Warner Music Trials ‘Musical Medicine’ for Pain, Anxiety, and Stress

Warner Music partners with a medical tech company to trial ‘musical medicine’ to ease pain, stress, and anxiety.

Warner Music Group (WMG) has announced a partnership with British health tech startup MediMusic to help trial “music as medicine” to relieve pain, anxiety, and stress. Through the partnership, MediMusic will conduct research testing in several closed Randomized Controlled Trials in both the US and the UK.

Using playlists from WMG’s catalog of music delivered to various patients and sample groups, the trials will observe how they respond in real-time. Starting in Q1 2024, the partnership will allow further trials to take place in hospitals and care homes.

MediMusic’s algorithms extract the “relevant features from the digital DNA” of a song, resulting in a “fingerprint” for healthcare use. With AI machine learning and patient-specific data, MediMusic creates personalized 20-minute playlists, then plays the music through headphones for the patient. The playlists are designed to reduce heart rate and stress hormones, such as cortisol, and promote relaxation through hormones like dopamine and oxytocin.

A heart rate monitor worn on the wrist allows MediMusic to monitor the physiological effect of the music — if the listener’s heart rate does not respond as expected, MediMusic’s AI machine learning swaps out tracks in the playlist to compensate and invoke a slower relaxation. MediMusic then provides evidence-based KPIs showing the service benefit and potential medication cost savings.

WMG’s first music therapy deal, the partnership aims to illustrate the company’s commitment to expanding beyond fitness and into the broader health and wellness space, having previously secured deals with Peloton, Apple Fitness+, Equinox, and more.

“At WMG, we are focused on finding new ways for our artists and music to be used for good, to benefit society, and to empower an ecosystem of partners with similar goals,” says Michael Baines, VP of Digital Strategy and Business Development at WMG. “Together with MediMusic, we’re thrilled to explore the transformative healing power of music in their ‘music as medicine’ trials — we are just beginning to scratch the surface of what’s possible.”

“This partnership with WMG is hugely important in helping us on our global mission to prescribe music and medicine to ease anxiety, pain, and stress,” says Gary Jones, CEO and co-founder of MediMusic. “We’ve always known music is good for our soul — but there are thousands of medical papers and studies that prove music can also improve our health. Together with WMG’s catalog of music, we can gather more data to improve our technology so that music can be used as medicine to help people around the world.”

MediMusic’s initial UK National Health Service trials with people living with dementia found it reduced the heart rate in anxious dementia patients by 25%. Used in hospitals, care homes, and dental surgeries, MediMusic believes it could slash medication bills by up to a quarter. MediMusic has already been piloted in care homes in the UK, including Orchard Care Home in Brigg, North Lincolnshire, for its 29 residents.