Week 3 - Is Popular music a commodity or genuine art form?

Adorno argues that pop music is standardised and a commodity that is mass produced. He believes that the companies who produce popular music are more concerned with making money and do so hurriedly using part interchangeability and pseudo individualisation. For example, the idea that cover versions are purely produced to make money rapidly, using material that was already there. However, we can also argue that pop music is not a commodity but a genuine art form itself. Art is a form of expression and there is no doubting that music produced by the pop industry and their lyrics that accompany them convey feelings, connotations and meaning. Also, just because music is reproduced doesn’t mean it loses its ‘art’ or expression. A lot of the time when music is reproduced, it sounds different and expresses different connotations depending on different factors e.g. the artist recording it. In conclusion, I would argue that popular music can sometimes be a commodity, but that does not make it any less a form of art