Long before the invention of cinema, music always served multiple functions: religious, entertainment, dance, accompaniment, and for events such as festivals or fireworks, and, of course, in the world of theater. However, are these so-called functional music forms less valuable than so-called “pure music,” intended solely for concerts? Many concert works are now forgotten, while others, written on commission for specific events, have remained references in the classical repertoire: the cantatas of J.S. Bach, or Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks and Water Music, to name a few.

There are numerous examples in the history of 20th-century music: for instance, Maurice Ravel’s Boléro, Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, and Pierre Henry and Michel Colombier’s Messe pour le temps présent are ballet music. Alexander Nevsky and Lieutenant Kijé, two masterpieces by Sergei Prokofiev, were created for cinema. As such, while the original purpose may be forgotten, the work endures.

Today, a young audience of collectors, researchers, DJs, or musicology students is interested in the little-known, often off-the-beaten-path history of production music. The beautiful book by Jonny Trunk, The Music Library (FUEL Publishing, 2005), is an excellent introduction to the graphic and sound aesthetic of vinyl records released by production music publishers from the 1950s to the 1980s.