Quote:
Originally Posted by Got Miikka?
In terms of record labels, well, as far as I can tell a lot of the 'indie' labels are just subsidiaries, in one way or another, of the big name companies.
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There is not much truth to that.
All the bands listed in the first post, with the exception of Modest Mouse, are on "real" indie labels:
Arcade Fire - merge records
The Shins - sub pop
Bloc Party - Wichita Recordings
New Pornographers - Matador
Of Montreal - Polyvinyl
Interpol - Matador
I don't believe that any of those labels are in any way affiliated with any of the major labels. I believe none of them are members of the RIAA. So they don't get involved with suing their fans for sharing their music, and most make their drm-free mp3s available on sites like emusic, etc. The feasibility of a band being able to stay on a truly independent label even once they've become moderately popular is a really good thing, and shouldn't be dismissed with such skeptism. Indie labels pay their artists much better and treat their fans a whole lot better.
But yeah, Indie rock has just become another label. Really it just replaced what Alternative was 15-20 years ago, when it applied to bands like the Pixies, Jesus and Mary Chain, Robyn Hitchcock, etc. Whatever, they are both silly labels that don't serve much purpose, but they do help me find which radio stations (or satellite channel, or web radio) are likely to play music that I like.
I'm sure the Indie label is well on the way to being ruined as well as the bands get bigger and bigger, and someone will have to try to commercialize it.