This introductory chapter presents the background to the collection of chapters that follow, outlining their origins at a symposium hosted by the Grainger Museum at the University of Melbourne in late 2023. In addition to offering an overview of the book’s individual contributions, highlighting their interlinking themes, this chapter also provides a broad framing of the term ‘new media’ as it is used throughout the book, and a brief introduction to the way music and sound—like other ephemeral art forms—can be represented through archives. It also provides context for a number of chapters that engage specifically with the archival legacy of Australian-American composer Percy Grainger.