Sound, genre or a way of life?

Today, it’s not surprising to have a person in their twenties and on down tell you, “Oh. Well, I don’t listen to anything on the radio.” Usually when someone says this, you can assume that this person listens to mostly indie music. “Indie,” the short term for its original term “independent” in reference to record labels, is what you listen to if you’re a cool hipster these days. (If you don’t know what a hipster is, then you will be completely lost on the rest of this article… or maybe you are one and just won’t admit it.)

However, today the term “indie” is often too confusing to be used as a description. Is it because the term is misused? Or is it because the term is merely too broad nowadays? If you ask people with any musical knowledge what exactly “indie” means, I can assure you that you will get different answers from everyone. The answers you receive will frequently fall into these three categories: Sound, genre, and aesthetic/philosophy.

Indie Is This Sound

There are both music fans and artists who argue that indie is the sound produced by artists. So what does that mean? The majority of listeners who are just beginning to tune into hip music will just give you artists such as Broken Social Scene, Arcade Fire, Yo La Tengo, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and The Decemberists. These listeners will tell you that indie is the sound that these types of bands create. The sound is unique, fresh but most of all upcoming with an artful edge. Can we take this to be the true definition of indie?

Some believe that it is the way the artists use their instruments. Guitars aren’t just used for power chords or riffs. Instead they serve the purpose for texture within the musical layers of a song. Some believe it is how the artists choose to use technology. Many indie artists are now associated with the lo-fi technique, in which the production of music sounds somewhat home-made by using cassette tape recorders. Lo-fi production is mostly used because of the artist’s lack of finance.

A large amount of music fans will also inform you that indie music is underground, meaning it is undiscovered. It can be considered cool to listen to indie music because not many others are aware of these bands or artists’ existences yet. These people will tell you that indie music is the newest music you will find. Sometimes these bands will gain a cult following, but they will definitely not gain nor want commercial success.