Adorno defined popular music as ‘standardised’ and believed that it is a mass produced commodity like products made in a production line.
Some agree with this concept as a lot of artists are moulded by the music industry in order to make money. Television shows like ‘The X Factor’ produce pop stars and a lot of winners from the BRIT Awards this year came from the BRIT school.
Regarding whether popular music is an art form, you have to define art. Art is primarily original content created by an artist to convey a message. A lot of popular songs lack originality, as they tend to be covers or written by songwriters. The messages of songs don’t seem to be as important as the money generated from them.
Yet with an emergence of artists coming from the Internet with self made content, there is evident value in originality, which can be defined as genuine art.
