why music is tipped to be a game-changer for digital wellness and health.
Let’s take a look.
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Established players are focusing on digital health and music
Today, a dazzling array of music, technology, and wellness companies are taking important steps to fuse music and health to have a commanding position in the developing digital health market.
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple has been a strong advocate of leveraging the benefits of music to promote wellness and health. There have been considerable talks about how Cook is closely tracking the movement in the healthcare space and looking to capitalize on the emerging trends.
There is a strong reason why Apple, Spotify, and Amazon are interested in the healthcare industry.
With annual spending of more than $7 trillion each year, the wellness and healthcare market is a huge giant for even the biggest firms in the world. The market presents a wide range of opportunities for tech companies.
Cook has even hinted that well-being and health will be Apple’s most noteworthy contributions to mankind.
Having said there are plenty of factors that make Apple worthy contenders of becoming the torchbearer of an organized and streamlined digital health future.
Laying down the building blocks to cement a commanding market position in the digital health and wellness space is a viable strategy. To stay ahead of the curve, Apple announced the launch of AppleFit, integrated via the Apple Watch and iPhone.
Against the backdrop of growing interest in digital health and well-being, a lot of brands are stepping into this space. Samsung rolled out Samsung Health, acquired the audio conglomerate Harmon, and also joined hands with the rapidly growing mental health solution Big Health.
Even Bose is placing bets on the future of sound health, focusing on the hearing aid space to penetrate the industry.
Consumer demand for non-pharmaceutical health solutions on rise
The music-for-wellness industry is witnessing commendable growth driven by the growing consumer demand. Today, health continues to remain one of the leading concerns around the world.
The increasing consumer demand can be attributed to a bunch of factors. These include increasing interest from artists who are looking to cater to the well-being of fans, competition between different wellness platforms for market share, and the famous record labels who are looking to make a name for themselves in the functional music industry.
Here, consumer demand is primarily based on a very essential requirement.
A recently published report from ResearchAndMarkets.com suggests that around one out of every six people are going through at least one mental disorder across the globe. Depression and stress were among the most common issues.
As the number of clinical depression cases continues to move on an upward trajectory, music has emerged as a great stress buster.
A recent study conducted by a leading international research institute revealed the benefits of music in the first year of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Some of the main benefits listed in the report include higher emotional well-being for hospital staff in Italy, decreased sadness, worry, fear, and more.
Even in Australia, there was a positive association between listening to music and life satisfaction. Another study revealed that playing music and listening to music was considered one of the most important coping activities in Italy, the United States, and Spain.
According to Cathy Olson, mental health application sessions have increased by more than 66% year-over-year since 2019. Besides, the use of music to cope with anxiety and depression has also seen a staggering growth in recent years.
So, is it safe to say that music has emerged as a drug for many people? While that may be true, music also has the ability to boost efficacy and engagement for mental health and digital wellness platforms.
Final words
Music is definitely changing the game in the digital wellness and health space. Even star athletes who have participated in the Olympics have turned to music to get their best performance.
While there is a lot of science involved in the use of music and high performance, there is no denying that music therapy has caught up with the masses.
The efficacy of music as a therapy to deal with a bunch of health concerns has also gained noteworthy traction worldwide. Apart from scientific research and studies that back these claims, a host of new technologies are also transforming the future of music as a potential medicine.
These technologies include voice analytics, Big Data, biotech, nanotech, and sensors. With research and development going on in full swing along with the widespread use of music in medicine, we are truly looking forward to discovering the power of music in this space.
For more latest news and updates, keep reading iTMunch
SEE ALSO: Paid Streaming Music Subscriptions in U.S. Top 60M
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Source:
[1] (2019) “Apple Is Going After The Healthcare Industry, Starting With Personal Health Data” Research Briefs [online] [Accessed April 2022]
