Here's my indie vinyl wall

Yeah, it's certainly shifted. It seems like it defines whatever the listener wants it to define; usually that has more to do with the listeners perception-of-self rather than some objective definition.

I think this shift(and what I would call meaningless-ness) is clearly showcased in a post like this; when a listener believes that their "indie" wall could include Radiohead, Miles Davis, and the Beatles(I think that's the white album). These groups and artists share the same musical, business, and sonic commonalities that Metallica shares with Stravinsky, but we wouldn't group those two together except under the terms "music", "bombastic", "loud", etc(words that have a stronger universal meaning).

If I claim that I have a "painting" wall which includes prints, photos, paintings, and food, I would expect nothing less than confusion from other people. That's because the word "painting" has a meaning. The word "indie" means completely different things to different people; I would argue that the result of robbing any word of its universality is robbing it of its meaning. Indie is gunna' mean something different to you than it is to me; when we use it in conversation with one another, we are not going to be able to understand each other as well as if we used more meaningful language.

That's why I think this sub is a very entertaining joke. It's pretty much about pop-music that is, at best, marginally less popular than the most popular international pop. That alone says more about the kind of people who identify as "indie-music-fans" than the sound of the music. I believe that marketing experts have calculatedly hijacked that term and used it to sell music and lifestyles to people who don't understand what the term used to mean but who want to identify as safely-counter-culture: essentially bubblegum-punk-rockers.

I know that this is calculatedly done at the professional level, because I do it for a living, and I'm damn good at it. (cue evil laugh)

There are a few exceptions where I would agree that the artists being talked about are truly "indie". This would be groups like Fugazi, Black Flag, old Arcade Fire, usually stuff that has importance when talked about retrospectively. However, when it comes to new music on this sub, there is almost nothing talked about that is not in some way associated with very large international distribution companies. Where are the posts about truly "indie" artists such as Sea of Bees, Little Wings, Barbarossa, The Horde and the Harem and a bunch of other great stuff no one hears much? Many people think "indie" refers to The Strokes, lol. An extremely great band deserving of all their success, but not in any way, shape, or form "indie".

I think about this stuff a lot, sorry for the length.

/r/indieheads Thread Parent Link - i.imgur.com