These days I listen to more 80s and some 90s stuff, especially Italian labels like NRE. The releases definitely got less 'wild' once the 80s rolled around and the industry as a whole became more streamlined, more professional I guess. Fuck knows who was ever going to actually use the 60s/70s more out-there, abstract stuff, I guess labels realised that eventually.
A friend of mine has recently started composing / recording music for a library production house. Although it's not background themes at all, they ask for basically copycat contemporary music, I guess to be used for stuff like royalty free store music. I was browsing a online library music site recently & notice that Ninja Tunes have a library division, selling their stuff as background music.