ABSTRACT
Numerous analysts of the processes of globalization and its opposite, called communalization have shown them to be inexorably linked. Globalization, for Zygmunt Bauman, is the stage in the centuries-long process of the 'Western project,' focusing on industrialization, urbanization, bureaucratization, individuation and secularization. Globalization carries forward the ideas of the reciprocal relationship between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft. Bauman grounds his formulation of globalization in the ideas that found their widest expression in the work of the Frankfurt School of the inter-war years of the twentieth century. The general process of globalization has engendered new forms of localism, tribalism, or communalism, the increasingly global music firms have created a proliferation of uniquely structured niche music markets each appealing to a distinct consumer taste group. The production perspective can be deployed to better understand the reasons for the rise of the global oligopoly and also the challenges it faces.
