File spoon-archives/marxism-thaxis.archive/marxism-thaxis_1997/marxism-thaxis.9707, message 24


Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 10:18:39 -0400
From: "Matt D." <afn02065-AT-afn.org>
Subject: M-TH: Musician's create surplus value?  Was: Info Revolution


In re the idea that in the sale of a CD the value being valorized is that
instantiated in the aluminum and plastic and not the music, Chris B.
writes:

>Idiotic and indefensible. 

<snip>

>The imagination (die Phantasie) is not only an inseparable feature of
>exchange value, but every worker uses imagination in the creation of the
>commodity and every capitalist uses imagination in projecting the costs of
>production against the receipts, which is why the "transformation problem"
>is a problem to the unimaginative. 

Hmm.  I wonder if this is a bit too strong a statement, at least in regards
to popular music CD's ...

Specifically, if price bears *any* relation to value (and yes, I guess this is
the transformation problem, and yes, I am not nearly as imaginative as I
would like), and if the contribution of the musicians, producers, etc.
create *value* which is instantiated in the CD's, then why do *all* popular
music CD's sell w/in a narrow range of about $11 - $15, their position in
that range determined *primarily* by the length of time they've been on the
market -- *not* by the artist recorded on them?

Could we instead look at the specific music on a CD as "advertising", so
to speak, for that piece of aluminum and plastic -- buy this one rather than
that other one?  And we wouldn't say advertising produces value, would we?

On the other hand, you do actually experience the CD as the bearer of
the music you want to listen to ...  And FWIW, there is "physical" as
well as "intellectual" labor (a distinction I am not convinced is at all
helpful) expended in the creation and recording of music for a CD ...

Hell, I don't know.  This seems to me to be actually a sort of interesting
and complex question.  I hope that doesn't mean I'm an idiot!

-- Matt D.


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