ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that music is one of the most effective ways of preparing an audience and reinforcing points that people wish to impose on it. The correct use of music, and this includes the non-use of music, is one of the great weapons that the filmmaker has at his disposal. The overview of the roles and functions narrative media music has conventionally played is fairly comprehensive, but it should not be considered prescriptive or dogmatic. When analyzing multimedia, it may become apparent that wherever media music occurs, it tends to serve several purposes at once. Media music will, in synergy with other audiovisual elements, raise the overall aesthetic quality and effect for the audience or player. Using music to create atmosphere is of course also commonplace in everyday life, where atmospheric background music is omnipresent in restaurants, supermarkets, shopping malls, theme parks, hotel lobbies, and even elevators.
