Well yeah, the text about "controllers" linked to in the original post had Gramsci (a big name in certain circles, esp. Marxist academia) written all over it. Various recent authors (e.g. Sheldon Wolin, whose book Democracy Incorporated I couldn't finish, and Chris Hedges, whose work I find easier to read) have discussed "inverted totalitarianism" and "corporate totalitarianism", which also seem related to the original post. I find all that stuff plausible on some levels, but shoehorning jazz into such frameworks feels a bit forced IMO.