Retromania stems from the economy, not just internet access to the past.

Evidence

MF: I mostly agree with Simon’s analysis, but I guess that the main difference is that he sees retromania as an internet-related phenomenon. Of course the internet changed our lives, and of course the idea of timeless time deeply affected our habits, even in music; but we also have to bear in mind all the consequences of the naturalisation of anachronism and its side effects, which are issues related not only with the possibility of accessing a space like the internet: it’s also a political matter, it’s the way in which we use the internet and the way in which the internet functions in our economic society. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2312

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Nostalgia for the old internet may just be generational preference — W. David Marx, Blank Space: A Cultural History of the…, 706; Nostalgia for the old internet is partly generational preference, not objective decline.; Nostalgia became a low-risk financial strategy that entrenched the past over new IP — W. David Marx, Blank Space: A Cultural History of the…, 388 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Nostalgia became a low-risk financial strategy that entrenched the past over new IP #corroborates (0.88) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 388
• Retro revivals succeed because developing them is cheap #exemplifies (0.85) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 674
• In late capitalism the economic base generates its cultural superstructures directly #corroborates (0.80) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 32
• Technology’s cultural effects are mediated by late capitalism not deterministically #qualifies (0.76) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 410
• Nostalgia for the old internet is partly generational preference, not objective decline. #complicates (0.74)
• Nostalgia for the old internet may just be generational preference #complicates (0.72) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 706