Īmbient music did not achieve large commercial success, being criticized as everything from 'dolled-up new age, to boring and irrelevant technical noodling'. Ambient music may have elements of new-age music and drone music, as some works may use sustained or repeated notes. It saw a revival towards the late 1980s with the prominence of house and techno music, growing a cult following by the 1990s. It was presaged by Erik Satie's furniture music and styles such as musique concrète, minimal music, and German electronic music, but was prominently named and popularized by British musician Brian Eno in 1978 with his album Ambient 1: Music for Airports Eno opined that ambient music 'must be as ignorable as it is interesting'. The genre originated in the 1960s and 1970s, when new musical instruments were being introduced to a wider market, such as the synthesizer.

Nature soundscapes may be included, and the sounds of acoustic instruments such as the piano, strings and flute may be emulated through a synthesizer. The genre is said to evoke an 'atmospheric', 'visual', or 'unobtrusive' quality. It uses textural layers of sound that can reward both passive and active listening and encourage a sense of calm or contemplation. It may lack net composition, beat, or structured melody. Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm.

Soft music for meditation