Looking at the importance of music and other arts for societies, they can bring people of different generations together. This is beacuse people always enjoy them. For example, young people still listen to music from the times of their parents or even granpartents. Because of this, young people can be friends with older generations, talking about songs which both of them enjoy. Another example is paintings, particularly ones from a long time ago such as the 17th century. They have existed for a very long time, which means people of all ages might have seen before. Same as music, young people can make a good relationship with the elderly as they have the same topic to talk about.
Regarding indivduals, with arts people can easily learn about many things like history and science. Novels and films are best examples. This is because consuming these arts is much easier than studying these subjects in classroom using textbooks. This is particularly true for children. Other advantage is, listening to music, people can increase their productivity. It is scientifically proven that, with favourite songs, people can focus more on their tasks. In fact, some famous high schools and comapneis in japan play music during class and office hours expecting to increase productivity.
In conclusion, every soeicty in the world has music and other forms of art. I think they are very important for both societies and individuals as mentioned above.