Daniel Levitin on Music as Medicine
By Sarah Finegold | Senior Specialist, Marketing + Communications • July 17, 2025
Daniel Levitin is an award-winning neuroscientist, musician, ASCAP songwriter and New York Times best-selling author of several books, including This Is Your Brain on Music, The World in Six Songs, The Organized Mind and Successful Aging. His latest book, titled I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine, explores the healing powers of music and shows how and why it is one of the most potent therapies today. He brings together the results of numerous studies on music and the brain and demonstrates how music can contribute to the treatment of ailments such as neurodegenerative diseases, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s to cognitive injury, depression and pain.
“I think all of us have had moments in our lives where music seemed like the most important thing there was,” says Daniel in a recent interview with VERSED: The ASCAP Podcast “It profoundly altered our mood. It helped us get through a difficult time where it enhanced a great experience like a wedding or a birthday party and the medicinal side of things.”
But Daniel brings so much more to his work than an incredible scientific background. As a songwriter and musician who has worked closely with music icons such as Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, Rodney Crowell and many more, he speaks eloquently about these topics from a music creator’s perspective. Listen to the full podcast episode here, or explore some of the key insights from the conversation below…
Daniel cites real life examples of music having healing or curative properties. For example, for someone with Parkinson’s disease, playing music that has the same tempo as their walking speed will affect the neurons in their brain and improve their motor functions, even helping a person walk again. For someone with Alzheimer’s or impaired memories, playing music from their youth can help them engage with their memories to ground them further in their current time and place – perhaps even encouraging them to interact more actively with people and their environment.
Research has shown that engaging with music can create chemicals that help your brain to do things like relieve pain, increase motivation or create emotional connections. Says Daniel, “We figured out that when you listen to music you like, it releases dopamine and opioids in your brain in the so-called reward circuit. Those opioids can help relieve pain. The dopamine can help motivate you to get through an exercise workout or just get up out of bed if you're depressed. We know that singing together in a group, we're playing music together, releases oxytocin, which helps you feel more trustful and bonded to the people you're with.”
+ 7 Ways Music Can Help Reduce Stress and Anxiety
Daniel believes the ability to relate to a song comes from our collective unconscious (citing psychiatrist and psychologist Carl Jung), and the best songs appeal to unconscious emotions rather than conscious ones. Of music made using AI, Daniel says “what's missing from that equation is that human element... There is something about the human subconscious that you can never replicate.”
+ How ASCAP Is Helping Music Creators Navigate AI
Daniel had the good fortune to be mentored by legendary ASCAP songwriters Joni Mitchell and Rodney Crowell, who taught him the importance of radical sincerity and learning from the creator community. He reflects on his experience with Joni Mitchell, who told him that “it is your job as a songwriter to figure out [how you feel], or nobody else cares about what the song is saying.” He also takes the opportunity to admire the work ethic and talent of ASCAP songwriters like Max Martin, Diane Warren and Stevie Wonder.
Daniel is passionate about advocating for the rights of music creators. In recent years, he has worked with the White House Science Office on music medicine research, specifically advocating for “preventative music and arts therapy.” He hopes that the support for music in therapy and medicine will be a bipartisan undertaking, aided by the ideas in his newest book. Of the book, Daniel says “My aim was for it to appeal to just casual listeners, working musicians and producers as well as public health deciders in government, in the healthcare industry, whether it's an insurance company or a hospital administrator, physician or nurse.”
+ Listen to the full episode of VERSED: The ASCAP Podcast
+ Learn more about Daniel’s work and read the book
+ Read Daniel’s article “How Music Creators Can Use Neuroscience to Their Advantage”
“I think all of us have had moments in our lives where music seemed like the most important thing there was,” says Daniel in a recent interview with VERSED: The ASCAP Podcast “It profoundly altered our mood. It helped us get through a difficult time where it enhanced a great experience like a wedding or a birthday party and the medicinal side of things.”
But Daniel brings so much more to his work than an incredible scientific background. As a songwriter and musician who has worked closely with music icons such as Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, Rodney Crowell and many more, he speaks eloquently about these topics from a music creator’s perspective. Listen to the full podcast episode here, or explore some of the key insights from the conversation below…
Music can be a powerful therapeutic tool for a number of physical and mental challenges
Daniel cites real life examples of music having healing or curative properties. For example, for someone with Parkinson’s disease, playing music that has the same tempo as their walking speed will affect the neurons in their brain and improve their motor functions, even helping a person walk again. For someone with Alzheimer’s or impaired memories, playing music from their youth can help them engage with their memories to ground them further in their current time and place – perhaps even encouraging them to interact more actively with people and their environment.
Music can literally alter your brain chemistry
Research has shown that engaging with music can create chemicals that help your brain to do things like relieve pain, increase motivation or create emotional connections. Says Daniel, “We figured out that when you listen to music you like, it releases dopamine and opioids in your brain in the so-called reward circuit. Those opioids can help relieve pain. The dopamine can help motivate you to get through an exercise workout or just get up out of bed if you're depressed. We know that singing together in a group, we're playing music together, releases oxytocin, which helps you feel more trustful and bonded to the people you're with.”
+ 7 Ways Music Can Help Reduce Stress and Anxiety
While AI has many interesting implications for music creators, it cannot fully replicate the nuances of human-made music
Daniel believes the ability to relate to a song comes from our collective unconscious (citing psychiatrist and psychologist Carl Jung), and the best songs appeal to unconscious emotions rather than conscious ones. Of music made using AI, Daniel says “what's missing from that equation is that human element... There is something about the human subconscious that you can never replicate.”
+ How ASCAP Is Helping Music Creators Navigate AI
Mentorship and community building are vital for music creators
Daniel had the good fortune to be mentored by legendary ASCAP songwriters Joni Mitchell and Rodney Crowell, who taught him the importance of radical sincerity and learning from the creator community. He reflects on his experience with Joni Mitchell, who told him that “it is your job as a songwriter to figure out [how you feel], or nobody else cares about what the song is saying.” He also takes the opportunity to admire the work ethic and talent of ASCAP songwriters like Max Martin, Diane Warren and Stevie Wonder.
Songwriters need to advocate for their livelihoods and creators’ rights
Daniel is passionate about advocating for the rights of music creators. In recent years, he has worked with the White House Science Office on music medicine research, specifically advocating for “preventative music and arts therapy.” He hopes that the support for music in therapy and medicine will be a bipartisan undertaking, aided by the ideas in his newest book. Of the book, Daniel says “My aim was for it to appeal to just casual listeners, working musicians and producers as well as public health deciders in government, in the healthcare industry, whether it's an insurance company or a hospital administrator, physician or nurse.”
+ Listen to the full episode of VERSED: The ASCAP Podcast
+ Learn more about Daniel’s work and read the book
+ Read Daniel’s article “How Music Creators Can Use Neuroscience to Their Advantage”