Library music
Library music is enjoying a vinyl renaissance, but was nearly left to languish in the vaults forever. Don’t burn down the library until you’ve heard all the music, says Chris Parkin…
Chris Parkin
If you’re a fan of schlocky 70s horror films – or indeed, you’ve ever turned on a TV – then you will have heard library music. These are songs or incidental tracks composed for TV or film to capture a mood or soundtrack an activity, thus avoiding the costs of proper live scores, and before digital software, library music was essential. Grandstand, Countdown, Grange Hill… they all featured it. And pioneering artists such as Ennio Morricone and Delia Derbyshire began their careers making it.