What makes a band indie?

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http://ilx.wh3rd.net/newanswers.php?board=2

pop
-gnarled long noses
-flies on broomsticks
-strange outfits
-casts spells

dance
-invoked by full moon
-hairy
-can only be killed by silver bullets
-mostly guys

Of course the fact is that just about any and every sort of music imaginable could be and in most cases already had been released on independent record labels; so inevitably the term immediately became completely and utterly meangingless.

2. Can't sing

3. Can't write

4. Records sound crap

5. Crap live

6. Look crap

7. Just crap in general

...the never-ending debate. I stick with the indie label definition. Until the late '80s bands were 'alternative', or whatever sub-genre, whereas the term 'indie' was applied purely to the labels. As far as I can remember, it was the C86/EEC Punkrock Mountain thing that coined the phrase for the style ... although every sinlge one of those bands was on a tiny indepdent, hencethe term. I don't think it was until sometime later when majors tried to recruit the style of band associated with C86 etc. (eg Food records signing Blur), that the term became misused. I say 'misused', because such a variety of indie labels sprang up after punk, ranging from jazz-inspired stuff, sheer experimentalism, '60s pop etc. etc. and you vcannot really bracket all of that stuff together.

Of course the term "alternative" was inevitably and predictably rendered meaningless by over-use within a matter of minutes of its introduction; although naturally this fact was not officially acknowledged until several weeks later.

it means something, to most people, even if that is no longer "independent label" etc.

The drummer of a band I used to be in; which, I suppose for want of a better adjective, could have been loosely described as "indie"; used to insist quite vehemently that he hated punk - and he would get quite upset and indignant when I pointed out that most of the cover versions we did had been written by punk bands (Buzzcocks, Jam, Vibrators....) and that his own favourite bands (The Cure and U2) had both emerged from the punk scene.

Does what record label they're on factor into this equation anyweher and if so what's it's significance?

and it's contextual at the grammy franz ferdinand = indie at ATP franz ferdinand =/ indie?

The idea was that this was music Major labels wouldn't touch as it wasn't deemed commercial, or universally accessible ... hence the release on an independent label.

So we ended up with a situation where the type of bands that previously would only have been able to get signed to independent record labels, were actually getting signed to the majors.

Obviously this meant that it became a nonsense to continue to differentiate between bands that were otherwise comparable in every respsect, simply because of the size of the record label that was releasing their records; so it all ended up geting called "indie".

Add in to the equation at this point - just to confuse maters further - a number of formerly "independent" record labels and distributors being acquired by "majors"; several "majors" creating a number of subsidiaries that were deliberately designed to look and act as if they were independent (except with the added clout of the "major" behind them when it was needed, of course) so that the once clearly-defined lines of demarcation between "indie" and "major" became blured beyond all recognition, and at this point all the tag "indie" actually referred was some intrinsically vague (and inherently irrelevant) concept of something that the the majors might not previously have been prepared to release historically, but which they were probably quite happy to get involved with at least to some extent now....

The opposite of this is true too, with independent labels putting out non-indie style music cos they can sell it to indie fans.

I'm thinking of indie hip hop, Helen love style pop-indie stuff etc.

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viagra distros? keepin' it hard and all.
m.

xpost That seems like it may be a little closer to the mark, if heavy on value judgments;)

i'm not so sure of that. where do you draw the line? what about labels that appear to be independent but have major company investment? or labels that are entirely independently owned but have major distribution? or labels that are owned in whole or in part by a major but use indie distributors? what about, say, V2? etc etc blah blah can of worms yadda yadda yadda.

Nevertheless there are certainly some labels that are very clearly "indie" and some that are very clearly "major" but as fact checking cuz points out above there's a huge number that fall into some grey area in the middle.

What makes a boy cry?

What makes a rock rock?

The same people who think Spiderland is a good album like them.

What makes a man start fires?