New age music is generally considered to have its roots in the 1960s when musicians began to experiment with sounds and melodies that could expand consciousness and facilitate meditation and relaxation. Musicians like Edgar Froese, Holger Czukay, Popol Vuh and Ashra were very popular at the time. Using synthesizers, they created melodies called cosmic music that created a foundation for new age artists to build on in later years.
Other musical forms that influenced new age music include classical music as well as nearly electronic music, and ethnic or world music. Artists like Terry Riley and Steve Reich have also influenced later artists, along with Tony Conrad and La Monte Young, Bhagavan Das and Snatam Kaur. Much of New Age music is spiritual in nature, including a variety of chants in many languages.
In 1973, Mike Oldfield released an album entitled 'Tubular Bells,' the first album ever to be labeled "new age." Later in the decade, Brian Eno's experimentation with ambient sounds influenced a new crop of artists, including Robert Fripp, Harold Budd and Jah Wobble.
In the 1980s, music called "New Age" became popular with radio stations as well as music stores and record producers. At the time, the term was very loosely applied to a wide range of of music styles outside of the mainstream. New Age radio stations sprang up, but for the most part they didn't exclusively play New Age music.
Constance Demby's Novus Magnificat, released in 1986, has been termed "possibly new-age music's ultimate masterpiece," according to Piero Scaruffi in his book "A History of Rock Music: 1951-2000." Other New Age artists to come along in later years include Enya, Yanni and the popular group Enigma.
KLRS (Colours) in Santa Cruz, California, which features a playlist of exclusively New Age music, has been termed the first genuine New Age station in the world. Nowadays, new age music is featured on cable television, satellite and digital radio.