MUSI 1002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Product Placement, Web 2.0, Iheartradio
MUSI 1002
Issues in Popular Music
May 10th, 2018
(continued from previous lecture)
Key cocepts fro Adoro’s O Popular Music
- Production, textual form, and audiences are standardized, mirrors overall system of
production within capitalism (structural homology)
- Standardized cultural products are consumed in superficial ways by audiences who are
conditions to favour them because of their familiarity and ubiquity
o Passively listening vs actively listening
o Popula usi doest peset uestios
- System of cultural production reinforces domination of society by those who control the
industrial apparatus; bourgeois or capitalism class
o Art music/fold culture, no economic exchange or profit
- Most of the population gladly and passively consumes the products whose demand is
created and sustain by those who wants to control them
- Rhythmic and emotional obedience
o Music, like secular and religious traditions, is a social cement, holds societies
together
o Rhythmic: standardized meter of dance music resembles coordinated battalion
of mechanical collectivity
▪ “ig usi i the s, e dae oieted, /, /, ad / etes
commonly used
o Emotional: actual function of sentimental music lies in the temporary release
given to the awareness that one has missed fulfillment
▪ Emotional reaction to music is not a real response, but only a temporary
release to the modern life of being an unthinking drone
- Adoos distaste fo popula usi is possil a espose to Hollood fo a
European perspective
Criticisms of Adorno
- Confusion of functional and textual artifact (Gendron)
o Function: a physical thing, a particular
o Textual: written or oral, a universal
o Music blends functional and textual, but both objects industrialized differently
o Adorno believes that all song writing is like mass production in a factory, but
there is a lot of variation from songwriter to songwriter (handicraft vs mass
production)
o Technology offers more choices and variations in creation of music and different
formats (tapes, CDs, digital downloads, streaming services)
- Characterization of culture industries is too broad and homogenized
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
o Doest eogize aiatios i ultual podutio opoatios, sall
companies, reginal/national/international, subcultural/mainstream)
o Considerable struggle between cultural producers in different sectors of the
cultural and music industries, made even more complicated by recent
production/dissemination technologies
- Standardization of his time not true today
o Fee gees of popula usi i Adoos tie
o Much more structural/genre variation today, although some standardization is a
feature within each genre
o Technology and globalization allows for spread of musical genres
- Audience responses
o Individual agency of listeners is downplayed
o Listeners engage different artists in different ways
o Ex. Justin Bieber and Sufjan Stevens are both pop artists but generates very
different audiences
Four major areas of criticism:
1. Immanent methods
o Adorno generalizes from within the tradition of serious western classical music,
evaluates music in this context, implicitly and explicitly
o Suspension of critical value judgement about the music is required
o Does not offer alternatives
2. Historical and social locations
o Constrained by his social and historical location
o Valued established form of music making and critical approach not well-
equipped to deal with changes in music making and consumption
3. Innovation
o Paid little attention to how popular music changed (technology, social
production, increasing sonic, textual, and musical sophistication)
o 1950s, massive evolution of popular music in the US, emergence of rock, hip
hop, Moto, et…
o Content, lyrics, and storyline became incredibly sophisticated in a short period of
time (many inspired by Bob Dylan)
4. Analysis
o Focus upon (general) critique over analysis of specific musical/cultural practices
Max Weber
- Social Action Theory
o Society, increasingly, is shaped by action
o Rational action: towards a goal, value
o Affective action: driven by emotional state without thought of consequences
o Traditional action: the idea that e do etai thigs eause thats ho ee
always done it
- Modern societies are becoming more rationalized
o Institutions are highly rationalized and bureaucratized
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Production, textual form, and audiences are standardized, mirrors overall system of production within capitalism (structural homology) Standardized cultural products are consumed in superficial ways by audiences who are conditions to favour them because of their familiarity and ubiquity: passively listening vs actively listening, popula(cid:396) (cid:373)usi(cid:272) does(cid:374)(cid:859)t p(cid:396)ese(cid:374)t (cid:395)uestio(cid:374)s. System of cultural production reinforces domination of society by those who control the industrial apparatus; bourgeois or capitalism class: art music/fold culture, no economic exchange or profit. Most of the population gladly and passively consumes the products whose demand is created and sustain by those who wants to control them. Ado(cid:396)(cid:374)o(cid:859)s distaste fo(cid:396) popula(cid:396) (cid:373)usi(cid:272) is possi(cid:271)l(cid:455) a (cid:396)espo(cid:374)se to holl(cid:455)(cid:449)ood f(cid:396)o(cid:373) a(cid:374) release to the modern life of being an unthinking drone. Individual agency of listeners is downplayed: listeners engage different artists in different ways, ex. Justin bieber and sufjan stevens are both pop artists but generates very different audiences. Harmonic rationalization: standard 12 note division of the octave, western bias.
