Essay Example: Fetishism by Karl Marx

The concept by Marx is viewed to be efficient in comprehending the processes present in history whereby various forms of music were shifting from the ideology of being personal and being listened by other people to an item that was traded. The ideology puts into view Marx concept of fetishism. Fetishism is viewed as an example of reification that entails acknowledging that commodities have power whereby they lack the power when the human presence is unavailable; particularly the social labor used in making the commodities. Taylor states, If reified "music" were a tangible object, a physical commodity, its fetishization might be straightforward. But it isn't, (297). Taylor uses the examples of piano players as an example of fetishism whereby he explains that for the proselytizers and the advertisers of the player pianos to identify an object to be used in the fetishization of reified music, they put their focus on popular musicians who could be invited to homes because of the technologies and hence transferring abstract, reified music onto the face of a particular musician who becomes in part a fetish herself, (298). Also, testimonials were used as advertising strategies to sell the music. Another common advertising strategy was using the face of the composers on the piano players to increase the selling of the instruments. The faces of composers such as Beethoven were seen coming out of the horns of the machines and hence attracting more clients. It is perceived that the images focused on educating the consumers that the commodities despite being mass produced, affiliated with the music composers whose performances were preserved by the images. The images are viewed to have brought dead composers such as Beethoven back to life through their music. Nonetheless, there was the doubt that using the images might interfere with the human relationship present in the reification. However, reification puts into view concealing of the social and using objects instead. It is perceived that the significant aspect was using the face of the performer to sell the piano rolls, the player pianos, and the phonographs.

An example of a musical piece that aligns with the fetishism is Symphony No. 5, First movement by Beethoven (Beethoven). The piece is one of the popular pieces by Beethoven which is often played in various classical concerts. Its popularity is illustrated by more than a million views present in the YouTube channels. Through technology, the pieces are found online and include the image of Beethoven. It can be perceived that the value of the commodity has diminished as anyone can access it online without necessarily making any payments. However, the musical concerts which are held on an annual basis by which the soloists and the performers imitate the exact rendition of the piece by Beethoven and hence aligning with the view that reification focuses on concealing of the social and using objects instead. The objects, in this case, are the instruments and the concealed part is Beethoven whereby despite his absence, the instruments continue with his musical art. Nonetheless, human labor has to be present for them to continue with the power of maintaining the piece. In other words, as highlighted earlier, the commodities have power whereby they lack the power when the human presence is unavailable; particularly the social labor used in making the commodities.

Conversions by Pierre Bourdeau

In his analogy on conversions, Bourdeau viewed the social world as consisting of a variety of sections which he identifies as fields. He explains that the various forms of capital can be obtained from the economic capital but from an immense effort or more cost of a transformation that is required to result in power that tends to be effective in a particular field (Bourdeau 13). He includes the examples that there are certain commodities that economic capital guarantees quick access without applying secondary costs and that others can only be accessed due to the virtue associated with social relationships that cannot perform immediately unless they have been preserved for a long time. The highlighted views are that economic capital makes the foundation of all other forms of capital and that the converted forms of economic capital partially result in their specialized effects to the level in which they can mask that inevitable aspect that economic capital is on the basis of their foundation (Bourdeau 13). The scholar states, In accordance with a principle which is the equivalent of the principle of the conservation of energy, profits in one area are necessarily paid for by costs in another (so that a concept like wastage has no meaning in a general science of the economy of practices), (Bourdeau 13). Bourdeau also views each form of capital to be autonomous to the rest despite the fact that they can overlap. Each field is viewed to have its unique practices and situations in addition to the struggles which are associated with the position when individuals assemble their capital to make claims in a specified social domain (Bourdeau 13). In the field of art, Bourdeau viewed that artists in each generation focused on converting the positions of the established artists who preceded them by which the next generation also critiqued the latter with the intention of also establishing strong positions in the field (Bourdeau 18). In other words, just like in any game, social fields can be viewed as places where people fight to occupy powerful positions and focus on winning.

An example of a piece of music that aligns with conversion is I Want to Know What Love Is by Foreigner which was a British-American rock band (Foreigner). The song was released to the public in 1984 in November and was a huge hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom at that time. It is still considered as one of the best classic songs of the 80s and still takes root in the current generation. It aligns with the concept of conversion whereby various artists have developed several versions of the song to show the power that they have in the music industry. The first version was sung in 1985 by a New Jersey church choir in the form of a gospel song by which the choir received various awards from its rendition. Another version of the song was released in 1998 by Tina Arena who is an Australian music artist. Wynonna Judd version also released her version in 2004 while Mariah Carey released hers in 2009. Both versions were among the hit lists in their years of release and hence showing the power of the first concept of the song. It can, therefore, be perceived that artists in each generation focused on converting the positions of the established artists who preceded them by which the next generation also critiqued the latter with the intention of also establishing strong positions in the field.

Works Cited

Beethoven. Symphony No. 5, First movement (1808). YouTube, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7pQytF2nak

Bourdeau, Pierre. The Forms of Capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. New York: Greenwood, 1986. Print.

Foreigner. "Foreigner - 'I Want To Know What Love Is' [Official Music Video]." YouTube, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raNGeq3_DtM.

Taylor, Timothy D. The Commodification of Music at the Dawn of the Era of "Mechanical Music". Ethnomusicology, Vol. 51, No. 2, 2007, pp. 281-305