Selling Out in the Sixties: Commercialization and Commodification in Three Musical Genres

Abstract

This thesis presents three case studies of American musicians in the 1960s who worked against the discourse of authenticity within their respective genres. Using different strategies, the three studies show how music can be commercialized or commodified to the musician’s—and audience’s—benefit. All three cases involve consideration of audience reception in the nature of production, and all three creators benefitted from such consideration. The three studies represent varied genres: the symphony orchestra, experimental minimalism, and pop/folk. During his tenure at the New York Philharmonic, conductor Leonard Bernstein incorporated popular music into the Young People’s Concerts, an educational series. Experimental composer Steve Reich abandoned political composition for instrumental music while gaining popularity, only to later come back to pointed political composition. Paul Simon embraced a producer’s overdubbing of “The Sound of Silence,” a simple acoustic song, once the new version offered him a taste of fame and fortune.