The Meaning Of 'Indie'?

[Leesa]

I luuuuuuuuuuuurve indie music. I generally tend to say it's my favourite genre of music, with rock and alternative. They have this certain sound to them as well.. like, you'd think they're any kind of alternative/rock kind of sound.. it's just, different. But it's similar. I don't even know how to explain it. Ok I don't even know what I'm saying. I'll just leave. But oh wait, the 'indie' sound is usually picked up with the rock/alt. sound too. Bah I've just confused myself even more. Okay. Well I always have a knack for picking up artists who aren't mainstream, whatever genre, you know? Because I don't know, I just do it that way. But some mainstream artists are cool, like I totally dig Ashlee Simpson sometimes. Haha she looked better with black hair.

I should so get kicked in the ear right now for my rant! Haha.

[finewine]

^Good point. I love indie music as well, and it is connected to the alternative rock sound

[Maca (Mod)]

Wow, I'm sorry I only now found this thread.

I have this to say about indie music: I love it. I know when it comes to distribution and sales and stuff like that the "limit", if such a thing exists, between indie and mainstream gets blurry, but indie music is by far better. I can enjoy mainstream music, but it's really indie music that makes me think and feel. It's kinda Folklore versus Loose: Loose makes me jump around and dance, but it's Folklore that really gets to me emotionally and intellectually. I can enjoy them both but on different dimensions. "Mainstream" movies and music are just too commercial a lot of the time, you get tired of being delivered the same stuff over and over. I guess "indie" artists just put a higher value on artistic freedom.

Nelly has always had this cool vibe because she's been successful commercially but her music has an indie sound. Her music is unique, and if it also does well in the market, then great for her. I was worried that with Loose the record label may put some pressure on her to go in a certain direction, but I guess it's lucky she was so inclined to do a commercial-sounding record. We'll have to wait and see what happens with the next one.

[Jeremy]

Actually Franz and Interpol arent indie. Folklore was no where near indie.

Indie are bands that have fairly small distribution/release in comparison to major label releases. Interpol was at one time indie , and Franz never really was indie at all. The whole line though really gets blurred now with myspace and all.

[Rodrigo]

Originally Posted by Vin

From a Marketing/Public Relations Standpoint: Why couldn't music or film be indie, yet be structured for the mainstream. I don't see the reasoning behind expressing oneself so freely in film or music as to alienate everyone else from viewing or listening to it. It's not self expression if there's no one to express it to...

...Vin

Ahh, the real "issue" for me here is trying to categorize things. Our social construction tends to give a tag to everything so we can now how to treat it since the beginning, instead of freely approaching to it, without any mindset.

And of course, art is for everyone to see, the whole point of art is to create emotions in the people that they don't usually have in their lives. But as we have a tag for everything, we cannot go out of that way of thinking, and seeing something that goes beyond that classification usually is annoying for everyone as we have never been told how to handle with it. So there is art that only few people could "feel" as only few people go beyond the normality or the average sensations. And that art could never go mainstream because it would not "touch" the general population.

What would be great is that people started to educate themselves to think beyond the stablished, that way, indie would never be indie anymore. "weird" forms of expressing would be embraced by everyone, because everyone would be trying to feel beyond what they've learnt.

I don't know if I explained myself. Jaja.

[dad-nica (Mod)]

^Ohh I also always asked me what that meant. I only knew it was like 'Alternative'. But now I know, thx !