Popular Culture

Theodor W. Adorno was a german psychologist and philosopher who created the critical theory in society. Ardorno judged jazz music and pop music, claiming that these are aspects of the culture industry and that they contribute to the sustainability of capitalism by rendering it "aesthetically pleasing", and also that culture as an industry is not "true art". He critiqued the culture industry for providing society with false needs. Then, capitalists suffice our fake needs after creating them, and this overwrites our true, legitimate needs. This is relevant in the music industry because musical products are simply commodities, sold to the audience who believe they are consuming a genuine emotion, however Adorno suggests that these emotions are purely cathartic.
I agree with Adorno in that I think that popular music is sold to an audience with the false-belief that they are also getting an emotion from the piece. I think this relates to Dyer's star theory and particularly the star as a commodity and construction. It relates to the star as a construction as it sells an emotion which the artist behind the music doesn't neccessarily feel, and it relates to the star a commodity because these emotions are manufactured and presented as an item to be sold, yet they're not real. However I disagree with Adorno because in my opinion jazz and popular music are not cathartic, as generally cathartic music should be calm and slowish, which jazz and most pop-songs are not. Jazz and pop are hyped and so for me, they don't relieve emotional tension. This is what I consider cathartic music:
- as it's slow, calming, and minimal, which is very unlike pop.

Dick Hebdige is a British media theorist and sociologist who opposes Ardano's argument for several reasons which I whole heartedly agree with. Hebdige points out that music consumption is a choice made by the audience and specific needs differ among the audience in accordance with their social and ideological status, as well as other things. He also argues that society is free to resist power of large companies by simply ignoring them or more commonly, finding different alternatives. The result of these alternatives, is the audience make their own content or find non-mainstream content, thus creating subcultures. Inevitably, conglomerates tailor their commodities for subcultures, which force the audience to accept these products or resist further.
I agree with the point that needs are diverse depending on the audience, because if you compare the sort of music a 12 year old white middle-class girl from London listens to, versus what a 22 year old working class black boy from Compton, America listens to it would obviously (based on stereotypes) be very different. Therefore I don't think Adorno cannot honestly expect us to have similar needs, or even for an artist to suffice our needs in similar ways. If we look at Sia's music video for elastic heart, some people think it portrays Sia trying to leave her past-self, yet other people have perceived it as the friendship and the breakup of a daughter and father. In a more simple way, some people perceive it as Sia growing emotionally and some perceive it as a story about her family.

I agree with the statement that society is free to resist power and ideologies injected into us by capitalists. I admit that music is a very popular form that large companies use to force-feed us with ideas, however I think that people can for sure ignore these ideologies. If we take love as an example for an idea that's fed to us, because it is very often (e.g: "Side to Side" by Ariana Grande, "Passionfruit" by Drake, "911" by Tyler the Creator), the idea that's presented to us is that it's intrinsic to have a lover and we should be dependant on them. However, this ideology can easily be ignored. There's a range of music that combats this notion ("1 Night" by Mura Musa & Charli XCX - discusses independancy in loving for a short amount of time, "High By The Beach" by Lana Del Rey - converses how love isn't vital and how Del Rey can live with and without it) as well as music that doesn't even mention this notion, television and movies which oppose this notion, and real-life experiences which oppose this notion. I also agree that nower days, it's becoming increasingly easy to find non-mainstream music with indie labels and music forums like Soundcloud, Youtube, etc.