So modern technology, even with the most advanced VoIP business phone systems, has not improved the plight of the on hold song. If you are interested in learning more, check out Tom Scott's explanation at the Milton Keynes Museum, in their Connected Earth gallery.
In 1962, inventor and entrepreneur Alfred Levy found a loose wire touching a metal girder at his factory. It amplified the broadcast signal from the radio station next door and transmitted the audio through the loose wire to calls on hold. Four years later he patented his work, and music on hold was born.

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It's a panoptic experience, being on hold while listening to someone singing about being on hold. Depending how long it takes for someone else to join the call, you could be listening for awhile. The music builds as time goes on, culminating in a spoken verse that begins: "Well, let me tell you all a story / about a man who was on hold all day..." This unusually self-aware song is the default music for a conference call service called UberConference, where "I'm On Hold" plays on a loop for anyone who calls in early, on almost every call that doesn't start exactly when it's scheduled to (or doesn't ever start at all). It's selected by nine out of ten call organizers, and plays over a million times per month, says Craig Walker, CEO of Dialpad, owner of UberConference.