Making good music widely popular seemed meaningless to Adorno under existing broadcast conditions.

Evidence

The problem of how to make good music appeal to as many people as possible appeared to Adorno, under existing social conditions and in the way that broadcasting was currently organized, to be meaningless. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1014

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Adorno’s broader culture-industry critique that popularization of serious art under capitalism necessarily distorts it, a theme central throughout the Frankfurt School’s radio and music projects. — connects to: Adorno held that broadcast symphonies neutralize music except for trained specialists; Adorno’s central musical divide was market-oriented versus non-market music. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 554; Adorno saw mass art as reconciling audiences to the status quo, unlike Benjamin. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 630

Broader Connections

• Adorno’s central musical divide was market-oriented versus non-market music. #corroborates (0.75) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 554
• Adorno saw mass art as reconciling audiences to the status quo, unlike Benjamin. #corroborates (0.72) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 630