In his book The German Ideology, Karl Marx explains the idea of a materialistic outlook and articulates the concept of the illusion that the ruling class cultivates in the masses to legitimise their control and uneven distribution of wealth. He explained that powerful classes oppress and exploit the workers at their disposal by denying them their fair share and keeping the surplus to themselves. A time comes when the oppressed class try to gain power and seize the wealth to create a balance of power and wealth. Ultimately, there will be little to no difference between the rich and the poor.
Digital media has pushed the world a step further into capitalism. As a result, the music industry faces an imbalance of power concerning huge companies and artists. With the rise of paid subscription platforms like Spotify, artists are the last to receive the profit of the music they produce. Spotify has become the world's largest music streaming service provider, which pays royalties to artists based on the number of streams they accrue. According to a report by The Economist, Spotify pays only $0.006 to $0.0084 to the artist per stream. ("Having Rescued Recorded Music, Spotify May Upend The Industry Again"). This unfair share also raises debates on the exploitation of artists in the hands of record labels and paid streaming services. Wealth imbalance and art exploitation have become commonplace in the modern music industry.
Though Marx saw music composition as inherently free labor no matter the retribution. In the Grundrisse (1857-58) he writes;
"Really free labor, the composing [of music] for example, is at the same time damned serious and demands the greatest effort. The labor concerned with material production can only have this character if it is of a social nature and it has a scientific character and at the same time is general work, i.e. if it becomes the activity of a subject controlling all the forces of nature in the production process." Karl Marx
Marx dissed capitalism and stated that work is alienating and insecure in the modern world. He emphasised that work should be a source of joy and fulfilment, but in the contemporary world, everything is mass-produced and highly specialised, producing an efficient economy. Listening to music has undoubtedly become more efficient but overly commodified, and Spotify playlists have taken over the industry. And though this may sound sensationalist, this imbalance of power and control inevitably destroys the soul and spirit of an artist, who must pursue making money rather than making music for personal or spiritual motivations. Would Karl Marx have a Spotify account if he were alive today? It's unlikely. Mass production, according to Marxists, is hurting the industry and the artists who work in it. Hopefully, there will continue to be a substratum of artists who create their music for art's sake and will one day get the most significant share of the profit generated from their work.
Bibliography
Goldstein, Joshua S., and Jon C. Pevehouse. International Relations. 10th ed. Pearson, 2014. Print.
"Having Rescued Recorded Music, Spotify May Upend The Industry Again." The Economist. N.p., 2018. Web. 13 June 2022.
Kate Bradley, Kate. "A Marxist Theory Of Music: It'S All In The Groove." MR Online. N.p., 2018. Web. 13 June 2022.