Culture industries are dominated by a few big corporations that prefer to keep flogging old stories instead of taking a risk on something new. Creative workers can still produce fresh ideas, but they’re snuffed out before they get a chance to breathe.
The fact these business types call it a “culture industry” is all you need to know.
People used to make up songs just for the fun of it and that was the majority of songs people knew. Now most songs you know are made specifically to generate money. Hell, kids sing jingles.
I made up a song while putzing around the house this weekend. Sadly, I can’t imagine platforms willing to host a folk hero song about St Luigi and a sorely-needed revolution…
try Bandlab, I might be able to whip up a guitar something to go along. I’m @hadriscus
Feels like culture meth. Too easy to hear the greatest musicians, see the best movies, play the best games. Our ability to enjoy “real” things is diminished and the only way to consistently get our fix is via culture industries.
The term “culture industry” was coined by Horkheimer and Adorno, who were actually Marxist critics, so the origin of the term is pejorative, but the business types did adopt it.
Til
deleted by creator
Are they? Disney has been around like, what, about a century? Popular media makes money. How exactly do you think these culture monopolies are temporary?
deleted by creator
I think that they aren’t sweating because they also own the means of spreading media. Sure it’s “free or incredibly cheap” but when they own all of those they can still control what people are or don’t see. Just look up content creators complaining about YouTube’s algorithm or changing policies, stuff getting flagged for plagiarism incorrectly or demonetized.
Look at Twitter, which I will dead name, where one idiot can decide who gets to see what and what’s buried.