Hey everyone, thanks for joining me again!
Glad all roads brought you back, here. Here’s this week’s blog and for the month of March, we shall be celebrating ‘Women’s History Month.’

I’ll start off by saying I’m learning about this stuff. I’m simply sharing what I’ve learned on my own. If there is something you think I’ve missed, leave your thoughts in the comments section on YouTube when the Podcast episode drops, later this week.

 Did music become more about making money at one point, or what is always like this? I ask this because while doing research on this topic, I realized that music was always a way to get attention from the masses. People will pay to feel good. The businessmen who founded the music industry started to realize this. Have you given any thought to the influence record labels have on your thoughts and feelings?

To discover how to convince consumers to part with their cash and put it in the hands of large labels, millions, if not billions, have been spent over the years. What if your musical preferences are being influenced, and you find yourself drawn to songs that are bad for your body, soul, and mind? What if the different genres’ frequencies had an impact on your thoughts and feelings?

Have you ever considered how music impacts your daily life? If you enjoy listening to music, have you ever thought about how various songs make you feel? A song has the power to bring back memories of the exact time you first heard it. There are songs that inspire you to dance, sit down, and bop your head, songs that inspire you to use drugs or drink alcohol, tunes that can incite violence, etc. I think you understand what I’m saying. Have you considered the science of why you are drawn to particular music or why it affects you in the way it does?

Have you considered the possibility that the decision to purchase music or pay for a streaming service is being made intentionally to persuade you to part ways with your money? If you don’t believe that music affects you, then… You’re lying to yourself. Let’s look at why it might be.

Going back to the early 1900s, when the music industry was just getting started, will help us understand why music is created the way it is. As we may already be aware, there was no way to capture music in the era of Beethoven or Mozart. The only way to appreciate music was to attend a live performance by a musician or a play of some sort.

When recorded music wasn’t a thing, I sometimes wondered what people’s thoughts were like. When I claim to always have a song playing in my thoughts, I am only speaking for myself. Always skipping from song to song, my mental soundtrack is on shuffle. In the past, what was going through people’s minds? Due to the countless ways, we can consume music in the present era, we are unquestionably spoiled. Mobile phones, shopping centres, television, radio, and video games. It doesn’t matter how you look at it, music is all around us.

Here’s something I read when doing research on this topic…
“Before recorded music, there were only a few ways you could listen to music: theatre, like on Broadway, in church, and through sheet music.”
“In fact, the most common way songwriters would make money was by selling sheet music. Sheet music worked like this, someone would go to the grocery store or retail store and buy the newest song (think ragtime music) and would then go home, and someone (probably granny) would play it on the piano for everyone to hear.”

Introducing the Phonograph…
“In the late 1800s, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph. He patented a way to record audio onto tinfoil cylinders. Eventually, he invented the machine with two needles, one to record and one to playback. Basically, he would speak into the mic, and the vibrations were indented onto the cylinder. The first song? Mary Had a little lamb. Recording, in those days, was always for business purposes like dictation or telephone messages. It wasn’t immediately intended to be used for entertainment.”
“Originally when it came to the various types of cylinders, they could only hold up to 2 mins of audio. Not to mention, there was no way to replicate them, the speaker or musician had to re-record each performance over and over.”

The First Record Label… 
“In theory, the first “record label” was Edison Records, but really it was just referring to the cylinders and not a collective of musicians or anything like that. The second record label was Columbia Records. The oldest record label that is still in operation today! “Victor Talking Machines- Victor was known for higher quality sounding records than Columbia, and they both released a collection of Opera recordings as some of the first musical records to be sold. ”

“Fast forward to the mid 1900s. By the end of the sixties, CBS was the top record label followed by Warner Brothers. RCA Victor, Capitol Records, Polygram, and MCA were also very popular and by the 70s we had new labels like EMI and Curb Records.
Over the past 25 years, more and more mergers have left only 3 major labels. Warner, Universal, and Sony.”

The list of subsidiary labels is huge. For example, under Universal, you have labels like: Island, Def Jam, Verve, Interscope, Capitol Records, and other international brands.  Subsidiaries of Sony include Columbia, Epic, Provident, The Orchard, RCA.”
Source:
–The History of Record Labels – Everything You Need to Know About Record Labels [2023] (otherrecordlabels.com)


I think this is when things start to become messy. Profits are the industry’s primary motivator. The music itself doesn’t interest them. They just consider how much money someone’s artistic creations can bring in for them. These businesses exploit people’s souls. I use the word “soul” because I want you to consider the source of your music. They run a company where they make money off of people’s expressions.

I heard a study from the YouTube content creator “Hello Yassine.” The evolution of the music industry from the sharing of creative works to the development of recorded sound and how musicians have always been treated unjustly was highly enlightening. Profits and losses in the music business have always been highly erratic.

The music industry needs to find a means to captivate listeners and eventually lead to a situation where fans worship musicians. I use the word “worship” for a reason. Many people perceive their favourite musicians as being more important than God.

Definition of worship: The feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.

The music industry wants this specifically. They want us to support our favourite musicians in order for them to benefit the most. What happens when businesses learn how to influence our thoughts and feelings? How can you tell if your attraction to a particular kind of music is natural? Does it help you feel better to know that you enjoy the song because researchers have attempted to make you enjoy tunes that aren’t very “good”? Or does that make you feel uneasy?c

When I say good, I mean good for you and your growth into a good person who makes a constructive contribution to the world and society.
I briefly touched on the history of the music business because I believe it is important for us to understand how the insane sums of money made from music sales came to be and how rapidly it developed into a corrupt marketplace where we, the customers, are being abused.

Here’s an opinion I came across about today’s state of Hip Hop:
“Tastes differ, but there is a surefire test you can use on any music. Does it make you grateful? After listening to it, do you find it easier to say “thank you”? Do you find it easier to smile and lend a hand to family, friends, and stray cats for a while afterward? This can be beautiful, uplifting music, but it can also be what I call “repentance music” that makes you feel like you wish to become purer of heart and regret your past failures. But it should always lead to gratitude in the end.

If the music makes you grumpy or suspicious, proud or aggressive, depressed or lethargic, then it is bad for you. If it only makes you want to listen to more music, then it is merely entertaining – mostly harmless except for robbing us of our time. But if it makes you grateful to be born in a world where this kind of beauty exists, then it was made for you.”

Another one…
“If we listen to the real rap music, then we can hear the musicians talking about their sorrows and calling their God for explanation..we can all relate to that…hip hop, like all the other genres, has been polluted by talentless junkies who show that smoking and drinking is the way of life, but they fail to show why they live like that or why they need to consume substances to get through the day. Musicians like 2pac, Ice T, Dr. Dre, Biggie, Eminem, even later 50 Cent and Chamillionaire were poets and their songs were inspiring and spiritual too. They tried to teach us to be positive even in the most negative environment.”

I find the last statement interesting, considering that 50 Cent’s music was about “up one-ing” his opponents and even going as far as suggesting putting holes from bullets in his enemies. To those who can decipher what “Fiddy” was saying in his music, he doesn’t really mean you should go and ki** people. He’s suggesting that you should “Get Rich Or Die Tryin’.”
See what I did there.

These statements make me realize something that I had not previously given much thought to. Should we only play upbeat music while we listen to music? Music that inspires us to be good? In all honesty, mainstream music includes an insane amount of negative, boastful music. Because that’s what the culture as a whole teaches us, we consider being able to afford Louis Vuitton and other exorbitantly expensive luxuries as a sign of success. Everything is linked. In my humble opinion, the music industry is a significant economic engine for the entire planet.

Here’s a quote I came across that I think might spark some deep thought. Or maybe not. But I thought it was cool.
“Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears – it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear. But for many of my neurological patients, music is even more – it can provide access, even when no medication can, to movement, to speech, to life. For them, music is not a luxury, but a necessity.”
― Oliver Sacks

Let’s take a look at a study I read about how different genres affect our moods.

Your Brain And Music
Music triggers the chemical dopamine to release. Dopamine is a “feel-good” neurotransmitter that is associated with pleasure and serves as part of our brain’s reward system. Mood, motivation, attention, movement, learning, and emotional response are all connected to the release of dopamine, making it extremely important.

Along with dopamine, endorphins are released when listening to music. These chemicals act as natural pain and stress-relievers — actually having a physical impact on your body. Music also helps to maintain cortisol levels, which are also linked to stress.
Speaking of physical impacts, research has shown that music can improve your immune system by stimulating the output of antibodies. This is why methods like music therapy are so successful for patients recovering from surgery.

Pop
Those who are fans of pop music are said to have high self-esteem and an outgoing attitude. This is because pop music is a stimulant that gets your blood pumping and emotions racing. When you listen to pop music, the auditory cortex relays the rhythmic beat to the brain, making you want to sing and dance.

Classical
If you’ve ever been a student, you’ve probably tried listening to multiple classical tracks to improve your study habits. Although the Mozart Effect isn’t really responsible for acing that exam, listening to classical music does have its advantages as far as brain chemistry goes.
Classical music has a calming effect over its listeners and has been known to:
Lower blood pressure
Relieve chronic pain
Reduce physical symptoms of depression
Reduce inflammation
Improve healing

Aside from this, classical music has also been found to play a role in sleep therapy studies due to its relaxing qualities. Psychologically, classical music lowers stress levels and soothes aggression. In a 2005 study by Mashable.com and the sound brand   BOSE, the London Underground projected classical music on public platforms, and they found that physical and verbal abuse between young people in these areas decreased by 33%. So, if your favourite song is a piano sonata, you probably value relaxation and enjoy your study time.

Metal
A lot of people shy away when it comes to heavy metal or hard rock. That’s because so many believe it to be aggressive or evil-minded. But actually, metal music has the same effect on its fans’ brains as pop music.
Professor Bill Thompson of the Australian University studied the emotional effects of music on its listeners and found that hard rock and heavy metal fans are typically nice people who do not feel compelled to commit any acts of violence despite what some parents and grandparents think.
Metal and hard rock can actually help with emotional management and instill a larger sense of empowerment than most music genres.
 
Hip-Hop and Rap
Hip-Hop is definitely known for self-expressive pieces, some of which fueled important societal movements.
Recently, rap and hip-hop music has been used therapeutically for treating mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. Hip-Hop Therapy has surprised therapists with its success, but how does rap improve our mental state? The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders conducted a study that scanned the brains of rappers during their freestyles. The scans showed that the areas of the brain concerning motivation, language, emotion, motor function and sensory processing were at work. Similar to jazz improvisation, rap is able to hack into the brain’s most creative spaces and alter our emotions.

Our brains are able to interpret vibrations and frequencies into sounds. Those sounds and frequencies almost always induce an emotion. I believe that record labels are 100% aware of how this works down to a science. Are our souls being tampered with, considering what the popular music of today promotes? Think of it like this, adult humans are made up of about 60% water. There are studies that have been conducted that show how water crystals change in shape based on the music that is played from various genres.

Here’s a study by Japanese scientist and healer Masaru Emoto, who discovered how sounds affect water’s structure.
His study showed that “Overall, the words that people associate with evil, aggression,
fear, etc. destroy water. Structures turn them into chaotic, incomplete and fragmentary crystals. Water charged with “positive” words, in contrast, has a clear, snowflake structure, covered by beautiful patterns.” “Music, as well as words, can also affect water structures. Heavy metal, deathcore, black metal and etc. create water spoils, such as trembling and vibration, whereas Mozart’s music creates smooth crystal-clear structures.” “Summing everything up, water is able to heal and, at the same time, destroy entire cities and civilizations. Events that occur in the world – are the reflection of charge that we are laying in the information field, formed by water.”
Source:
how sounds affect water? | SiOWfa15: Science in Our World: Certainty and Controversy (psu.edu)

Have you heard about the frequency that allegedly is the natural frequency of the universe?
 
“432 Hz. The magic number everybody is talking about. It is said to be the natural frequency of the universe, to have cosmic healing powers and to attract masses of the audience to our music. Just by tuning our music less than a semitone below our standard A=440Hz, we are promised direct access to the universe’s hidden treasures.”

“There are some spiritual concepts associated with A432, but people don’t tend to take these seriously.
High-strung energy and high tension is a huge issue within Western culture. People don’t really know how to relax or use their bodies, and they don’t spend much time thinking or learning about it. That’s why yoga, meditation, and other eastern concepts of flow and energy have become really popular – these things are greatly needed in the West now. People are searching for ways to relieve the tension and the toxic energy in their lives.”

“The music and audio industry currently uses the A = 440 Hz universal standard pitch tuning around the world. It wasn’t always this way. In fact, 440 Hz has been the standard for less than a hundred years, a drop in the bucket in terms of music history. The tuning of A = 432 Hz, also used throughout music history, is making quite a comeback these days, especially in the field of sound healing and meditation. Researchers, scientists and musicians are leading a growing movement to prove this tuning is best for heart-centred, therapeutic sound work.”

“In the early 20th century, there was a need to make a universal pitch standard used by all for sake of instrument makers, composers and orchestras everywhere. Even though 432 Hz was fully supported by the French and Italian composers through most of the classical music periods, 440 Hz eventually became the universal pitch standard. German Physicist Johann Heinrich Scheibler invented a device called the Tonometer and did the first experiments with 440 Hz tuning in the mid-1800s. The Tonometer consisted of 54 tuning forks with a range of 220 Hz to 440 Hz spaced at 4 Hz intervals. His work became widely recognized, and a conversation began about a standardized tuning.”

“After much debate, the US adopted 440 Hz as the standard in 1936. Europe soon followed with its adoption many years after it was first proposed on both continents. Even today, musicians believe that music played in 432 Hz tuning has a better audience response, has a calming effect and sounds more integrated overall. 
It is still not entirely clear why 440 Hz was chosen. It seems the scientific experiments by Scheibler had a lot of influence on this choice as opposed to what tuning may have been more in line with the harmonic ratios and relationships found in nature.”
Source:
Music Theory: Exploring The 432Hz Tuning Debate : Ask.Audio

Have you heard of the 9 Solfeggio Frequencies?

My friend, Leroy Escobar, mentioned this next term in conversation when we were chatting. I respect this man, and that’s why I felt compelled to look into what he mentioned. Here’s what I found:

“The Solfeggio Frequencies are used to open the chakras and bring about various mental and physical health benefits, depending on the frequency used. The primary 9 Solfeggio frequencies range from 174 Hz to 963 Hz.”

174 Hz – Relieving Pain and Stress
285 Hz – Healing Tissue and Organs
417 Hz – Undoing Situations and Facilitating Change
528 Hz – Transformation and Miracles
639 Hz – Connecting Relationships
852 Hz – Returning to Spiritual Order
963 Hz – Divine Consciousness or Enlightenment

“Further investigation into Solfeggio Frequencies took place in 1988 when a biochemist named Dr. Glen Reins began looking into the effect of sound waves on the human body. Rein’s experiment exposed DNA to four different styles of music. Sanskrit mantras, Gregorian chants, classical, and rock. He then measured the rate of UV light absorption, a critical function of healthy DNA. By doing this, Rein could assess the effects of each type of music on the DNA.”

“The results were shocking! Gregorian chants and Sanskrit mantras increased UV light absorption between 5 to 9 percent, promoting DNA repair. Classical music increased UV absorption by small amounts, and rock music decreased UV light absorption, damaging the DNA. Rein’s research proved the theory that sound frequencies do produce serious effects, for better or worse, on our health and well-being. Solfeggio frequencies are specific tones used to elicit a certain physical or mental response.”

1. These frequencies can aid healing, and each one relates to one of the chakras in the body.

2. Listening to Solfeggio frequencies will help enhance any chakra meditation course, helping to rebalance each of the 7 main chakras around the body.

3. The benefits of the Solfeggio frequencies range from relieving pain to repairing DNA and rebuilding relationships.

4. There are 9 main Solfeggio frequencies, ranging from 174 Hz to 963 Hz.

5. The benefits of listening to Solfeggio frequencies include physical and mental healing, improved sleep, reduced anxiety and lower cholesterol. (Allegedly)
Source:
The 9 Solfeggio Frequencies and Their Benefits – MindEasy

Music triggers the chemical dopamine to release. Dopamine is a “feel-good” neurotransmitter that is associated with pleasure and serves as part of our brain’s reward system. Mood, motivation, attention, movement, learning, and emotional response are all connected to the release of dopamine, making it extremely important.
Source:
https://www.incadence.org/post/your-taste-in-music-is-actually-scientific#:~:text=The%20scans%20showed%20that%20the,Dr.

With all this talk about frequencies and how it affects our brains, what are 808 drums doing to us? Hip Hop has gone way low when it comes to the vibe it creates.

According to an article by Forbes,
“A recent research study found that low-frequency bass makes people more likely to dance at a live music performance, even if they can’t actually hear the extremely low sounds.” “A few dozen attendees at a live music show in Canada got a unique opportunity to dance for science. They were fitted with a headband that monitored their movement during the show while, unbeknownst to them, a very low-frequency bass sound was switched on and off every few minutes. The sound was so low (between 8 and 37 Hz) that it was inaudible to the human ear. But even though the participants didn’t know about the sound and couldn’t hear it, their headbands recorded more movements when the bass was on.”

“That could suggest that low-frequency sounds encourage people to dance. But the researchers from McMaster University who ran this study don’t yet know how this works. They speculate that the low frequencies are being picked up by other parts of the nervous system even though they’re not actively recognized as sounds. They even did an additional test to confirm that the test subjects really didn’t notice when the low-frequency sounds were on or off. Whatever was happening was not using the usual brain pathways through which people process sound.”
Source: Low-Frequency Bass Encourages Dancing (forbes.com)

We’ve looked at how record companies came to be, how greed has contributed to the industry’s main driving force, and how science has significantly influenced the kind of music we listen to and the effects that music has on our bodies.

When we evaluate what the main message of popular music in the West is, we cannot argue that it does not promote ideas that will progress our moral development. If we don’t use religion as a moral compass, can we honestly say that popular music promotes good things? When we hear songs about heartache, we aren’t thinking about anything positive. Songs that encourage murdering your “opps” do not help civilization, either.

In an interview with The Breakfast Club, record executive Lyor Cohen answered, “I have people to feed, I’ve got a business to run,” when asked why he contracts musicians that support drug use. Clear and concise. Record labels don’t care how the music affects its listeners.
Now consider what the Reggaeton culture of today is advocating. Reggaeton has always been associated with violence and sexual immorality. Are we shocked by Reggaeton’s success on a worldwide scale? In spite of this, it is praised as “Latin excellence.” Particularly when “lean and prescription drug use” became cool to do, hip hop has taken a dark turn. Reggaeton and Latin Hip Hop are also very popular genres that promote drug use. Can we, nevertheless, reject reality? The music sounds great. They have a hook. 

Understanding precisely the types of tunes “YOU” will enjoy has cost the music industry a lot of money. The formula for what “success” looks like in the “coming up” of a new musician or music producer has also been heavily funded by people who are not in the spotlight. Always pay attention to what you’re eating. It’s not always “organic.”
Written By: Mario Funes
Contact: Info@wokeuparebel.com
DM via Instagram/Twitter: @wokeuparebel

Don’t forget to check out the Artist Spotlight section of the Newsletter to find out what our picks were that stood out from the Woke Up A Rebel Playlist.
Have a blessed week!
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