Ongoing History Daily: The weird world of library music

Here’s a genre of music that may be you to you: “Library music.”

Its history goes back to the 1920s when a company called De Wolfe Music began creating generic material that could be licensed to use in conjunction with silent films. De Wolfe offered hundreds of compositions that made it easier and a lot cheaper for filmmakers to find music for their movies. As electronic media evolved, the market for this cheap, off-the-shelf, and, frankly, disposable music grew and grew.

Studios, TV networks, and radio stations all used these generic works. Each year, new libraries with thousands of pieces of music would be created and old libraries were retired.

Today, old library music can be very collectible and in-demand as a source of samples and sound effects. What was once very old is being made very fresh again.