Indie, not all that Indie?

A piece/mini-rant I wrote on Last Fm




Independent 'Indie' music is defined in Wikipedia as...

indie music (from independent) is any of a number of genres, scenes, subcultures and stylistic and cultural attributes, characterised by perceived independence from commercial pop music and mainstream culture and an autonomous, do-it-yourself (DIY) approach.


Well, there is definitely a perceived independence from commercial pop music and the mainstream culture, prevalent in much of the 'Indie' media, imparticular the bible of every Indie Kid (at least here in the UK) The New musical express or NME.

But as Indie music has risen in popularity or at least a certain brand of Indie music, is it truly Indie anymore? With a army of bands following the blueprint left behind by 'pioneers' such as Franz Ferdinand, the Strokes and the Arctic Monkeys, all with their own accented singer, two guitars, bass and drums, all looking very identikit and bland. The appearance of bands like this wouldn’t happen if there wasn’t money in it, and this is evident from the many indie bands that occupy the charts, has Indie music simply become to an extent a branch of music that every teenager cringes at the though of; Pop? Has it simply become a tag to throw on that cheery band with the catchy riffs to give it credibility?

Yes, they are for the most part on Independent labels, but that’s irrevalant if every other 'independent' label chases the same formula to achieve commercial success rather than as independent labels should strive to do, encourage and nurture artistic freedom and creativity. Which the huge music labels such as EMI cannot be 'trusted' to do?

Now I know there's plenty of other bands that get labelled with Indie, who are actually very independent from the 'mainstream' and probably deserve the tag, but for every...say Arcade Fire or Bjork (If they're allowed to count) there’s a dozen 'The View' 'The Frateillis' and 'the Rakes'

Anyway, to get to the point, and what id like to see what people think, has Indie simply become a fashion statement, a tag to add kudos to a band, or does it still have meaning and actually mean independent boundary pushing music and the appearance of these four piece guitar bands just the mainstream radio friendly face of a healthier than ever indie scene?



Joseph Richards