Júlia Durand's illuminating book offers a welcome meditation on the nature of expressive conventions in music by turning to the much-misunderstood field of library music. Through an exploration of functionality and adaptability, it reframes creativity not as a fixed aesthetic value but as the result of contingent practices largely shaped by audiovisual contexts in the age of web platforms and digital participatory culture. By thus examining 'music for imagined images', the author probes the paradoxes of anonymity vs. authorship, of craft vs. art, and of music caught in the apparent contradiction of being both effective and inconspicuous. Library music emerges here as unapologetically utilitarian: the striking claim that 'library music … is a composition looking ahead at its own decomposition' encapsulates the book's central insight into a repertoire defined by supplying stems and alternate versions of tracks that can be easily dismantled and recombined.
At the same time, the study places library music in productive tension with bespoke scoring for film and television, revealing how questions of usability unsettle entrenched hierarchies between art and commerce. By foregrounding processes of adaptation and circulation, the author shows how this repertoire challenges romantic ideals of originality and self-expression while exposing the deep structures that underwrite all musical production – including the intricacies of online copyright management. The result is a work of remarkable academic breadth, alert scholarship, and clarity of expression – one that will reshape debates about categorization, authenticity, and the very ontology of the musical 'work'.

Paulo F. de Castro, Associate Professor, NOVA University of Lisbon

Library Music and Imagined Images offers a richly original and rigorously researched account of one of the most ubiquitous yet critically overlooked musical practices in media culture. Combining musicology, sociology, and media studies, Júlia Durand reframes library music not as disposable 'wallpaper' but as a dynamic, meaning-producing force that quietly shapes the audiovisual landscapes of film, television, advertising, and online media. Her close attention to details of production, circulation, and consumption – grounded in interviews with industry practitioners and concrete examples drawn from catalogs – reveals how library music mediates between sound and image. Elegant in its prose and expansive in its scope, this study makes a compelling case for library music as a distinct art world and an indispensable object of inquiry.

James Deaville, Professor of Music, Carleton University, USA

Though ubiquitous in ordinary life, library music has been quite overlooked in academic literature of pre-existing music in audiovisual media. Júlia Durand's book is a comprehensive study mainly focused on the contemporary digital media landscape, with emphasis on YouTube, taking into account diverse usages of library music, from professional (including traditional agents as well as new online content creators) to hobbyists. The text is conveyed in an extremely clear writing, with plethora of examples and methodological rigor. The research is based on extensive literature review, investigation of libraries websites and on netnographic techniques of online forums observation and interviews with library music composers and videographers. Far from the prejudices with which composing for music libraries has been commonly faced, Durand presents a nuanced and complex scenario. Besides, she shows that, though anchored in a new landscape with specific needs, the concerns involved in the choice of library music to YouTube videos quite resemble what was often preached in relation to the use of film and television music in the past. On the other hand, library music has particular traits, which are thoroughly analyzed.

Luíza Alvim, Postdoctoral Researcher, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil

Library Music and Imagined Images is an important contribution to an understudied aspect of contemporary media music production. Rich in empirical detail gleaned from systematic interviews with practitioners and filled with Durand's keen analytical insights, this is a pathbreaking book that will fundamentally change how we think about library music.

James Buhler, Professor of Music Theory at the University of Texas at Austin, USA