At first glance I thought he was writing about us:

Given that our culture is fundamentally consumerist, every countercultural movement is by definition anti-consumerist, a quixotic attempt to create an imaginary space that exists outside of and in opposition to the marketplace. Counterculturalism is a doomed attempt to maintain innocence in the face of the market’s all-consuming cynicism.

In fact he’s talking about the Beatles, and the various vampires who coopt counterculture by packaging it up and selling it as a product. Thus counterculture starts outside mainstream culture but ends up getting absorbed by it. And someone makes a fuckload of money for performing the alchemy. This was the business model of the Beatles. We just copied them. Paul and I have had long talks about it. And since I know you’re wondering: He will indeed be on stage at the Moscone center. Yeah, yeah, yeah.