The Secrets of the Culture Industry

The secret of the culture industry is everything appears to be new when it's not new. The criteria for appearing new is to appear utterly natural as if it's coming out of the wellspring or the freedom of the person who's producing it. Hiden was Beethoven's teacher and he would write Doomkopf all over Beethoven’s compositions. That agonism, you know, where you want to be better than someone I think is actually quite important to it being art. It goes hand in hand with the tension Adorno is talking about.