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Noise: The Political Economy of Music
“Noise is a model of cultural historiography. . . . In its general theoretical argument on the relations of culture to economy, but also in its specialized concentration, Noise has much that is of importance to critical theory today.� SubStance“For Attali, music is not simply a reflection of culture, but a harbinger of change, an anticipatory abstraction of the shape of things to come. The book’s title refers specifically to the reception of musics that sonically rival normative social orders. Noise is Attali’s metaphor for a broad, historical vanguardism, for the radical soundscapes of the western continuum that express structurally the course of social development.� EthnomusicologyJacques Attali is the author of numerous books, including Millennium: Winners and Losers in the Coming World Order and Labyrinth in Culture and Society.
196 pages, Paperback
First published February 24, 1977
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About the author
Jacques Attali
166books186followersJacques Attali is a French economist and scholar. From 1981 to 1991, he was an advisor to President François Mitterrand. He subsequently cast doubt on Mitterrand's past as a mid-level Vichy government functionary in his retrospective of Mitterrand's career, C'était François Mitterrand, published in 2005.
In April 1991 he became the first President of the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the financial institution established by western governments to assist the countries of eastern and central Europe and the former Soviet Union in their transition to democratic market economies. He worked at the bank until 1993.
In 1998 Attali founded the French non-profit organization PlaNet Finance which focuses on microfinance.
Attali is perhaps best known in America as the author of Noise: The Political Economy of Music.
In April 1991 he became the first President of the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the financial institution established by western governments to assist the countries of eastern and central Europe and the former Soviet Union in their transition to democratic market economies. He worked at the bank until 1993.
In 1998 Attali founded the French non-profit organization PlaNet Finance which focuses on microfinance.
Attali is perhaps best known in America as the author of Noise: The Political Economy of Music.
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August 17, 2007
In sum, the history of music should be rewritten as a political effort to channel violence through noise, which by its nature is unwieldy and acts as a safety valve, to put it too simply. This effort is as old as power.
Specifically, music is said by Attali to have been first created as a way to commit symbolic violence against the other, to preempt the need for ritual murder which in "ancient" societies was the act that identified a scapegoat, an other, thereby giving everyone else a sense of tribal in-ness.
As time went on, music became a representation, a mirror of its original purpose whose aim was to stand as spectacle. This period in musicality includes all of concert music and lasts into the 19th or 20th century.
Finally, music moved into a period of repetition, where spectacle was no longer possible because everything was always the same. This was made possible by the advance of capitalism and technology. Even concerts, in this stage, trailed the mass-produced object in meaning and importance.
Finally, there may yet be a final stage in musicality, a stage of composition, where people produce music for their own pleasure, without profit or repetition.
Attali's purpose in tracing this history is economic and prophetic. (By training he is an economist, and he worked as a finance minister under Mitterand. Now he runs a microfinance NGO.) Because the production of music requires no labor, humanity can mold it infinitely almost as soon as it imagines some new political possibility. So relations are enacted through music that will eventually come to inform other areas of society, including economics and government. Thus we can look to music as a foreshadowing, which Attali demonstrates historically.
August 30, 2015
As an investigation into the fetishization of music and the regression of listening, Noise: The Political Economy of Music manages to fail in interesting ways. Attali attempts to provide a historical investigation into the development of music from its origins in ritual through to the development of modern recording. To achieve this, he draws on an approach heavily influenced by Theodor Adorno and Critical Theory. The result is at times brilliant as it traces the economics of nineteenth and twentieth century music production and reception and frustrating in its overly broad and oftentimes unsubstantiated claims of the ur-history of music prior to the age of capitalism.
The failure of the book rests on three factors, each in its own way undermining the whole of the thesis. First, as a materialist history of music, the book takes in a much too broad aesthetic category over a too large period of time. In the nineteenth century alone, the divergent musical forms distributed over both high and low cultures would require a tome of considerable length, but Attali glosses over this and not only includes the one century but the entire history of music. As a consequence, we end up with the second factor undermining the book, a series of unsubstantiated generalizations such as music is ritualized human sacrifice. Attali does not have the time or the capacity to substantiate the claim, but instead relies on an interpretation of a work of visual art, Brueghal’s Carnival’s Quarrel with Lent, to assert his thesis. Finally, because the theory relies so heavily on Adorno, Attali fails to give sufficient consideration to the liberationist elements within music, so that musical innovation can only be reducible to market demand and exploitation. There is no dialectic of technological repetition. To this end, the book could use a little Walter Benjamin and the revolutionary potential of Technological Reproducibility.
At the same time, though the book fails, it does fail in interesting ways. When Attali is focused on the political economy of nineteenth and twentieth century music, he does offer fresh insight into the economic exploitation of music. The history of copyright ownership, technical reproduction, commercial performance and innovation all reveal ways in which external economic factors drive music’s development in the last two centuries. In these discussion, Attali is at his best as he provides descriptions of how musical forms were developed or marginalized depending upon the markets and the technologies of different eras. The history of the relationship between music, technology and capitalist economics, essentially the process whereby music production became a monetized activity, are revealing and instructive for understanding musical history. Frustratingly, here where he is most interesting, Attali is also uninterested in providing a greater degree of depth because his theory of music as murder interferes with the much richer materialist dialectic between music and capitalism.
I can’t say I would recommend this book. For a person interested in this general area of music theory, How the Beatles Destroyed Rock and Roll offers a much more interesting take on the relationship between technology, economy and music, one that is stronger because of its more narrow focus on twentieth century popular music in America.
The failure of the book rests on three factors, each in its own way undermining the whole of the thesis. First, as a materialist history of music, the book takes in a much too broad aesthetic category over a too large period of time. In the nineteenth century alone, the divergent musical forms distributed over both high and low cultures would require a tome of considerable length, but Attali glosses over this and not only includes the one century but the entire history of music. As a consequence, we end up with the second factor undermining the book, a series of unsubstantiated generalizations such as music is ritualized human sacrifice. Attali does not have the time or the capacity to substantiate the claim, but instead relies on an interpretation of a work of visual art, Brueghal’s Carnival’s Quarrel with Lent, to assert his thesis. Finally, because the theory relies so heavily on Adorno, Attali fails to give sufficient consideration to the liberationist elements within music, so that musical innovation can only be reducible to market demand and exploitation. There is no dialectic of technological repetition. To this end, the book could use a little Walter Benjamin and the revolutionary potential of Technological Reproducibility.
At the same time, though the book fails, it does fail in interesting ways. When Attali is focused on the political economy of nineteenth and twentieth century music, he does offer fresh insight into the economic exploitation of music. The history of copyright ownership, technical reproduction, commercial performance and innovation all reveal ways in which external economic factors drive music’s development in the last two centuries. In these discussion, Attali is at his best as he provides descriptions of how musical forms were developed or marginalized depending upon the markets and the technologies of different eras. The history of the relationship between music, technology and capitalist economics, essentially the process whereby music production became a monetized activity, are revealing and instructive for understanding musical history. Frustratingly, here where he is most interesting, Attali is also uninterested in providing a greater degree of depth because his theory of music as murder interferes with the much richer materialist dialectic between music and capitalism.
I can’t say I would recommend this book. For a person interested in this general area of music theory, How the Beatles Destroyed Rock and Roll offers a much more interesting take on the relationship between technology, economy and music, one that is stronger because of its more narrow focus on twentieth century popular music in America.
January 2, 2019
This was some heavy and heady stuff. Attali posits that music (at least in Western culture and history) is not just a reflection of its social, political, and economic times but also a predictor of change, an abstract anticipation of the new conditions ushered in by these changes. He traces the development of music in Western society through its progressive positions as ritual, representation, spectacle, and repetition, elucidating what these have meant in terms of the production of music and the economic and political structures of each stage of development. Attali then posits the coming of a new stage, which he dubs composition, where music is produced individually for personal pleasure, and makes some conjectures about the political and economic conditions this stage may predict.
I am going to be thinking about these ideas for a long time. Some of it resonated with me a lot, some I'm not sure I entirely buy. My two main criticisms are that Attali equates and conflates the content and form of music (e.g., atonality) with the way music produced and disseminated (e.g., the recording industry), and that he kind of ignores the role of the subjective experiences of musicians and listeners in favor of the workings of systems. On the other hand, I found a lot of his ideas about the end of the repetition stage and the possibilities of the composition stage very intriguing, and surprisingly prescient for a book written in 1977.
I am going to be thinking about these ideas for a long time. Some of it resonated with me a lot, some I'm not sure I entirely buy. My two main criticisms are that Attali equates and conflates the content and form of music (e.g., atonality) with the way music produced and disseminated (e.g., the recording industry), and that he kind of ignores the role of the subjective experiences of musicians and listeners in favor of the workings of systems. On the other hand, I found a lot of his ideas about the end of the repetition stage and the possibilities of the composition stage very intriguing, and surprisingly prescient for a book written in 1977.
January 7, 2014
Premise sounds good until you find Atali jumping through the extremes of employing a rigid/ mechanistic type of Marxist analysis and non-scientific postructuralist 'readings'
Case in point: Atali equates noise to the raw, untamed violence beyond social order. Musical movements like Russolo' futurism are revolutionary for emancipating noise from the bourgeois romantic musical tradition. But this kind of analysis cannot account for the contemporary "noise" aesthetic common among artists regardless of political leaning. The connection between the sonic arts and its inherent politics is not as clear-cut as Atali claims them to be.
Case in point: Atali equates noise to the raw, untamed violence beyond social order. Musical movements like Russolo' futurism are revolutionary for emancipating noise from the bourgeois romantic musical tradition. But this kind of analysis cannot account for the contemporary "noise" aesthetic common among artists regardless of political leaning. The connection between the sonic arts and its inherent politics is not as clear-cut as Atali claims them to be.
April 6, 2021
Esse livro é um exemplo de como uma ótima ideia pode ser completamente afogada por um péssimo trabalho de sistematização teórica.
A proposta de Attali é clara: as transformações na forma musical seriam sintomas de transformações na economia política, música como profecia. Interessante, porém há um equívoco que é um equívoco de muitos ao longo do século XX: achar que Marx propunha uma determinação unívoca e unilateral da economia sobre as outras instâncias da formação social. De saída já temos um clichê do "Marx não considerou...", mas vamos lá.
Logo após uma introdução que simplesmente joga conceitos que serão (mal) trabalhados no livro, Attali segue com uma série de alusões, citações descontextualizadas e referências à pensadores e teorias de seu tempo, se lançando no texto propondo a música como um simulacro do assassinato no sacrifício. A organização do ruído seria uma das principais formas de produzir uma coesão social, organizando o silêncio e a música. Até aí, apesar de alguns furos, Attali ainda prende nossa atenção.
Entretanto, a análise prossegue por caminhos muito esburacados. Saindo do festival sangrento, Attali propõe que a representação musical serviria de substituto para o sacrifício. A bela capa do livro de Attali serve para expressar a oposição entre o Carnaval e a Quaresma, sendo este conflito o pano de fundo para a exploração de Attali sobre a representação musical na Idade Média como organização do ruído. Em contraste com as interessantíssimas exposições históricas, temos uma série de furos teóricos no campo da estética, da filosofia e da teoria social. Chega até a reduzir toda a história da música tonal à uma apologia ao capitalismo em certo ponto. Mas o pior ainda está por vir.
O pior momento é a análise da 'Repetição', a música na modernidade. É um Frankenstein composto por choros reacionários de uma "música sem mensagem" (bota música pop e Stockhausen no mesmo balaio, propondo uma possível ditadura stockhauseana onde sua música-mobília invadiria todo o espaço - inclusive as paradas musicais), momentos onde Attali simplesmente joga "simulacro", "acumulação", "alienação" e "espetáculo" sem rigor nenhum (tornando os conceitos de Attali simulacros de si mesmos ao decorrer da análise) e uma série de platitudes incoerentes. Eu e Fabio fizemos essa leitura juntos e em toda reunião saía a piada de que nós tentávamos ao máximo "dar" uma teoria ao Attali partindo do Adorno e do Sohn-Rethel, devido a falta dela no próprio livro (esse foi o único ponto positivo, porque apesar de tantos erros e incoerências, ele nos deu pano para desenvolver nossas próprias conclusões).
O livro é coroado (with a shit crown) com o capítulo sobre a Composição, a utopia individualizada de Attali que pode romper com a violência opressiva da música na modernidade. Eis a imagem do fim da arte: bedroom pop, Instagram Stories ou o Tik Tok(clara ironia). Frente à violência da lógica da troca, à ausência de códigos e à condenação ao silêncio, a auto-transcendência individualizada é a saída de Attali, onde cada um toca seu sintetizador para seu próprio prazer solitário e livre, música-masturbação, prazer no trabalho. Nova "sociabilidade" da pulverização das redes. Também chama à atenção uma virada de um Cage e um Stockhausen criticados como bastiões da Repetição para inovadores da Composição (a indecisão de Attali mostra mais uma falta de rigor). Pulando de uma relação coletiva de comunicação para uma comunicação com o próprio corpo, temos mais uma vez uma ausência de qualquer sistematização coerente sobre o tema. Alegando um "fracasso" do free jazz, Attali parece se contradizer ao louvar "novas formas de produção coletiva de memória musical" alheias ao mercado, mas volta atrás alegando uma possível armadilha de falsa liberação. Parecemos ficar então com a composição solitária de sua utopia masturbatória, que parece superar tudo e mais um pouco, mas que acaba por não superar nada. Tem apenas como constante um self-othering que ele insistentemente ignora.
O que fica faltando é qualquer determinidade para essa forma musical, que Attali delega ao mistério, evocando uma "produção de diferenças" e uma "expressão da falta" extremamente vaga que gera uma economia política mais vaga ainda, pulando do comunismo pro neoliberalismo com conceitos vazios de 'auto-gestão'. A falta de rigor vira a crítica de Attali contra si mesma, o que ele propõe pode ser virado ao avesso por seus próprios termos. Não reconhece contradições de imediatez e mediação nem forma e conteúdo, se perdendo na própria crítica.
Surpreendente o Jameson ter topado fazer um prefácio pra esse livro. Para além da má compreensão de Marx e Adorno, de filosofia e das vanguardas musicais no século XX e de boa parte da teoria estética, o que sobra são raros momentos interessantes, rastros da ideia central do livro que nunca se concretiza. E alguns momentos pra dar risada também.
O pósfacio da McClary tenta salvar a incoerência do Attali chamando a análise dele de "ruído", mas infelizmente nem isso o Attali consegue construir. Sem dúvidas, questões provocadoras são colocadas, mas pouco além disso. Com a mesma crítica contraproducente aos 'especialistas musicais' e não ao sistema social, teima nos mesmos erros pouco aprendendo com sete anos de distância do livro. Além de propor que a teoria do Attali seria mais abrangente que a do Adorno, o que é puro meme.
Termina fazendo o mesmo que Attali: falando de uma série de novos movimentos ecléticos e plurais que parecem romper com algo mas são rapidamente absorvidos ou não escapam o bastante da lógica daquilo que dizem superar.
Uma teoria estética ruim, uma teoria política ruim, uma teoria histórica ruim, uma teoria filosófica ruim, uma teoria da linguagem ruim, uma teoria do trabalho e do capital ruim e temos uma grande salada de frutas de palavras soltas que tentam iludir o leitor a achar que há algo de profundo e importante ali. Pela sua errância conceitual, qualquer coisa cabe, qualquer projeção encontra sua tela.
A proposta de Attali é clara: as transformações na forma musical seriam sintomas de transformações na economia política, música como profecia. Interessante, porém há um equívoco que é um equívoco de muitos ao longo do século XX: achar que Marx propunha uma determinação unívoca e unilateral da economia sobre as outras instâncias da formação social. De saída já temos um clichê do "Marx não considerou...", mas vamos lá.
Logo após uma introdução que simplesmente joga conceitos que serão (mal) trabalhados no livro, Attali segue com uma série de alusões, citações descontextualizadas e referências à pensadores e teorias de seu tempo, se lançando no texto propondo a música como um simulacro do assassinato no sacrifício. A organização do ruído seria uma das principais formas de produzir uma coesão social, organizando o silêncio e a música. Até aí, apesar de alguns furos, Attali ainda prende nossa atenção.
Entretanto, a análise prossegue por caminhos muito esburacados. Saindo do festival sangrento, Attali propõe que a representação musical serviria de substituto para o sacrifício. A bela capa do livro de Attali serve para expressar a oposição entre o Carnaval e a Quaresma, sendo este conflito o pano de fundo para a exploração de Attali sobre a representação musical na Idade Média como organização do ruído. Em contraste com as interessantíssimas exposições históricas, temos uma série de furos teóricos no campo da estética, da filosofia e da teoria social. Chega até a reduzir toda a história da música tonal à uma apologia ao capitalismo em certo ponto. Mas o pior ainda está por vir.
O pior momento é a análise da 'Repetição', a música na modernidade. É um Frankenstein composto por choros reacionários de uma "música sem mensagem" (bota música pop e Stockhausen no mesmo balaio, propondo uma possível ditadura stockhauseana onde sua música-mobília invadiria todo o espaço - inclusive as paradas musicais), momentos onde Attali simplesmente joga "simulacro", "acumulação", "alienação" e "espetáculo" sem rigor nenhum (tornando os conceitos de Attali simulacros de si mesmos ao decorrer da análise) e uma série de platitudes incoerentes. Eu e Fabio fizemos essa leitura juntos e em toda reunião saía a piada de que nós tentávamos ao máximo "dar" uma teoria ao Attali partindo do Adorno e do Sohn-Rethel, devido a falta dela no próprio livro (esse foi o único ponto positivo, porque apesar de tantos erros e incoerências, ele nos deu pano para desenvolver nossas próprias conclusões).
O livro é coroado (with a shit crown) com o capítulo sobre a Composição, a utopia individualizada de Attali que pode romper com a violência opressiva da música na modernidade. Eis a imagem do fim da arte: bedroom pop, Instagram Stories ou o Tik Tok(clara ironia). Frente à violência da lógica da troca, à ausência de códigos e à condenação ao silêncio, a auto-transcendência individualizada é a saída de Attali, onde cada um toca seu sintetizador para seu próprio prazer solitário e livre, música-masturbação, prazer no trabalho. Nova "sociabilidade" da pulverização das redes. Também chama à atenção uma virada de um Cage e um Stockhausen criticados como bastiões da Repetição para inovadores da Composição (a indecisão de Attali mostra mais uma falta de rigor). Pulando de uma relação coletiva de comunicação para uma comunicação com o próprio corpo, temos mais uma vez uma ausência de qualquer sistematização coerente sobre o tema. Alegando um "fracasso" do free jazz, Attali parece se contradizer ao louvar "novas formas de produção coletiva de memória musical" alheias ao mercado, mas volta atrás alegando uma possível armadilha de falsa liberação. Parecemos ficar então com a composição solitária de sua utopia masturbatória, que parece superar tudo e mais um pouco, mas que acaba por não superar nada. Tem apenas como constante um self-othering que ele insistentemente ignora.
O que fica faltando é qualquer determinidade para essa forma musical, que Attali delega ao mistério, evocando uma "produção de diferenças" e uma "expressão da falta" extremamente vaga que gera uma economia política mais vaga ainda, pulando do comunismo pro neoliberalismo com conceitos vazios de 'auto-gestão'. A falta de rigor vira a crítica de Attali contra si mesma, o que ele propõe pode ser virado ao avesso por seus próprios termos. Não reconhece contradições de imediatez e mediação nem forma e conteúdo, se perdendo na própria crítica.
Surpreendente o Jameson ter topado fazer um prefácio pra esse livro. Para além da má compreensão de Marx e Adorno, de filosofia e das vanguardas musicais no século XX e de boa parte da teoria estética, o que sobra são raros momentos interessantes, rastros da ideia central do livro que nunca se concretiza. E alguns momentos pra dar risada também.
O pósfacio da McClary tenta salvar a incoerência do Attali chamando a análise dele de "ruído", mas infelizmente nem isso o Attali consegue construir. Sem dúvidas, questões provocadoras são colocadas, mas pouco além disso. Com a mesma crítica contraproducente aos 'especialistas musicais' e não ao sistema social, teima nos mesmos erros pouco aprendendo com sete anos de distância do livro. Além de propor que a teoria do Attali seria mais abrangente que a do Adorno, o que é puro meme.
Termina fazendo o mesmo que Attali: falando de uma série de novos movimentos ecléticos e plurais que parecem romper com algo mas são rapidamente absorvidos ou não escapam o bastante da lógica daquilo que dizem superar.
Uma teoria estética ruim, uma teoria política ruim, uma teoria histórica ruim, uma teoria filosófica ruim, uma teoria da linguagem ruim, uma teoria do trabalho e do capital ruim e temos uma grande salada de frutas de palavras soltas que tentam iludir o leitor a achar que há algo de profundo e importante ali. Pela sua errância conceitual, qualquer coisa cabe, qualquer projeção encontra sua tela.
September 25, 2010
absolutely genius book tracing the origin and development of music, but so much more - showing music as a reflection of, and a precedent for, the structure of production within society, by focussing on the relationship between music, power and money.
It takes it starting place atop Rene Girard's theory of memetic desire and the essential violence, showing musics birth and utility in the midsts of time amongst primal society and the ritualised slaughter of a scapegoat. That seemed a bit hard to swallow at first but after reading a bit more depth via wikipedia - - i could go with it.
The book describes four networks/stages of musical, and hence, societal, structures - sacrificial being the first, in which music was inscribed in ceremony and ritual, music was a very public thing and part of the background noise of life. 'Representation' is the second network structure, where music was abstracted from daily life, presented as spectacle, in concerts and private performances, where money was exchanged, charged for admission. This was reflected in society with the industrial revolution, where labour was also abstracted from ones own form of production and sold as an hourly commodity. 'Repetition' is the third network structure, and is brought about through the technology of recording, beginning with Edison's phonograph in 1877, as the commercialization of records began; this was reflected in society as a distribution of power as it dispersed throughout society, tying in well with Foucauldian ideas of power being intangible and elusive. The fourth and final stage of the musical production cycle he terms 'Compositional'. I was keen to see what examples he would give of this stage, but unfortunately the chapter is more open, more of a prediction of what is to come. He defines composition as the melding together of production and consumption, in which time and usage are not stockpiled as in repetition nor abstracted such as in representation. In composition, he presents quite a strongly optimistic view of society in which each person is personally responsible and powerful, living in the moment and taking pleasure in the act of production.
Interesting to note the book was first published in france in 1977, so i'm not sure what effect or level of knowledge he would have had of punk at that point, as he never mentions punk. It can all seem quite prescient, as the idea of a compositional network can easily be imagined as first the DIY ethos of punk which fuelled the whole 80s and spread of lo-fi noise bands and music scenes, and as technology moved into the 90s and this present decade, how the widespread adoption and cheap cost of software has enabled mass amounts of young music producers, remixers, djs. How those same ideas and technology are also shaping society and the structures of power through open source software and open data movements, ideologies of transparent government etc.
The history of copyright is also very impressively explained from original guild of copyists who were pissed at the invention of the printing press, so the law came up with the idea of "copy-right" for who could use these new printing press devices. AT first this only covered dramatic works, as music in the middle ages and into the renaissance was still very much a fluid part of society - still in its sacrificial/ritual network stage -
With the move into the Representation stage of the 1700s and 1800s and the emergence of musical stars and celebrities, we see the first musical collections society forming in 1850 - SACEM in france, to "demand, on behalf of the authors and editors, payment of royalties for every representation of a musical work, regardless of its importance". This was to collect money for the composers for their works which were being published in song books and used in mechanical playback machines, but for which the original composers were not being paid. The birth of publishing rights. As another technology breaks the existing order - the phonograph - and the move into the Repetition network stage, the musicians and publishers were upset at not being paid for recordings taken of performances, and from here the need for mechanical copyright arises.
aye, well recommended!
It takes it starting place atop Rene Girard's theory of memetic desire and the essential violence, showing musics birth and utility in the midsts of time amongst primal society and the ritualised slaughter of a scapegoat. That seemed a bit hard to swallow at first but after reading a bit more depth via wikipedia - - i could go with it.
The book describes four networks/stages of musical, and hence, societal, structures - sacrificial being the first, in which music was inscribed in ceremony and ritual, music was a very public thing and part of the background noise of life. 'Representation' is the second network structure, where music was abstracted from daily life, presented as spectacle, in concerts and private performances, where money was exchanged, charged for admission. This was reflected in society with the industrial revolution, where labour was also abstracted from ones own form of production and sold as an hourly commodity. 'Repetition' is the third network structure, and is brought about through the technology of recording, beginning with Edison's phonograph in 1877, as the commercialization of records began; this was reflected in society as a distribution of power as it dispersed throughout society, tying in well with Foucauldian ideas of power being intangible and elusive. The fourth and final stage of the musical production cycle he terms 'Compositional'. I was keen to see what examples he would give of this stage, but unfortunately the chapter is more open, more of a prediction of what is to come. He defines composition as the melding together of production and consumption, in which time and usage are not stockpiled as in repetition nor abstracted such as in representation. In composition, he presents quite a strongly optimistic view of society in which each person is personally responsible and powerful, living in the moment and taking pleasure in the act of production.
Interesting to note the book was first published in france in 1977, so i'm not sure what effect or level of knowledge he would have had of punk at that point, as he never mentions punk. It can all seem quite prescient, as the idea of a compositional network can easily be imagined as first the DIY ethos of punk which fuelled the whole 80s and spread of lo-fi noise bands and music scenes, and as technology moved into the 90s and this present decade, how the widespread adoption and cheap cost of software has enabled mass amounts of young music producers, remixers, djs. How those same ideas and technology are also shaping society and the structures of power through open source software and open data movements, ideologies of transparent government etc.
The history of copyright is also very impressively explained from original guild of copyists who were pissed at the invention of the printing press, so the law came up with the idea of "copy-right" for who could use these new printing press devices. AT first this only covered dramatic works, as music in the middle ages and into the renaissance was still very much a fluid part of society - still in its sacrificial/ritual network stage -
With the move into the Representation stage of the 1700s and 1800s and the emergence of musical stars and celebrities, we see the first musical collections society forming in 1850 - SACEM in france, to "demand, on behalf of the authors and editors, payment of royalties for every representation of a musical work, regardless of its importance". This was to collect money for the composers for their works which were being published in song books and used in mechanical playback machines, but for which the original composers were not being paid. The birth of publishing rights. As another technology breaks the existing order - the phonograph - and the move into the Repetition network stage, the musicians and publishers were upset at not being paid for recordings taken of performances, and from here the need for mechanical copyright arises.
aye, well recommended!
April 6, 2013
Attali goes back as far as the middle ages to show how industrialism and capitalism have attempted to commodify music in the last 200 years, and how legislation has sought to discipline noise, restrict sound, and alienate both musicians and audiences from the cultural labor of creating music. But he also argues that industry has failed to complete this process, and that society not only has the power to reclaim music and noise-making, but that this reclamation is inevitable.
While this over-arching thesis is compelling, Attali makes other arguments that are far more esoteric (that noise is murder and that music is like ritual sacrifice? That bubblegum pop music will destroy the family and eventual result in a sort of Brave New World where children are raised as pop stars from infancy?), and often in language that is dense and difficult to slog through. Attali is clearly a Marxist, so his rhetoric is somehow both thrilling and boring. He's also French, and while Massumi's translation is well-done and readable, it also captures how academic French tends to make everything sound really fascinating, but also really dull.
But even if it's not the easiest read, Noise and the ideas contained therein are worth the effort, if you can find a copy. Highly recommended to anyone who expresses their love of music and/or noise by overthinking it and microanalyizing their favorite songs.
While this over-arching thesis is compelling, Attali makes other arguments that are far more esoteric (that noise is murder and that music is like ritual sacrifice? That bubblegum pop music will destroy the family and eventual result in a sort of Brave New World where children are raised as pop stars from infancy?), and often in language that is dense and difficult to slog through. Attali is clearly a Marxist, so his rhetoric is somehow both thrilling and boring. He's also French, and while Massumi's translation is well-done and readable, it also captures how academic French tends to make everything sound really fascinating, but also really dull.
But even if it's not the easiest read, Noise and the ideas contained therein are worth the effort, if you can find a copy. Highly recommended to anyone who expresses their love of music and/or noise by overthinking it and microanalyizing their favorite songs.
February 9, 2011
Reads like a economist turned literary theorist wrote a book about music.
A little too ideologically focused in chapter 2, chapter 1 has good historical information, great nuggets in chapter 3, but the meat is in chapter 4 on composition.
A little too ideologically focused in chapter 2, chapter 1 has good historical information, great nuggets in chapter 3, but the meat is in chapter 4 on composition.
February 16, 2025
This was such a fascinating read! Attali’s exploration of music as a form of power, economy, and social control was both thought-provoking and, at times, eerily relevant. The way he connects music to the structures of capitalism and political systems gave me so much to think about, especially in terms of how sound and noise are used to shape society.
While some sections were dense, I found his argument about music as a predictor of social change particularly compelling. The idea that shifts in musical production and consumption foreshadow economic and political transformations? Wild, but it makes so much sense when you think about it.
I also think this is a great read for my sociology seminar on sound! It really ties into broader discussions about how sound operates beyond just aesthetics—how it reinforces power, structures society, and even signals shifts in economic and political orders.
Overall, this book challenged me in the best way. It’s theoretical, but it’s also deeply relevant to how we experience sound in everyday life. A great read for anyone interested in the intersections of music, power, and economics!
While some sections were dense, I found his argument about music as a predictor of social change particularly compelling. The idea that shifts in musical production and consumption foreshadow economic and political transformations? Wild, but it makes so much sense when you think about it.
I also think this is a great read for my sociology seminar on sound! It really ties into broader discussions about how sound operates beyond just aesthetics—how it reinforces power, structures society, and even signals shifts in economic and political orders.
Overall, this book challenged me in the best way. It’s theoretical, but it’s also deeply relevant to how we experience sound in everyday life. A great read for anyone interested in the intersections of music, power, and economics!
July 19, 2017
İlginç bilgiler içeren, yoğun emek verilmiş bir araştırma. Müzik ve iktidar ilişkisini somutlaştıran örneklerle dolu bir kitap. Attali, Antik Yunan üli tiyatrosundan, Verdi'ye; cazın beyazların hakimiyetine geçmesinden The Doors'un popülaritesine kadar geniş bir skalada, Marksist bir perspektiften müziği ele alıyor. Kitap boyunca ikna olamadığım tek argüman, müziğin şiddeti yönetme aracı olarak değerli olduğu. Belki ayrıntılı ve ikna edici aktarıyordur, okurken kaçırmış olabilirim. Ama bu iddia bana sezgisel argümante edilmiş gibi geldi. 1900'lerin öncesinde kadınların üten uzak tutuluşunu da, müziğin toplumsal şiddeti yönetmekle ilgili olmasına bağlamış. Bu etkili aracın, erkek egemen bir alanda tutulmaya çalışılmasıyla ilişkilendirmiş. Müziğin yeniden üretimi ve tüketimi, fonograf bölümü de ilgimi çekti, belki Benjamin'le paralel okumak ve düşünmek verimli olabilir. Telif tarihi üzerine epey bilgi veriyor. Kitap genel olarak, dönemsellik vurgusu ile ilgi çekici hale geliyor. Okuyucuya, belli bir dönemin içinde olduğunu ve bu dönemin, paradigmaların geçici olduğunu da hatırlatma işlevine sahip bir kitap. Bundan 100 sene önce, ırkçı bir gündemle "Parmakları birleşmeyen ilkel yaratıkların yaptığı, ü denilen ama aslında gürültü olan caza müsaade edilmemelidir. Kölelerin başında biri olmazsa işte ortaya bu gürültü çıkar" gibi berbat düşüncelerin, saygın ü dergilerinde yer aldığını görmek, epey ders niteliğinde.
November 6, 2012
This book will change the way you think about music, unless you've already read books similar to this one (Adorno, Bataille, Dolar, or Goodman). Thinking about music as a product of labour is important and challenging. Attali provides a very interesting analysis of music as violence related to sacrifice. What is weak in this book is the connection to technology in musical production and reproduction. Even worse, perhaps, is that any discussion of leisure time vs. productive time, fixed capital, or knowledge production is absent. Regardless, as a a fairly short read this book will provoke thought.
July 24, 2017
Y vivir en el vacío, es admitir la permanente presencia potencial de la revolución, de la música y de la muerte.
May 31, 2024
There are plenty of really novel ideas here, such as the polarity of noise/order, repetition and “molds� as a way of understanding contemporary political economy, and the metaphor of “composition� for the act of making a radical new world build on the principles of tolerance and autonomy, defeating lack and alienation in the process. But ultimately I feel like the book is largely…wrong? Quite a bit of clever postmodern sleights of hand with very little in the way of materialist analysis or actionable information.
March 24, 2024
the coolest (ok, the only, but still) musical history I have ever read. that four-part structure is 75% legendary, it’s just the fourth part (Attali’s idea of music’s revolutionary potential) that feels hard to pin down. Everything else is a flawless grounding of the world of music in politics/economics though, and it really gets your gears turning about what an escape from repetition would look like
December 9, 2008
This is one of the three books that have changed the way I listen to the world. Attali posits that music is a leading indicator not of the health of the political economy, but the very structure of it. And as a bonus, it's not nearly as obtuse as most contemporary French philosophy.
Read
September 27, 2018Attali makes sweeping claims for music's ability to forecast future economic structures, but doesn't provide a lot of detailed evidence. I was not convinced that music (as opposed to visual art, philosophy, film) has any special power to predict economic superstructures.
October 2, 2015
Tarihin ilk devirlerinden günümüze kadar müziğin kullanımı, amaçları ve sahiplenilmesi üzerine yazılmış bir araştırma ve deneyim paylaşımı.
August 12, 2023
'nin bu kitabı, tarih içerisinde müziğin iktidarla, parayla ve toplumsal koşullarla olan ilişkisini, bu koşulların ü üretimini nasıl biçimlendirdiğini anlatan ve ü üretim biçiminin değişmekte olan ekonomik üretim biçimlerinin 'habercisi' olduğunu savlayan ilginç bir çalışma. Müzik, klasik anlatının benimsediği üzere, genellikle -bazen içine teknik ayrıntıların da katıldığı- ilhamla ve bestecinin kendi yaşamıyla sınırlanan romantik bir anlatı içinde ele alınagelmiştir. Ancak bu kitap, müziğin sadece ilhamdan, bireysel yaşamın ayrıntılarından -ve teknikten- ibaret olmadığını, bu ilham ve tekniği biçimlendiren, ona şekil veren şeyin, yoğun bir ilişki içinde olduğunu söylediği siyaset, ekonomi ve -kurban ayini benzetmesi gibi- toplumsal gelenekler bütünü olduğunu ortaya koyuyor. Bunun için örnek verdiği olaylar ve belgeler son derece ikna edici. Yine de anlatımın bazı noktalarında -bazı benzetmelerden ötürü- güç anlaşılırlık ve hızlı geçiş olduğunu, kitabın -yazarın Fransız olmasından ötürü- ele aldığı konularla ilgili -elbette her zaman olmasa da- çoğunlukla Fransa tarihinden örnekler ve istatistikler verdiğini belirtmem gerekir. Ancak müziğin üretimi ve pazarlanması bakımından, 2000'lerin hemen başında yazılmış bir kitabın bugünün Spotify fenomenini öngördüğünü okuyunca son derece şaşıracağınıza da eminim. Kitabın özellikle telif hakkının doğuşu ve gelişmesini ele alan kısmı epey bilgilendirici veriler içeriyor.
Kitabın çevirisinde yer yer bazı kavramsal sorunlar var (belki de bu sorunlar orijinal metinde var, bilemiyorum). Örneğin 66. sayfada yer alan şu ifadeleri ele alayım:
Türkçe ü terminolojisinde 'nota değeri' ve 'öçü birimi' yukarıdaki çeviride ifade ettiğinden çok farklı şeylere karşılık gelir. Türkçede nota değeri bir notanın ü değerini belirtmek için kullanılan bir kavramdır. Dolayısıyla bir diyapazon "nota değerlerinin" değil "nota dikliğinin", yani akustik terminolojideki karşılığı olan ses yüksekliğinin (frekansın) birleşmesini (yani eşitlenmesini) sağlar. "Ölçü birimi" ise üte time signature kavramını (3/4, 2/2, 5/16 vb.) karşılamak için kullanılır. Dolayısıyla çevirmenin, terminolojik bir karışıklığa yol açmamak adına burada "öçü birimi" değil öçüm veya ölçme birimi demesi gerekirdi diye düşünüyorum. Yine aynı sayfada gravicembalo col piano-forte'nin dipnotta "Piyanolu klausen" şeklinde açıklandığı görülüyor. Oysa çevirmenin -madem böyle bir açıklama çabasına giriştiyse- esasen "piano-forte"nin tuşlu çalgı teknolojisinde ne anlama geldiğini açıklaması gerekirdi; "piyanolu klausen" diye bir çalgı olduğunu sanmıyorum. Bir başka çeviri sorunu 125. sayfada yer alan "majör ve minör makamlar" ifadesinde karşımıza çıkıyor. Büyük olasılıkla orijinal metinde modes sözcüğü kullanılmış olmalı. "Makam" doğrudan Ortadoğu ülerinin ses sistemiyle ilişkili bir kavram olduğundan burada da Avrupa ü geleneğindeki majör ve minör modlara "makam" demenin doğru olmadığını düşünüyorum. Bunun yerine doğrudan "modlar" denebilirdi (çevirenin, Saygun'un ö karşılığını tanımadığını da böylece anlamış oluyoruz).
4 yıldızı vermemin nedeni hem yukarıda örneklerini sıraladığım çeviri sorunları hem de yine daha önce bahsettiğim gibi anlatımda kendini yer yer gösteren muğlaklıklar. Ancak müziğin 'yaşamın kendisi'yle olan doğrudan ilişkisi üzerine fikir edinmek isteyenlerin mutlaka okuması gereken bir kitap olduğunu düşünüyorum.
Kitabın çevirisinde yer yer bazı kavramsal sorunlar var (belki de bu sorunlar orijinal metinde var, bilemiyorum). Örneğin 66. sayfada yer alan şu ifadeleri ele alayım:
1711'de icat edilen diyapazon, nota değerlerinin birleşmesini sağlar. Nota değerleri, o güne dek sol anahtarının ortasından seçilmiş, öçü birimi işlevi gören bir frekanstan, la3'ten itibaren keyfi olarak seçilirdi.
Türkçe ü terminolojisinde 'nota değeri' ve 'öçü birimi' yukarıdaki çeviride ifade ettiğinden çok farklı şeylere karşılık gelir. Türkçede nota değeri bir notanın ü değerini belirtmek için kullanılan bir kavramdır. Dolayısıyla bir diyapazon "nota değerlerinin" değil "nota dikliğinin", yani akustik terminolojideki karşılığı olan ses yüksekliğinin (frekansın) birleşmesini (yani eşitlenmesini) sağlar. "Ölçü birimi" ise üte time signature kavramını (3/4, 2/2, 5/16 vb.) karşılamak için kullanılır. Dolayısıyla çevirmenin, terminolojik bir karışıklığa yol açmamak adına burada "öçü birimi" değil öçüm veya ölçme birimi demesi gerekirdi diye düşünüyorum. Yine aynı sayfada gravicembalo col piano-forte'nin dipnotta "Piyanolu klausen" şeklinde açıklandığı görülüyor. Oysa çevirmenin -madem böyle bir açıklama çabasına giriştiyse- esasen "piano-forte"nin tuşlu çalgı teknolojisinde ne anlama geldiğini açıklaması gerekirdi; "piyanolu klausen" diye bir çalgı olduğunu sanmıyorum. Bir başka çeviri sorunu 125. sayfada yer alan "majör ve minör makamlar" ifadesinde karşımıza çıkıyor. Büyük olasılıkla orijinal metinde modes sözcüğü kullanılmış olmalı. "Makam" doğrudan Ortadoğu ülerinin ses sistemiyle ilişkili bir kavram olduğundan burada da Avrupa ü geleneğindeki majör ve minör modlara "makam" demenin doğru olmadığını düşünüyorum. Bunun yerine doğrudan "modlar" denebilirdi (çevirenin, Saygun'un ö karşılığını tanımadığını da böylece anlamış oluyoruz).
4 yıldızı vermemin nedeni hem yukarıda örneklerini sıraladığım çeviri sorunları hem de yine daha önce bahsettiğim gibi anlatımda kendini yer yer gösteren muğlaklıklar. Ancak müziğin 'yaşamın kendisi'yle olan doğrudan ilişkisi üzerine fikir edinmek isteyenlerin mutlaka okuması gereken bir kitap olduğunu düşünüyorum.
March 28, 2023
در روزهای آخر اسفند در نیم روز روشن، وقتی� بنفشه ها را با برگ و ریشه و پیوند و خاک در جعبه های کوچک چوبین جای میدهند، من ترجمه فارسی کتاب رو از کتابخونه مترو ولیعصر تهران برای ۱۴ روز امانت گرفتم.
باید اعتراف کنم، خوندن کتابها� نویسندگان فرانسوی به دلیل استفادهشو� از واژگان و عبارات سختخوان� که استفاده میکنن� برای من کمی چالش برانگیزه. با این حال، به نظرم کتاب خیلی جالبی بود و نگاهی مختصر از تاریخ موسیقی و پیامدهای سیاسی و اقتصادیش بهم داد.
در این کتاب، آتالی استدلال میکن� که موسیقی فقط نوعی سرگرمی نیست، بلکه بازتابی از نیروهای اجتماعی، سیاسی و اقتصادی است که جامعه ما را شکل میدهن�. او چهار مرحله از موسیقی را که منعکسدهند� تکامل جوامع بشری است، ترسیم می کند: فداکاری، بازنمایی، تکرار و تالیف.
فداکاری:� در ابتدا از موسیقی برای صحبت با خدایان یا طبیعت استفاده میش�. در این دوره (قبل از ابداع موسیقی نتدا�) موسیقی در تقابل با نویز طبیعت شکل میگیر� و راهی برای تقویت حافظه جمعی بشر است و اغلب با مراسم گره خورده.
بازنمایی: سپس در دورها� از ۱۵۰۰ تا ۱۹۰۰ موسیقی به اولین بار به یک رسانه فیزیکی (کاغذ نوت) گره میخور� و از دنیای زندگی هرروزه انسانه� جدا میشو� و به فرایندی تخصصی تبدیل میشو� که توسط متخصصان بازنمایی میشو� و نوازندگان اغلب کارگر اشراف و قدرتمندان هستند.
تکرار: در این دوره که با صنعتیساز� و اختراع نوار و واینل و دیسک شروع میشود� هدف موسیقی دیگر حافظه (در دوره فداکاری) یا کیفیت (در دوره بازنمایی) نیست، بلکه وفاداری (Fidelity) است. آتالی این فصل را تکرار مینامد� زیرا هر کنش موسیقایی تکرار آن چیزی است که قبلاً آمده.
در فصل آخر اشارها� به دوره پس از تکرار میشه اما خیلی بسط داده نمیش�.
به طور کلی، «نویز: اقتصاد سیاسی موسیقی» کتاب جالبی بود که شاید به علت سخنخوا� بودن نویسندگان فرانسوی/فلسفی خیلی جاهاش رو رد کردم اما فهوای کلامش رو گرفتم و برام جالب بود و لنزی برای نگاه به موسیقی و نویز بهم داد.
April 14, 2024
I mean, this book was written for me. I essentially underlined the entire book. I will be drawing heavily from this in my research.
Noise is a violence; music is a way of taming violence by organizing noise; music is proof that violence can be tamed, that it is possible to live together.
Music pressages what is to come; music in the mode of repetition denies context and temporally bounded representation; localized affective music imbued with the noise of community is important; modern subject as totalized artifice, combined with the artifice of music production by text-to-music ai, represents the annihilation of lack, the denial of tolerance and autonomy for an ontology of pure non-aleatory necessity.
Noise is a violence; music is a way of taming violence by organizing noise; music is proof that violence can be tamed, that it is possible to live together.
Music pressages what is to come; music in the mode of repetition denies context and temporally bounded representation; localized affective music imbued with the noise of community is important; modern subject as totalized artifice, combined with the artifice of music production by text-to-music ai, represents the annihilation of lack, the denial of tolerance and autonomy for an ontology of pure non-aleatory necessity.
August 8, 2018
Müziğin çağlar boyunca geçirdiği yolculuk üzerine güzel bir kitap. Kitabın yeni sayılabilecek bir tarihte yazılmış olması da teknolojik gelişmelerin ü/bilgi paylaşımı üzerindeki etkilerini de düşünmeye fırsat veriyor. Klasik bir ü tarihi kitabı beklentisiyle okunmamalı, ama üle ilgilenen herkes için okumaya değer bir kitap.
August 15, 2023
La thèse principale est que le bruit (entendre, musique) est une source de violence et de pouvoir et que l'histoire économique et politique a sans cesse tenter de la maîtriser. L'argument en soit est intéressant mais pas très puissant. Le livre est largement consacré a une histoire de la musique des troubadours au MP3, agréablement synthétisée et très occasionnellement prophétique.
August 11, 2017
Libro imprescindible para todos aquellos interesados en el sonido. Un libro completo que nos despliega la historia de cómo nos hemos relacionado con el sonido y el ruido culturalmente, económicamente y políticamente.
August 21, 2019
An important statement about the challenges of the avant-garde, this book can sometimes read as a bit dated. It's still something that finds its way into most people's bibliographies when writing about contemporary music.
January 26, 2020
Bir silah olarak gürültünün iktidar tarafından kontrol edilmesi ve bu gürültünün müziğe evrimi.
Müzik üzerinden politik ve ekonomik bir dünya kronolojisi oluşturan bu kitap müziğe olan bakış açımı kıymetli öçüde değiştirdi.
Müzik üzerinden politik ve ekonomik bir dünya kronolojisi oluşturan bu kitap müziğe olan bakış açımı kıymetli öçüde değiştirdi.
November 14, 2021
There are a few good points made in this slender volume, but nothing earth=shattering and a lot that hasn't held up over the past 37 years. Fortunately musicology has moved on from this sort of bombastic, shallow nonsense and on to more interesting types of research.
March 12, 2022
Žak Atali je nevjerovatan čovjek ali mislim da je ovdje bilo dijelova koji su i njemu samom nerazumljivi. Izdanje je lijepo, predlaže i da se preskoče cjeline u kojima autor teoretiše u nedogled. Postoji par sjajnih opažanja koja su relevantna i 40 godina kasnije ali to je to.
December 6, 2023
Interesting perspective on music's effect on society and vice versa. I have read this book for research for a paper, but I am not going to use it. I will, however, read more about this because the topic interested me a lot, and other musicologists refer to this book and theory a lot.
February 29, 2024
Attributes listening as a cultural practice and critical act, allowing the audible to foster one’s sense of self. Interesting philosophies regarding the role of noise in society, and how sound can contribute to both a sense of belonging or rejection in certain landscapes.
November 13, 2017
Libro fundamental para los primeros acercamientos a una visión política de la música occidental.
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