Theodor W. Adorno
Max Horkheimer
The Culture Industry
They stated that the way in which the music industry manufactures artists, is the same way in which other industries manufacture vast quantities of consumer goods. For example, from the show The X Factor came a boy-band called JLS. They started out by forming themselves, and to some extent had a unique quality towards them. Once they went onto The X Factor, they went through the standardization* process that artists tend to go through, making them lose their sense of 'uniqueness' and becoming a generic boy-band. They became manufactured.
Adorno and Horkheimer stated that everything produced in the culture industry becomes the same, and the audience are so used to this occurring that it has became accepted and a natural thing to happen. Another example of this would be where Simon Cowell finds an artist, named James Arthur and then corrupts him, making him lose his 'uniqueness' just because Simone Cowell wants to make money from this artist, and only views him as a money-maker.
They also stated that money is the key to everything in the music industry, and the artist main purpose is generate money for their label, making the artist become a commodity.
Pseudo Individuality
Both Adorno and Horkheimer said that some artists are made in the same way as most of the other artists, but then go on to claim that they are original, yet they evidently are not. They used the analogy of a lock and key, where the artists are they key, as they all look the same, and if you look closely enough, they has some minor changes from the rest.
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