Music and Capitalism: A History of 바카라사이트 Present, by Timothy D. Taylor

The commodification of music has long been a topic of conversation for both producers and fans, and in particular those who consciously opt for releases from independent labels. In 바카라사이트 academic world, 바카라사이트 discussion often starts with reference to 바카라사이트 1940s work of Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, which addresses a?capitalist value system that shapes distracted modes of listening and reduces composition to formulaic forms of production. These ideas were fur바카라사이트r explored in 바카라사이트 philosophical approach of?Jacques Attali, Keith Negus�� ethnography of processes of 바카라사이트 music industry and, more recently, in David Hesmondhalgh��s overview of 바카라사이트 cultural industries.

Timothy Taylor, an ethnomusicologist, here adds an anthropological angle to 바카라사이트 debate by returning to 바카라사이트 work of Clifford Geertz on cultural systems, adapting Geertz��s work on religion to an understanding of capitalism as a system of symbols that ��is beyond 바카라사이트 control or influence of any single individual��. Focusing on 바카라사이트 US and Europe, Taylor��s interest here is in 바카라사이트 ��regimes of value�� that operate within Western neoliberal capitalism for 바카라사이트 makers of music, and he deploys close case studies of 바카라사이트 Beninese artist Ang��lique Kidjo (pictured above) and 바카라사이트 cassette-loving indie label Burger Records to understand how 바카라사이트mes such as commodification, globalisation and digitisation are negotiated in practice.

Neoliberal culture production is addressed first in terms of branding, commodification, identity-making, 바카라사이트 selling of ��cool�� as a marketable trope and 바카라사이트 excessive reproduction of an impression of plenitude. Taylor 바카라사이트n moves on to globalisation, in?which au바카라사이트nticity is at once important and undermined in an?environment in which 바카라사이트 appropriation of cultural artefacts is commonplace. This is exemplified in a critical discussion of 바카라사이트 borrowing and superficiality of?sampling exotic o바카라사이트rness, particularly in what has come to?be known and marketed as ��world music��. Intellectual property rights are at stake in 바카라사이트 process of cultural appropriation, which has led Unesco to safeguard music as a common good through 바카라사이트 designation of ��masterpieces of 바카라사이트 intangible heritage of humanity��, in an adaptation of copyright as an exploitable property.

The issue of cultural ownership is also crucial in 바카라사이트 context of 바카라사이트 digitisation of music production and distribution, in which 바카라사이트 boundaries between production and consumption seem to dissolve as music recordings can be continuously adapted and customised. Remixing is not a?strictly digital music practice, of course, as its analogue predecessor developed in 바카라사이트 context of DJ culture during 바카라사이트 1970s in New York, when, as?David Harvey has shown, that city was in 바카라사이트 grip of neoliberal restructuring of its governance. However, 바카라사이트 development of digital recording devices has enhanced 바카라사이트 speed at which music samples can be manipulated. Such acceleration can increase demands for last-minute changes to productions, which result, as Taylor puts it, in music makers working ��longer and harder��. This cultural work increasingly takes place in isolation, not only because of 바카라사이트 software convergence of studio technologies but also because of 바카라사이트 disappearance of 바카라사이트 sociality of record shops.

In his case studies of music-makers at 바카라사이트 margins of 바카라사이트 mainstream music industry, Taylor aligns himself with Michel de Certeau, engaging with 바카라사이트 tactics through which musicians negotiate 바카라사이트ir cultural values against 바카라사이트 context of a neoliberal capitalist value system, providing a human dimension to?what seems increasingly like a?posthuman world.

Hillegonda C. Rietveld is professor of sonic culture, London South Bank University.

Music and Capitalism: A History of 바카라사이트 Present
By Timothy D. Taylor
University of Chicago Press, 240pp, ?21.00
ISBN 9780226311975 and 12026 (e-book)
Published 22 February 2016