Music, Art, and Kinds of Use Values

Abstract

This essay uses musical and artistic examples to raise questions about Marx's conception of the nature of use value. I uncover some respects in which concrete use values can be economically consequential in ways that go beyond simply constituting an abstract precondition (as the basis of demand) for the saleability of commodities. The categories of ‘production-tracking’ and ‘really unsubsumable’ use values are described and analyzed, also with the aid of considerations drawn from the realms of music and art.