Culture and commodifictation: technology and structural power in the early US recording industry

Abstract

Draws on Neo‐Weberian theory to argue that commodification is itself a cultural process, whilst not discounting the potentially negative effect of commercialisation. Examines product conception in the early US recording industry citing three disparate periods. Shows that in the late 1870s, recording firms sold and leased phonographs to entrepreneurs for public exhibitions, the the late 1880s firms leased phonographs and graphophones for dictation purpose and in the 1890s, firms exploited the phonograph by offering musical recordings. Concludes that structural power helped shape the product concepts of the industry.

Citation

Dowd, T.J. (2002), "Culture and commodifictation: technology and structural power in the early US recording industry", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 22 No. 1/2/3, pp. 106-140. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443330210789979