Critical Response Riesman

Critical Response: Listening to Popular music
David Riesman

During the 1950s a sociologist by the name of David Riesman published a study on the listening habits of teenagers. In the study itself he addresses Adorno’s assumptions about the power of the music industry over consumers. After completing interviews with approximately 150 youths, Riesman found that a minority group’s critical attitude toward mainstream popular music led them to make alternative choices for themselves. According to Riesman, the minority group was seen to be characterized by firmness on difficult standards of behavior such as judgment and taste in a dependent culture, also by a fondness for the uncommercialized, non-advertised knish bands rather than the name bands that most have heard of (Riesman, 326). This became a youth
movement that consciously sought to avoid presence in the mass media’s construction of a teenage audience.
Riesman’s study suggests many important key elements in regards to a consumer’s behavior in a capitalistic society. First, the inclination for uncommercialized music is said to have space in which popular music, whether it be through a sound recording studio or a live performance in front of a crowd, was said to be exchanged outside mainstream outlets. In relation to Riesman’s argument, popularized music in and around our society doesn’t necessarily mean its being played and broadcasted over different media outlets. More people are seen to gravitate more towards music that isn’t overplayed and abused by radio stations. Riesman’s observation is still a key theme viewed in today’s culture, there are common outlets in the 20th
century now where more and more youth inspired music comes from an underground sound. Artist such as The Weeknd and PARTYNEXTDOOR to name a few, came out of social media outlets by placing their music online for the world to discover with no fees attached. As an audience individuals come together through a common interest for a particular sound, in doing so they create a community which grows and flourishes, making the artist become either successful or a failure. Other big time artist such as Beyonce and Kid Cudi have dropped albums without any commercialized gimmicks, it’s becoming a popularized trend to sell your own music without the help from big corporations and advertisements. In the study made by Riesman, many of the teenagers interviewed admitted they disliked the use of commercials through selling music, they even went as far as saying they would refuse to buy anything that was advertised (Riesman, 369). Secondly, when looking at the minority’s commitment to visual standards, Riesman finds an adaptable context that confirms exactly that, opposing Adorno’s claims of the individual agency that failed to exist among music consumers whose tastes were not necessarily verbalized by the industry. The idea that there is a control on what is categorized to be popular seems to be coming back in full circle. Adorno wasn’t far from right when he stated that the needs and wants by consumers aren’t being met by the industry, what people are looking for and want cannot be found in popular music, hence why they choose to look for it in different media outlets. Riesman further elaborated by extending the argument to address the idea that popular music was a main factor in consideration to the music industry. The industry itself turns into an outlet to mold popular taste while eliminating free choice by consumers (Riesman, 361). This is an important element to consider, it is still a relevant argument in relations to how the industry still manages to hold sanctions on what a consumer can indulge in. Many believe that outlets such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook are great tools to find music that they may not be distributed through more common outlets such as radio and television sets.
Finally Riesman, points out the alteration of cultural practices and the consequent abandonment of them when “taken over” by the majority, which he indicates it being an uneasy relationship between the two; while the minority was seen to be a clear influence over the majority behaviors, mainstream acceptance is not considered a desirable outcome. Maintaining a relegated status was a key component in this social environment. It becomes essential for a minority group to listen to marginal music; it comes with creating an image around the type of persona they indented on selling. The main goal is to try and stay out of the obvious labels and branching out into uncommon groups, “Even in music, there seems to always be a minority channel over which less popular tastes get a hearing, but eventually that turns into a majority taste” (Riesman, 361). The flaw becomes clear; a minority group becomes more and more well-known which turns them into a majority. Riesman notes that it’s natural for a teen to feel judged when listening to a certain song or artist; the teen-ager will listen to music as if there are “others” around him, what he perceives in the mass media is enclosed by his perception of the peer-groups he belongs to (Riesman, 366). Kids tend to be obligated to learn how to respond to music, in a way their peer-group will find acceptable.
Riesman’s definition of “active minority” includes not only consumers, but it involves anyone who applies a similar approach to creating or distributing popular music. This makes it possible to trace their existence in the music industry over the last century. This would then mean that the industry exists as a set of binary oppositions between passive versus active audiences. What many fail to realize is the overwhelming activity and networks that comprise the process of creating, distributing, and consuming popular music. Riesman approach on his study of popular music is a well conducted theory; his claims are supported by evidence that were completed through a sequence of interviews with young teens and adults on the subject of popular music. It involved a series of questions asked around random house and streets of South Side Chicago, the groups of individuals involved ranged from fourteen to twenty-two year olds, and from upper-lower to middle class folks (Riesman, 367). A flaw in the collection of data would be the obvious lack of diversity of individuals; the majority of people that were interviewed were white middle class kids and adults. His claims are still relatable in the music industry and towards teens and young adults. One cannot achieve the understanding and influence of any medium, such as music, without being able to learn and deconstruct the character structure of a person, which Riesman accomplishes so gracefully in his research around popular music.