Why do people enjoy music?

I'd like to share with you a bit about the mechanics behind listening to music and why people enjoy listening to it.

As humans, we strive for success and we are programmed to do just that. It is satisfying when we get something right, understand something for the first time or complete a difficult task, it is this satisfaction that we crave.

How does this relate to music?

When we listen to music, our brain anticipates the beats and the upcoming sounds, when the beat or sound is presented to us and it is the sound that we anticipated it to be, our brain rewards us with a chemical that we enjoy known as dopamine, which is why we experience enjoyment. Our brain actually rewards us for predicting the music correctly!

This is the reason why people mostly enjoy a song the third time they have listened to it because they have already learned the song and know what to anticipate.
The reason why people will love a song the first time they listen to it is because they can anticipate the upcoming sounds of the music the first time they listen to it.

People also enjoy music if it brings back memories of a time when they were in a happier state. People crave to be happy so by listening to a song that you can relate to a point in time when you were happier, it creates the illusion that you are experiencing that same point in time and therefor makes you happy which you see as just enjoying the music.

I hope that this has sparked some thought and I hope that you think of this post the next time you listen to your favorite song.

image credits: http://www.amemorymade.com/music-affects-brain-memory/