Summary of Adorno and Popular Music: Part 1

There are three important points contained in this part of the book. The first is about the work of Adorno on the culture industry and popular music as well as the background, the second is the argument about the difference in popular music with other music, and the third is about the position of popular music in society. Firstly, it discusses more focused on the work of Adorno on the culture industry and popular music as well as the background. The key importance of the work on music of Adorno, "The culture industry is central agency in contemporary capitalism for the production and satisfaction of false needs and Adorno's analysis is a challenge to those who seek to recognize some value in pop music " (as cited in Fifth, p.4). The background of the analysis is a critique of Marxist theory about capitalism which not only cause changes in social life but also impact on the industry, for example the culture industry. The culture industry makes the "culture" as a valuable commodity that can be sold to the market and have the prospect of becoming profit. When something has become a commodity and entered the market, it means the commodity has been made in accordance with the wishes of the market and this led to the standardization of commodities. It also let to the standardization of products of the culture industry. Secondly, it discusses the argument about the difference of popular music with other music. Adorno said that, " The popular music is a part of culture industry" (p.4, para.4). Pop music in his view is a standardized product either type of songs, songs and parts of songs Themselves (p. 5). He also added that the part of piece of popular music are interchangeable. It is based on his analysis by comparing popular music with serious music. He emphasized that the difference between the two relates to issues of the market and the context in the which music is produced and consumed.