New Age Music - History

History

New Age music was influenced by a wide range of artists from a variety of genres—for example, folk instrumentalists John Fahey and Leo Kottke, classical minimalists Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass, synthesizer performers Pink Floyd and Brian Eno, and impressionistic jazz artists Keith Jarrett, Paul Horn (beginning with 1968's Inside) and Pat Metheny. Many different styles and combinations of electronic experimental and acoustic New Age music was introduced in the 1970s including music from Asia, such as Kitaro and Yellow Magic Orchestra.

Steven Halpern's Spectrum Suite, released in 1975, is generally credited as the album that began the New Age music movement. New Age music was initially produced and sold only by independent labels. The sales reached significant numbers in unusual outlets such as bookstores, gift stores, health food stores and boutiques, as well as direct mail. In 1981, Tower Records in Mountain View, California added a New Age bin. By 1985, independent and chain record retail stores were adding sections for New Age music and major labels began showing interest in the genre, both through acquisition of some existing New Age labels such as Paul Winter's Living Music and through signing of New Age artists such as Kitaro and jazz crossover artist Pat Metheny, both signed by Geffen.

On Valentine's Day in 1987, the former Los Angeles rock radio station KMET changed to a full-time New Age music format with new call letters KTWV, branded as The Wave. During The Wave's New Age music period, management told the station employees to refer to The Wave as a "mood service" rather than a "radio station". DJs stopped announcing the titles of the songs, and instead, to maintain an uninterrupted mood, listeners could call a 1-800 phone number to find out what song was playing. News breaks were also re-branded and referred to as "wave breaks". Stations in other cities followed this lead and in 1983, Stephen Hill's radio show Music From The Hearts of Space was picked up by NPR for syndication to 230 affiliates nationally. Other New Age music specialty radio programs included Forest's Musical Starstreams and John Diliberto's Echoes. Most major cable television networks have channels that play music without visuals, including channels for New Age music, such as the "Soundscapes" channel on Music Choice.

By 1989, there were over 150 small independent record labels releasing New Age music, and New Age music and adult alternative programs were carried on hundreds of commercial and college radio stations in the U.S., and over 40 distributors were selling New Age music through mail order catalogs.