Saturday, 20 February 2010

Is pop music a mass produced commodity or a genuine art form?

Art is a form of self-expression; a moment of inspiration and something that cannot be reproduced. However some people disagree, Adorno states that ‘the whole structure of popular music is standardized’. Nevertheless standardization has been evident within folk and religious music so why is Adorno only focusing upon popular music? He suggests that it is homogenous and exists to distract people from realising how dull life is, he does not seem to attempt to understand the passion behind popular music and art. This puzzles me because both art and music have different meanings to individuals. He considers that all popular music is a mass produced commodity, but CDs are mass produced and the music is different. I believe that popular music is a form of self-expression and therefore art. Alternatively, Adorno says it is ‘an all consuming production line that churns out mass produced, inferior commodities’. Both viewpoints are valid.

Image from:http://phramick.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/musical_note_logo.jpg

1 comment:

  1. This is a good discussion of the question at hand. I would have liked to have seen you mention Gendron by name as well as briefly summarising some of his responses to Adorno's claims. However, even without doing so, this is a good blog post.

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