Music in mood regulation: An analysis of music through word association

Abstract

Music has the potential to be of great use to individuals as they explore various methods of self-regulation in relation to moods and emotions, especially with the current availability of music streaming services. This study investigated the music being recommended to users seeking out songs using the search term calming through three different streaming services: Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music. Forty-five songs were collected and subsequently studied through auditory analysis to evaluate similarities and differences among the recommended songs within individual streaming services and across all three streaming services. The results of this study indicated a general lack of consensus on what is calming across the three streaming services, thus suggesting the need to consider individuals’ personal preferences in music when choosing songs for emotion and mood regulation rather than relying on a key word algorithm.