Brandon Hahn

Eleanor Boudreau
ENC 2135

The Rise of Indie Music

Indie music used to mean independent, underground music that was untouched by the
corporate world and was listened to only by the people with bizarre music tastes. Now, indie
artists and bands play to crowds of thousands at widely popular music festivals like Bonnaroo
and Hangout Fest. This transition may seem like it came out of nowhere, but there are distinct
causes that pushed indie to the headlines of music festivals and the top of the Billboard 500.
Many people have tried to tackle the question of What is indie music? Few, however, have
tried to see how it gained the following that it has over the years. Indie successfully became one
of the most popular music genres due to the vast number of subgenres, allowing it to appeal to
numerous demographics, coupled with the emergence of the internet as a massive music sharing
source.
Ironically, before anything else, indie must be defined, as no longer does indie mean
just independent from a massive, corporate record label. In the 2016 edition of the book
Understanding Popular Music Culture, Roy Shuker says that the term indie denotes not just
a type of economic entity, but a musical attitude. Indie has broken off from the old definition,
and formed its own genre. Like I said before, many people have tried to answer the question of
what indie is, and no clear definition has become apparent, but there is a very broad consensus. If
the band or artist either has a guitar or a British accent, it could be considered indie in the eyes of
many. Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian recently said in a Guardian article that indie
nowadays encompasses anything with a guitar or a softer sensibility. James Dean Bradfield of

Manic Street Preachers said in the same article that indie bands are allowed to become big and
stay indie. Both men are correct in their own ways. What used to be considered alternative
music in the 90s and earlier is now a part of the indie genre, and alternative music is essentially
just dudes with guitars that sing and play too softly to be considered rock music. Similarly, in his
book, Matthew Bannister says that indie rock is simply post-punk genre of alternative rock. An
example that fits both mens statements is the band Arctic Monkeys. Arctic Monkeys have had
the distinctive indie sound since their inception. Their debut album Whatever People Say I Am,
Thats What Im Not has the usual, formerly alternative sound, with slightly off-kilter vocals
over a rough electric guitar and hard bass track. This album holds the record for the fastest
selling debut album in UK chart history - selling over 400,000 copies within the first week,
according to a 2006 BBC article - but its still a distinct indie album, making it fit Bradfields
statement about indie music. This gives indie a very broad definition, since it essentially just
requires a guitar and some sort of sound accompanying it, which works for what were
accomplishing with this.
Though indie labels existed as early as 1946, the birth of indie as a genre is generally
considered to be the year 1977, with the release of the Buzzcocks Spiral Scratch EP. The word
indie was, at that period, used to describe just bands that were independent of major labels. This
original definition then, in the mid-1980s, shifted to mean something akin to the Smiths-borne
jangle pop/britpop alongside the Buzzcocks-borne punk rock. These subgenres, both under the
massive umbrella of alternative rock at that point, wildly expanded into massively popular bands
like Nirvana and Oasis. In the late 90s/early 00s, as more bands became popular under the title
of alternative rock, the name lost its original meaning. These bands were no longer alternative,
they were in the spotlight. Though the bands werent independent, as I stated earlier, it was more

used to define the type of music rather than the type of label. Through its long history, indie
didnt find a definitive foothold until the new millennium, but it managed to become one of the
biggest music genres due to a few key reasons.
One of these few key reasons is the fact that indie is extremely versatile as a genre title.
In his 2007 book Genre in Popular Music, Fabian Holt divides popular music into 9 main
genres, each with four or five subgenres within them. On this list, one word appears to be
missing, indie. That just leads into the question, what does the word indie even mean as a
genre? The fact that the word indie is added to the front of the already innumerable music genres
shows that its hard to pin down to fit one distinct formula or recipe. Indie has a seemingly
endless list of subgenres, taking all of the subgenres of pop and rock and making them its own,
from art-pop to zamrock. Because of this, indie music has a large area of interest. In a 2009 New
York Times article, Ben Sisario jokes when indie-rock genres outnumber the bands. That
obvious hyperbole contains a nice truth within it, theres more variety in our music than ever
before. In his article, Sisario discusses a shirt that had gone on the market, dubbed the genre
shirt. This shirt contains a huge mass of real and fake small-font genres, ranging from
Macbookcore to Scandinavian pop. Its meant to be a poke at the ever-expanding indie genre, as
it lists over 200 outlandish sounding subgenres. While Sisarios title was hyperbole, this shirt
isnt really, surprisingly. The perfect subgenre for everyone exists out there somewhere, be it
shoegaze or crab-core (real subgenres). This fact makes it hard for indie to not appeal to someone
in some way. Indies wide variability is one of the main reasons for its success, as anyone can go
to a music festival and find a quirky little band that they truly love. The huge variety of talent
that the popular music festivals host is astounding, the larger ones having talent ranging from
solo folk artists like Iron & Wine to hardcore rap groups like Death Grips.

A few of these subgenres have taken hold over the past decade, and could be considered
to have left the title of subgenre behind. The most notable of these include neo-psychedelia
and folk rock. One that takes its roots from the late 60s, early 70s (DeRogatis), psychedelic rock
has always been a leading subgenre of the alternative/indie scene, what with Pink Floyd being
one of the most acclaimed groups of all time. After Pink Floyds decline around 1980, though,
psychedelic rock fell into a sort of obscurity, with no bands reaching even close to the insanely
high bar that Pink Floyd set. However, recently a few bands have been climbing the charts under
the title of neo-psychedelia, most notably the currently exploding band Tame Impala. Frontman
Kevin Parker has almost singlehandedly brought back to life, with his groups insanely popular
new release Currents. Though the previous albums were loved by the charts, when Tame Impala
released Currents, they experienced a similar type of public response that Arctic Monkeys got
with AM, as the radio stations began to discover them. A similar subgenre to in terms of recent
popularity is folk rock. In his article, R. Serge Denisoff defines folk rock as a fusion of material
and traditions derived from the folk music idiom, combined with the instrumentation and beat of
rocknroll. Like psychedelia, folk rock experienced early fame, with Simon & Garfunkel, Bob
Dylan, and The Byrds being the pioneers of the genre. This sudden surge of fame quickly
declined, though, after the hype around these artists had died down around the late 70s. The folk
rock subgenre as a whole remained on hiatus, in a way, until around the year 2006. The years
2005, 2006, and 2007 were essential to the folk rock subgenre, as these were the years that The
Lumineers, Bon Iver, and Mumford & Sons started up, respectively. These bands are almost the
perfect examples for the common idea of indie, going back to Stuart Murdochs definition for
indie in the Guardian. Guitar and a softer sensibility are essentially their main selling points.
These bands revitalized their genre akin to the way Kevin Parker did with neo-psychedelia.

Mumford & Sons & The Lumineers both appeal to the mass public, with their songs I Will Wait
and Ho Hey being some of the most radio-loved songs even today, whereas Bon Iver more
appeals to a niche group of listeners. Together, they manage to cover a great amount of music
fans, and theyre still growing their followings. These burgeoning subgenres of indie music
could nearly be considered their own genres, with the mass popularity surrounding them, but
they still fall under the ever-widening umbrella of indie music. This fact helps clarify how the
indie listener population continues to grow to this day, but its not the only thing that contributes
to it.
An ever-present meme in todays social media obsessed society is the classic check out
my SoundCloud phrase, spoken repeatedly by every aspiring rapper and DJ in America. While
it may just seem like a funny little saying from people determined to make it big, it hints at
another reason indie music has transformed into the giant that it is today. Hugely popular sites
like SoundCloud and YouTube can turn anyone with musical talent from a nobody to a viral star
in what seems like one night. Phoebe Smith of Daily Orange is a massive proponent of
SoundCloud, as she claims it helps her discover new music before anyone else does. This belief
is shared by many, which means that anyone who puts a song onto SoundCloud will likely have
it listened to by a decently large number of people. Of course, not everyone becomes a star, but
everyone has the potential to become one, due to SoundClouds huge user base. It also helps that
SoundCloud has a seemingly endless supply of new music, with over 10,000 hours of audio
added every minute (Bryant). So many new artists are adding their music and getting listened to
by eager consumers, its clear to see how SoundCloud helps people discover music. Moreover,
YouTube is possibly the most famous star making sites, giving stardom to massive headliners
like Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, and Ed Sheeran. These millionaires all started out making

videos in their bedrooms, and now theyre household names. Though The Weeknd and Justin
Bieber arent indie artists in the slightest, theyre a perfect example of the ability to reach a wide
audience that Soundcloud and YouTube have. Another way YouTube can spur interest in smaller
artists is through certain people. Popular individuals like Anthony Fantano, also known as The
Needle Drop, review small indie albums, giving them more listeners with just a simple ~6minute video. These many factors account for why indie has hit such a huge growth spurt in the
internet age, new music is available wherever we go. If you find a new artist you like on
Soundcloud, just check them out on the current challenger to Apple Music, Spotify. Music has
formed its own little ecosystem, where everything feeds into each other, creating a loop of new
music that a listener can endlessly enjoy. Spotify itself has even become a less advanced version
of SoundCloud, with its constantly updated New Releases tab and its user-tailored Discover
playlist being recreated daily. Many people, including myself, have found amazing bands with
shockingly small followings from these resources. Unsurprisingly, these bands almost always fall
under the indie genre when you read their description. Indie is insanely widespread in not only
genre type, but across the mass media. Most music sites such as Pitchfork and Metacritic of
course publish articles about Kanye West and Taylor Swift, but they also publish a good number
of smaller articles regarding up-and-coming indie bands. Pitchforks slogan rings very true, they
are the most trusted voice in music, as they have more power over what new music gets
listened to by the public than almost any other singular entity, save for the Billboard Top 100.
Without the widespread public use of the internet, the genre of indie probably wouldnt have
become as massive as it is today. Easy access to small bands and artists is extremely important
for the growth of a genre.

Ever since indie music entered the scene, journalists and music fans have tried to
put it into a box, tried to rigidly define it. However, not many people have tried to determine
what made indie become such a household term. Indie became one of the most popular music
genres due to the vast number of subgenres and the emergence of the internet as a music sharing
platform. The seemingly infinite subgenres allowed the main genre of indie to expand and
appeal to multiple demographics, rather than just the early-20s, hipster crowd, while the internet
allowed smaller artists and bands to share their music with a wide audience, without having to
sign with a large record label. Both things helped indie grow into the massive, stadium-filling
genre that it is today.