Vertical integration lets Walmart dictate cultural aesthetics through economic leverage

Evidence

By cutting out the recording industry, Walmart can afford to sell these records at rock-bottom prices and even offer recording artists much more rewarding royalties and advances than those to which they are accustomed. But the scope of cultural possibility narrows to a selection of guaranteed hits that tend to conform to a conservative aesthetic, political and moral template. — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 299

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to deWaard’s cultural argument — finance’s colonization of imagination via retail logistics; also echoes Adorno’s culture industry thesis that distribution determines aesthetics. — connects to: Walmart’s retail dominance compels cultural producers to self-censor and consolidate production — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 299; Walmart’s scale makes it a dominant force in American culture and everyday life. — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 47