from
loudmimedave (and dedicated to FreeThinke)
Culture Industries and Adorno’s Theory of Standardisation.
Popular, or mainstream, music has always been a part of our society. In every culture, there is always some form of art that is regarded as “more popular” than others due to a variety of different reasons. In this post, I am going to look at Adorno’s theory of standardisation and what it means for music in today’s society.
Theodor Adorno belonged to the Frankfurt School of social theory and was a prominent musicologist. Members of the Frankfurt School believed in neo-Marxism and, critical of both socialist and capitalist societies, sought an alternative path to social development. The school was known for being critical to the idea of the”culture industry” (A term coined by Adorno and Max Horkheimer), referring to the capitalist industry based on creative expression. Adorno believed that the capitalist nature of society encouraged people to invest in “false needs”; the need to spend money in exchange for happiness. His theories were hugely inspired by his belief in neo-Marxism and, through studying popular music, Adorno formed his own theory on the culture industry; Adorno’s theory of standardization. This theory maintains that, in capitalist society, popular culture (and, by extension, popular music) is standardized, using the same formula to appeal to the masses. Adorno noted that all popular music contained a verse, chorus and bridge, and that these elements were interchangeable without damaging the song. However, this formula did not apply to “serious music”, saying that “every detail derives its musical sense from the concrete totality of the piece“, and arguing that even if one detail is omitted “all is lost”.
Adorno maintained that the music industry promoted “pseudo-individualism” as a way to keep society unaware of this formulaic approach to music. Pseudo-Individualism basically translates to “the illusion of choice“. As advertisers use different images and slogans, different meanings are assumed for different products, despite the product essentially being the same. Writing about his studies on popular music, Adorno explained his theory;
“By pseudo-individuation we mean endowing cultural mass production with the halo of free choice or open market [sic] on the basis of standardization itself. Standardization of song hits keeps the customers in line doing their thinking for them, as it were. Pseudo-individuation, for its part, keeps them in line by making them forget that what they listen to is wholly intended for them or predigested.“
However, due to the separation Adorno makes between “serious music” and “popular music”, it could be argued that the theory is elitist. Adorno’s definition of “serious music” extended to include classical and avant-garde pieces, noting that such music plays to the imagination and naturally fulfils the emotional human need, whereas popular music cannot. While I agree with much of what Adorno proposed, I feel that this theory should be disputed. My personal opinion is that, as humans, our emotional needs and social development are shaped from an early age and depend on the background in which the individual is raised. Therefore, it seems presumptuous for an individual to comment on another’s emotional needs; we can only make that decision for ourselves. Adorno’s theory of standardization, however, can be seen in popular music today.
Rebecca Black shot to ‘fame’ earlier this year with the heavily auto-tuned single “Friday“, which was released in March through ARK Music Factory. The video for “Friday” gained around 167 million views on YouTube and is a classical example of a viral video, despite being dubbed “the worst song ever” by many critics. Produced and released by ARK, whose business model focuses on discovering, and writing songs for, new singers for a $2,000 – $4,000 fee, “Friday” was co-written by Patrice Wilson; the ARK Music Factory co-founder. Speaking about the inspiration for his song lyrics, he said the following;
“I wrote the lyrics on a Thursday night going into a Friday,” … “I was writing different songs all night and was like, ‘Wow, I’ve been up a long time and it’s Friday.’ And I was like, wow, it is Friday!”
The very concept of ARK Music Factory can be related to Adorno’s theory of standardization and culture industry. The fact that, for a price, a business can write, record and publicise a new artist, gaining such attention for an unheard name, only proves that culture industries do exist. Obviously, in this instance, the idea was unsuccessful as “Friday” became massively unpopular (with Rebecca Black receiving death threats through phone calls and emails), but the point still stands that there are industries built solely on exploiting art forms for monetary gain. “Friday” was notorious for excessive use of auto-tune, a technique also used by Akon, T-Pain and Cher, showing that even singers with very little talent can “clean up” their music in production. After looking into this topic and thinking more about the concept of popular music, I recalled the first year of my university course. We were taught that all music is popular in some way, as there has to be an audience for that music, even if it is the musicians themselves. An interesting topic raised in the lecture this year was the band “Rage Against The Machine” and their music.
In December 2009, after a huge campaign on Facebook, Rage Against The Machine took the Christmas No. 1 spot on downloads alone. Their song “Killing In The Name“, the first song to reach Christmas number one in the UK on downloads alone, refers to racism in the police force and is known as the band’s signature song. The Facebook campaign of 2009 encouraged members to buy the song in order to gain Christmas No. 1, instead of letting that year’s X-Factor winner Joe McElderry take chart victory, as had become the norm since 2004. The campaign, which helped sell 502,000 tracks, was started in opposition to the X-Factor’s Christmas chart dominance and, with the lyrics “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me” provided by Rage Against The Machine, provided a huge contrast to McElderry’s words, which asked listeners to “keep the faith“.
However, the once-rebellious nature of Rage Against The Machine and the song “Killing In The Name” has now become somewhat ironic. The refrain “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me” can be heard most nights in local rock clubs, sang by (to quote Propagandhi) “Like-father, like-son “rebels” bloated on Korn, Eminems and Bizkits“. During the Christmas No. 1 spot campaign, it came to light that Rage Against The Machine were released through Sony Music, which had links to Simon Cowell, who owns Syco (a Sony subsidary) and released the X-Factor winner’s song, therefore undermining the whole point of the campaign. Again, this relates back to Adoro’s theories on culture industries and pseudo-individualism; although “Killing In The Name” seemed like a rebellious, anti-authoritarian rally against the status-quo of the music industry, the rights to the song are owned by the very company the campaign was started against. The fact is that nearly all popular music can be dressed up in any way, shape or form, but it is still just a product intended to make a profit.
75 comments:
Just gotta let bad meet evil
or make a punk pop song with irony
or turn rock into metal
Assertion that "verse, chorus and bridge" is a conspiracy = you're nuts.
There's no film/story line comparable mythical "hero's journey" story line for musicians? Who knew?
Other (less used) song structures exist. That one is most often used while others are less often used is not a conspiracy.
Music being "formulaic" isn't a conspiracy theory. It's a business model.
A typical song structure includes a verse, chorus, and bridge in the following arrangement: intro, verse — chorus — verse — chorus —bridge — chorus — outro. This is known as an ABABCB structure, where A is the verse, B is the chorus and C is the bridge.
Exactly what Adorno said.
Oooga-chaka
Oooga-chaka
Oooga-Oooga-Oooga-chaka
The rhythm structure employed in 90% of "pop" music.
Interestingly music does influence culture, even when it is bad lyrics and music. I believe our generation or at least mine was tame compared to this garbage.
sing along Comrades
In all seriousness, I don't think there is any underlying ideological underpinnings. It's just the simple toe-tapping, hip-swaying heartbeat of the 4/4 time signature. Rock, disco, jazz, house techno, hip hop, country, R&B... Just like metronomes synchronize together, so too does your heartbeat to the bass drum and cymbal boom-tiss-boom-tiss-boom-tiss-baboom-tiss (repeat) of 4/4 time.
Drummers that play around with different time signatures (Neil Peart of Rush, Danny Carey of Tool, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, Phil Collins of Genesis, etc.) are known, in laymen's terms, as drumming bad asses.
It's all math.
feels good man
shocking isn't it?
c'mon everybody
keep it running
this one is transgression
just beat it, trooper
just beat it, trooper
pro level: you're not ready
break your paranoia
slick it way back
cash in that gangsta shit
oh my gawd
Wow... you've got some great examples there, beamish!
It may not be "ideologically based"... but there is a reason why "progressive rock" kept going round in circles. Nobody ever listened to a song just to get to the song's end.
The tendency towards synchronicity is a natural phenomena. We're all metronomes in a simulation of reality. ;)
Every drummer on acid knows this. :P
don't rage against the moon machine
follow the sacred rhythm
red pills for caveman
Nudge, nudge, nudge... synchronocity.
:P
Putting the harm in harmony, aren't ya?
am I the only one here that gives a shot about the rules?
If you look too closely at the source code you'll never see it
Music being "formulaic" isn't a conspiracy theory. It's a business model.
The article you posted says it's a conspiracy, the purpose of which is to keep society unaware by giving people the illusion of choice.
He wants to argue with the article instead of us, as if he had a choice lol.
Look how off-beat it's made him.
?
I'm arguing with Minus. Posting an article without comment implies agreement with what the author wrote.
You don't think that the "culture industry" is a conspiracy? Wow. So, is Marxism a conspiracy theory? How about racism? Do you know what a "commodity fetish" is?
From the link above:
They argue that the culture industry supports the retiring work day. Rather than think about the precariousness and difficulty of their positions at the end of the day, it's much easier for the worker to "switch off" and consume the same libidinal regimes of enjoyment without considering the possibility of difficult change, to be creative, to read something new. To follow a new plot in a film. To take the time to learn and enjoy completely new music is laborious, difficult. The culture industry organizes free time in the same way capital organizes work time. Everything is defined for you without room for individual creativity and difference.
Do you know what "consumerism" is, dervy?
Panem et circenses?
;P
The conspiracy involves labels ripping off artists by taking for themselves most of an artist's profits from the sale of their music. Why they have to tour (where they make most of their money).
You don't think that they're also paying Google to shadow-ban Indie artists?
Derpy has never seen Trent Reznor drink water and smoke cigarettes as a digital audio tape plays Nine Inch Nails songs to a mediocre light show.
I have no idea what concerts "Derpy" has attended. I don't know this person and have no idea why Beamish keeps bringing him (or her) up. Me, I'm not a Nine Inch Nails fan.
Sounds like Derrvy's "mind-palace" doesn't have any rooms for distasteful or contradictory info.
That's an incorrect conclusion you reached because I said I don't know anyone named (or who goes by) "Derpy". That makes no sense.
Sounds like you ego might be suffering from a little "over-fragility", Dervy.
You and Derpy need to get over this petty hatred of each other. He denies being you as well, even though you're both here talking as if you're not here.
"Derpy" has never commented here. Not even once.
I think he usually posts over @ Tyler Durden's blog.
You think Bach didn't have a business model? ABA song forms didn't exist in the Baroque?
I think that there were "high arts" that employed professional composers and musicians with advanced technical training, and "low" arts that allowed people with "less" technical training (but perhaps more 'genius' at times) to eke out a living at Inns and taverns. Kings and dukes didn't usually keep too many of the latter category on staff. Music "theory" was generally employed by the former, and not the latter. But in the "Modern Era", we draw a distinction between "pop" and "folk" arts with 'pop' substituting for what was once "high" art. And THAT is "market" driven (popularity).
I suspect that the reason kings and dukes kept musicians on "staff" was to support their troops and lend them courage in battle... and perhaps lend a bit of "coordination" to an otherwise "chaotic" environment. Most "high" arts developed as a result of, and supportive of, martial activities.
Nietzsche, "On the Future of Our Educational Institutions"
“Have you ever, at a musical rehearsal, looked at the strange, shrivelled-up, good-natured species of men who usually form the German orchestra? What changes and fluctuations we see in that capricious goddess ‘form’! What noses and ears, what clumsy, danse macabre movements! Just imagine for a moment that you were deaf, and had never dreamed of the existence of sound or music, and that you were looking upon the orchestra as a company of actors, and trying to enjoy their performance as a drama and nothing more. Undisturbed by the idealising effect of the sound, you could never see enough of the stern, medieval, wood-cutting movement of this comical spectacle, this harmonious parody on the homo sapiens.
(cont)
“Now, on the other hand, assume that your musical sense has returned, and that your ears are opened. Look at the honest conductor at the head of the orchestra performing his duties in a dull, spiritless fashion: you no longer think of the comical aspect of the whole scene, you listen -- but it seems to you that the spirit of tediousness spreads out from the honest conductor over all his companions. Now you see only torpidity and flabbiness, you hear only the trivial, the rhythmically inaccurate, and the melodiously trite. You see the orchestra only as an indifferent, ill-humoured, and even wearisome crowd of players.
(cont.)
“But set a genius -- a real genius -- in the midst of this crowd; and you instantly perceive something almost incredible. It is as if this genius, in his lightning transmigration, had entered into these mechanical, lifeless bodies, and as if only one demoniacal eye gleamed forth out of them all. Now look and listen -- you can never listen enough! When you again observe the orchestra, now loftily storming, now fervently wailing, when you notice the quick tightening of every muscle and the rhythmical necessity of every gesture, then you too will feel what a pre-established harmony there is between leader and followers, and how in this hierarchy of spirits everything impels us towards the establishment of a like organization. You can divine from my simile what I would understand by a true educational institution, and why I am very far from recognizing one in the present type of university.”
from the beginning (vice ending) of Nietzsche's treatise (but substitute mass-market for journalist):
On the other hand, that adhesive and tenacious stratum which has now filled up the interstices between the sciences -- Journalism -- believes it has a mission to fulfil here, and this it does, according to its own particular lights -- that is to say, as its name implies, after the fashion of a day-labourer.
“It is precisely in journalism that the two tendencies combine and become one. The expansion and the diminution of education here join hands. The newspaper actually steps into the place of culture, and he who, even as a scholar, wishes to voice any claim for education, must avail himself of this viscous stratum of communication which cements the seams between all forms of life, all classes, all arts, and all sciences, and which is as firm and reliable as news paper is, as a rule. In the newspaper the peculiar educational aims of the present culminate, just as the journalist, the servant of the moment, has stepped into the place of the genius, of the leader for all time, of the deliverer from the tyranny of the moment. Now, tell me, distinguished master, what hopes could I still have in a struggle against the general topsy-turvification of all genuine aims for education; with what courage can I, a single teacher, step forward, when I know that the moment any seeds of real culture are sown, they will be mercilessly crushed by the roller of this pseudo-culture? Imagine how useless the most energetic work on the part of the individual teacher must be, who would fain lead a pupil back into the distant and evasive Hellenic world and to the real home of culture, when in less than an hour, that same pupil will have recourse to a newspaper, the latest novel, or one of those learned books, the very style of which already bears the revolting impress of modern barbaric culture --”
Now, let me go find some more "berzerkers" and "peltasts" for my skirmishing formations. I've enough princeps and triari in my legion.
...you can never have enough velites.
Even a nineteenth century galas at Versailles had "popular" imitators and folk equivalents.
...for martial purposes and otherwise.
How big an army can your lead?
Where will you train them covertly without arousing suspicion?
People with disassociative identity disorder typically only get one diagnosis, not one per identity. You and Derpy arenjust going to have to integrate somehow. Maybe you should demand Derpy let you post comments instead.
I share my father's dislike of Baroque music. He called it "broke" music lol
I'm not that hateful of it. I like listening to dance music DJs beat mixing from one song to the next in a continuous flow. Bach was just too cacophonic.
"Derpy" doesn't exist.
^^...he's just Dervy's invisible BFF^^
Derpy is a solipsist.
Makes you wonder what he's doing out here in the wild with us...
...oh wait, maybe not all the doors to the rooms in Dervy's "memory palace" aren't locked 24/7.
"Makes you wonder what he's doing out here in the wild with us".
He isn't. Because he doesn't exist. Like I said. There is no "Derpy".
You've gotta hide the keys better than that, Dervy.
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