In layman’s terms, accompaniment music is music that is created for a soloist or ensemble to play along with.  The soloist or ensemble is known as the lead, and the accompaniment music is the supporting role.  Accompaniment music has also been called background music, backing tracks or karaoke music (sing along to background).  Whatever it is called, the importance of accompaniment music remains constant. 

Accompaniment tracks are widely used in the music industry today.  They are used in all genres of music from classical backing tracks to new age contemporary music.  These background tracks have been around nearly as long as music itself.  Background music and accompaniment tracks are especially important for solo artists.  A soloist would just be a voice without accompaniment music. 

The technical aspects of harmonic accompaniment are somewhat advanced, but the basics are as follows: it is usually chordal and played by such instruments as guitar, piano, organ, and bass guitar, but can be played with melody instruments like the violin.  In most tonal music, the melody and accompaniment are written from and share the same group of pitches.  In most atonal music, the melody and accompaniment are chosen from separate groups of pitches, often from different hexachords.

Whatever the use, accompaniment music is an important part of the music industry.  True accompaniment music is widely used in worship music, gospel music, and church hymns.  Other types of accompaniment music are used in the popular music genre.   Most solo artists today use some type of accompaniment music to sing along to.  Without the background music, the artist doesn’t appeal to the masses nearly as much.