How would you define “indie”? It seems to me that this term does not solely mean “an artists which is not signed to a major label” but rather implies a genre of music - a genre which consists of anything that is “not mainstream”. This is not to say “indie” can’t be popular - but how many times have we felt betrayed when something that was known to only us and a few other cool people suddenly goes world wide, is on the cover of Rolling Stone, and is no longer our little secret, our personal discovery? If this be the case, maybe “indie” is a status rung on the band ascension ladder to world domination. If indie is indeed correlated with not being mainstream, when an indie band achieves mainstream level success, or at least acceptance, do they cease to be indie?
I find indie a terribly confusing term - is it a state, an attitude, a disposition, a situation, a genre, a badge of honour, a phase one passes through, or a style?? What do you think?
August 8th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
I think maybe indie is what you are when you’re a band full of people who still have to have day jobs, and have to go without a whole lot of nice things in order to pursue your art. Hopefully that’s a phase I’m going through!