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Music and Capitalism: A History of the Present
iTunes. Spotify. Pandora. With these brief words one can map the landscape of music today, but these aren’t musicians, songs, or anything else actually musical—they are products and brands. In this book, Timothy D. Taylor explores just how pervasively capitalism has shaped music over the last few decades. Examining changes in the production, distribution, and consumption of music, he offers an incisive critique of the music industry’s shift in focus from creativity to profits, as well as stories of those who are laboring to find and make musical meaning in the shadows of the mainstream cultural industries.
Taylor explores everything from the branding of musicians to the globalization of music to the emergence of digital technologies in music production and consumption. Drawing on interviews with industry insiders, musicians, and indie label workers, he traces both the constricting forces of bottom-line economics and the revolutionary emergence of the affordable home studio, the global internet, and the mp3 that have shaped music in different ways. A sophisticated analysis of how music is made, repurposed, advertised, sold, pirated, and consumed, Music and Capitalism is a must read for anyone who cares about what they are listening to, how, and why.
Taylor explores everything from the branding of musicians to the globalization of music to the emergence of digital technologies in music production and consumption. Drawing on interviews with industry insiders, musicians, and indie label workers, he traces both the constricting forces of bottom-line economics and the revolutionary emergence of the affordable home studio, the global internet, and the mp3 that have shaped music in different ways. A sophisticated analysis of how music is made, repurposed, advertised, sold, pirated, and consumed, Music and Capitalism is a must read for anyone who cares about what they are listening to, how, and why.
- GenresMusicNonfiction
240 pages, Paperback
First published December 15, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 2, 2016
Full disclosure: I am a former student who has read most of his published output. I am also extremely stingy with my 5-star ratings, especially when it comes to academic texts.
Even if you disagree with some or all of Taylor's conclusions, this book is bound to be a resource for scholars with an interest in the relationship between commerce, money, and music over the last 100 years or so. In some ways, I read this book as a massive update and merger of the ideas from all of Taylor's previous monographs – Global Pop, Strange Sounds, Beyond Exoticism, and Sounds of Capitalism – with more of an emphasis in the ideas of Pierre Bourdieu and Theodor Adorno. There's a bit of "world music" and meditation on "digital cultures" in there, as well as touches of advertising music and player-pianos.
The part of this book that I thought was really revolutionary, was its emphasis on the labor process of composition and production for music accompanying visual media (tv, film, and commercials) as well as the struggles to survive for musicians living in Los Angeles and New York in chapters 4 and 5. Taylor wrote those profiles with a compassion and depth of understanding that the daily procession of articles from industry trade magazines and blogs completely miss.
In sum: if you know Taylor's previous work, you should be prepared to be excited as well as formulate productive disagreements with him at various points, which I think is the point of scholarly writing. That said, if you disliked previous iterations of his scholarly agenda in the past, be prepared to find an amplification and expansion of them in this book. If you don't know much about his work, this book is a concentrated version of all of his ideas and it will show you which of his previous monographs and scholarly articles warrant further study.
Even if you disagree with some or all of Taylor's conclusions, this book is bound to be a resource for scholars with an interest in the relationship between commerce, money, and music over the last 100 years or so. In some ways, I read this book as a massive update and merger of the ideas from all of Taylor's previous monographs – Global Pop, Strange Sounds, Beyond Exoticism, and Sounds of Capitalism – with more of an emphasis in the ideas of Pierre Bourdieu and Theodor Adorno. There's a bit of "world music" and meditation on "digital cultures" in there, as well as touches of advertising music and player-pianos.
The part of this book that I thought was really revolutionary, was its emphasis on the labor process of composition and production for music accompanying visual media (tv, film, and commercials) as well as the struggles to survive for musicians living in Los Angeles and New York in chapters 4 and 5. Taylor wrote those profiles with a compassion and depth of understanding that the daily procession of articles from industry trade magazines and blogs completely miss.
In sum: if you know Taylor's previous work, you should be prepared to be excited as well as formulate productive disagreements with him at various points, which I think is the point of scholarly writing. That said, if you disliked previous iterations of his scholarly agenda in the past, be prepared to find an amplification and expansion of them in this book. If you don't know much about his work, this book is a concentrated version of all of his ideas and it will show you which of his previous monographs and scholarly articles warrant further study.
January 4, 2023
After Adorno and perhaps Raymond Williams, no one has really written in depth about the relationship between capitalism and music. So claims Taylor and I have no reason to challenge him. Taylor regards Adorno's positions as dated, elitist, and often just wrong. He also brushes aside more contemporary Marxist writing culture as "economistic" or "reductionist." Again, I am not sure he is wrong.
The problem for me in this book is that I don't trust Taylor's Marxist chops. I am not sure he grasps Marx's presentation of capitalism with an adequate understanding. This is especially true for Taylor's distinction between use-value and exchange value and even more so for Taylor's not mentioning that capitalism's creative destruction is built into its inner dynamic. Nor am I convinced that Taylor has a decent grasp of how Marx/Polanyi understood that cultural resistance (what I call small-s socialisms) helps keep alive the cold logic of capitalism.
Nevertheless, I want to credit Taylor for two things. First, it is a great thing just to bring attention to the relationship between capitalism and music. Second, his chapter 4, titled "Globlaization" is really about two central concepts: "exploitation" and "authenticity." Here I found astute his analysis of the encounters between Western curators (Paul Simon, Ry Cooder, David Byrne) and non-Western musicians.
If Taylor is unconvincing about his grasp of capitalism, he is nevertheless quite good on cultural musical encounters.
I did not read the entire book.
The problem for me in this book is that I don't trust Taylor's Marxist chops. I am not sure he grasps Marx's presentation of capitalism with an adequate understanding. This is especially true for Taylor's distinction between use-value and exchange value and even more so for Taylor's not mentioning that capitalism's creative destruction is built into its inner dynamic. Nor am I convinced that Taylor has a decent grasp of how Marx/Polanyi understood that cultural resistance (what I call small-s socialisms) helps keep alive the cold logic of capitalism.
Nevertheless, I want to credit Taylor for two things. First, it is a great thing just to bring attention to the relationship between capitalism and music. Second, his chapter 4, titled "Globlaization" is really about two central concepts: "exploitation" and "authenticity." Here I found astute his analysis of the encounters between Western curators (Paul Simon, Ry Cooder, David Byrne) and non-Western musicians.
If Taylor is unconvincing about his grasp of capitalism, he is nevertheless quite good on cultural musical encounters.
I did not read the entire book.
April 12, 2023
Dette synes jeg var megainteressant og godt skrevet. Megainteressant! Koste meg og ble smartere. Og mer irriterende. Mest sannsynlig. Holder tilbake en stjerne fordi jeg sleit litt med å finne et par kilder på et par greier jeg ville finne ut mer om? Muligens bare jeg som er problemet, veit ikke. Håper det. Hvis ikke er det mulig at hele greia er fabrikkert og det ville jo vært en slags strek i regninga for min del
July 23, 2020
Timely, well-written, valuable and usable information
May 1, 2024
Este libro ha cambiado mi vida en un sentido literal (y mis amigas lo han sufrido)
August 10, 2020
How business and capital interests shapes music
Taylor provides a framework which is first descriptive of the relationship between music and capitalism and which is only occasionally critical. It can be read, in part as a « how-to » book- on the music business. It does take issue with ways in which artists May he degraded by being plugged into marketing boxes. Overall, an interesting but not compelling read. Perhaps most appropriate for students of the subject... which I am.
Taylor provides a framework which is first descriptive of the relationship between music and capitalism and which is only occasionally critical. It can be read, in part as a « how-to » book- on the music business. It does take issue with ways in which artists May he degraded by being plugged into marketing boxes. Overall, an interesting but not compelling read. Perhaps most appropriate for students of the subject... which I am.
May 9, 2016
This book was a fascinating look at the interactions and intersections of music, money, and late capitalism. I came away with a new and deeper way of looking at the music business and how it all works.
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July 15, 2016338.4778 T2468 2016
February 7, 2017
Textbook I had to read for my Global Media class, and now have to write a paper for. It was meh.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews