In today’s indie music scene, there seems to be a fine line between what’s deemed “authentic” and what’s deemed “commercialized” and therefore lacking quality. It’s an interesting phenomenon that has only come about recently in our culture. In today’s society we are sent a barrage of images and advertisements for everything on a daily basis. It’s tough to handle it all. Thus, a large sect of individuals, particularly young people in their twenties and thirties, deemed Hipsters by the media, have become disillusioned with consumerism and corporatized, generic music. In the music industry, this translates to meaning that bands who achieve financial success, either by way of signing a major record deal, or selling a song for placement in an advertisement or TV show, end up gaining fame (and potentially fortune), but losing credibility within the spectrum of loyal fans and music listeners.

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It’s a funny phenomenon, really, and has given rise to the development of small, independent record labels, on a mission to produce marketable, yet authentic, music. Largely, this has been wonderful for the music industry, allowing bands and musicians to achieve some semblance of financial success as an artist, while also representing their music as authentically and “bought” (or just given), rather than “sold”. For a case in point, Joe Pug, an Indie-Folk musician out of Austin,TX, by way of Chicago, IL, by way of Chapel Hill, NC, ended up producing his first EP entitled, “Nation of Heat” completely on his own. After putting a post on his website in 2008 inviting people interested in his music to request a free copy, he began mailing out CD’s to anyone who wanted them. In a little over a year, Joe had sent off nearly 10,000 copies of his CD all by request. This provided him with a large, loyal fanbase in towns across the country where he’d never played or even been before. His music is deemed authentic by those people, and then acknowledged by way of the press and media, and his career has taken off. He’s respected by everyone, and has a true career as a musician.

On the other hand, bands like the Avett Brothers, who started on a small label, Ramseur Records, end up signing a larger deal, achieving commercial success on a massive level, and then being snubbed by the media and formerly loyal fans.

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The Major Shift with Indie Music in The 21st Century

One of the major shifts in indie music is the ability to promote, advertise, market and brand your band more efficiently than ever before. By this I mean, indie music went from DIY (do it yourself) artists posting xerox machines and spreading news by word of mouth, to a more systematic social media and Internet scheme. Additionally, bands these days are relying less on labels, traditional press outlets and other forms of distribution as they are making a name for themselves online.

Moreover, these new indie groups are started their own blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and other social media sites. The main reason why this has shifted the attention for new indie bands away from traditional means, to a more modernized approach is essential because of the advent of social media networking. What this does for a band is something indie bands twenty years ago could never (and have never) done. In other words, indie bands now can send their songs to hundreds of people worldwide at the click of a button. In addition, they can link all of their music social media sites together and develop an underground following. This following can then draw the attention of other independent record labels around the world, and the band could be signed within months of forming.

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Now, is this likely for every band? Of course not, but what we are seeing these days is more groups utilizing social media networking to their advantages. Additionally, group are becoming successful at targeting record labels, gaining a larger fan base and reaching a wider spectrum of fans like never before. Indie groups are also multiplying in the process. The main reason why there is such an influx of groups is because anyone can start a band, write a song and post it online. Furthermore, anybody can become a Youtube star over night. Now, this has created a vast quantity of music that has never been seen before as well.

Not all aspects of social media and the Internet have been positive for indie bands. In fact, the competition is now greater today than it was ever before. However, although it may be challenging, many indie bands are finding ways to take advantage of the new modern system and make it work in their favor. Interestingly, many major label bands are using the indie label formula and releasing records themselves. It is an interesting turn of events for the music industry.

Indie music is a genre of music that is becoming quite popular today. Maybe because music lovers are sick of listening to the same top 40 music or because music lovers are craving a more unique and different type of musical sound, indie music has quickly evolved into type o music that is popular with both critics and music fans alike. What exactly is indie music? Well, read on to learn more about this extremely popular type of music.

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Indie music is any type of music and these musicians are usually signed on with a more independent music label. Unlike pop stars who are fabricated by music industry bigwigs, often lip sync and depend on a lot of studio tricks to get their tunes to sound better, indie musicians prefer to take a more creative approach when it comes to their music. Indie music is a type of music that is created on an independent label and often depends on word of mouth to get its sound heard. This genre of music is ofter very experimental, and unlike most music heard on radio stations today. While there are many indie rockers who have gone on to achieve mainstream success, this is only because indie music is a very popular style of music today.

Indie music is great music for music lovers who want to hear something different. Unlike the usual rehashed sound of most pop musicians, indie musicians tend to take a more organic approach to creating music. Indie music is often raw and not overproduced, so it has a more rock an roll kind of vibe to it. Also, many indie musicians write lyrics that are like poetry. For some indie musicians, the lyrics can be just as important as the music itself. For anyone who is tired to the same old tired music, there is a unique genre of music known as indie. Indie music is creative, unique and full of experimental sounds that make it sound unlike any music heard in the mainstream. For those who like their music with a creative edge, there is indie rock music.

In the past twenty years or so, the music industry has seen an astronomical expansion not only in the number of artists trying to make a name for themselves, but also in the development of small up-start record labels and venues, as well as entirely new genres of music. This trend is largely based on the development of the internet and mass media as a means for marketing from the ground up. Today’s music industry resembles nothing we’ve seen in the past. With technology, and the development of many niche markets and home-grown fan bases, nearly anyone can produce, promote, and yes, even make money off of one’s own music. This all has its pros and cons.

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To begin with, the rise of the digital age has provided more people with access to musical instruction and knowledge than ever before. In the past, listening, practicing, and collecting music was an expensive, time and space consuming process. Now, it’s possible to listen to and digitally download volumes of music in a matter of short minutes, and have it organized and ready for listening on a small handheld device even more quickly. This means that today’s musician has more exposure to everything, and therefore the music that people are creating is becoming more diverse and unique.
The market has fractured so that it no longer matters what style of music you make, but how good you are at what you do, and who you market your music to. Any genre, no matter how obscure, can succeed financially in today’s music industry. The internet also provides an easy way to market your music. In this day and age, one no longer needs an agent or record label to find fans and be successful. Sites like Facebook, Reverbnation, SoundCloud, CDBaby, and Bandcamp provide an easy means for accessing marketing tools, reaching out to fans, selling your music and merchandise, and contacting media outlets as well as venues for booking. You can even submit your music for licensing offers including movie, television, and radio advertisements.
The drawbacks to this situation are numerous, in that nowadays, everyone is trying to market their own music. Some musicians are actually better business people than they are musicians, and using the tools of the digital age, are able to market their music, and sell it, while other potentially more talented but less business savvy groups fall by the wayside.