Very interesting question, that i just wrote an exam about. Of course most of the information left my brain as soon as i handed in the exam, but i do remember some stuff. The question of meaning in music has split musicologists for a while, and the ideas, iirc, are split largely into the people who think music has meaning in itself, eg. music has meaning because of the mathematical proportions in it, or just because it "sounds good", and the people who think its something outside the music that gives it meaning, eg. It expresses an experience or an emotion, or because of its social and cultural context. I myself fall on the latter, cause i believe music doesnt exist in a vacuum, and i see music as almost a ritual, where humans come together and share the experience of music. I reccommend checking out "Musicking" by i think Christopher Small, and i think Phillip Tagg had some interesting ideas about this topic aswell, just dont go to his website tagg.org, lol.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk