Sonoton is the world’s largest independent music library and over the last 60 years it has provided music for a dazzling breadth of commercial and creative ventures. From Oscar-winning Hollywood blockbusters (The Hurt Locker, Tenet, Dallas Buyers Club) to classic movies (Serpico, Jackie Brown, Silver Linings Playbook, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), as well as celebrated TV programmes (The White Lotus, Narcos, Mad Men, Friends, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, The Crown) and much-loved cartoons (South Park, The Simpsons SpongeBob SquarePants), Sonoton’s enviable catalogue has adorned every imaginable project that requires music to deliver stories to the screen.

Alongside other libraries such as KPM, Bruton and DeWolfe, Sonoton’s music is often hiding in plain sight – the sounds you hear every day on TV, adverts, the radio and at the cinema. In recent years, producers – most notably in hip hop – have mined these sounds for new and innovative sampled-based pieces of music. Kendrick Lamar, Drake and Chance The Rapper, among others, have all raided Sonoton’s vaults using music from such celebrated composers as John Fiddy, Sven Torstenson, Mladen Franko and, of course, Sonoton’s founder Gerhard Narholz, under one of his many aliases.

These tales and more are all told in this comprehensive 240-page book. From humble beginnings in Munich, founded by the husband and wife team of Gerhard and Heidi Narholz, the story of Sonoton is also an alternative history of popular culture as the label has grown in step with contemporary music and constantly reflected the times. By celebrating the variety of composers that have worked with Sonoton the label’s fascinating history is brought vividly to life.

Disco Pogo was commissioned by Sonoton to conceive, edit, design, produce and print this beautiful book celebrating six decades at the forefront of library music. “Sonoton is not just a music library – it is a singular and defining moment in the field. It continues to lead the pack by bringing new ideas, new vision and, above all, new life to this incredible, yet often overlooked, chapter in the history of cinematic music.” - David Hollander