[Explode]

What does "indie music" mean to you?

Are we describing the type of music, or the way the music is created/distributed, or both?

Don't all bands initially start out as an "indie band?"

Discuss.

[SkateFirm21]

was GlassjAw ever really an indie band...

[Dustin Harkins]

indie isn't a genre dood

[E=MCHAMMER]

Indie is a homonym. Obviously it didn't start this way, but there is now a genre of music called indie. I know lots of local bands that identify themselves as indie, it has become just another word like 'rock' where there is no clear definition, but everybody kind of knows what you mean.

[Steeeve Perry]

Read Our Band Could Be Your Life. Then, after 1991, just give up trying to understand what is "indie" and what is not. My favourite indie band is Modest Mouse and they've been on a major since 2000. The only real indie band is probably Fugazi. But I'd say they are post-hardcore instead... Fu

[daftpunker45]

You've never heard indie music before.

[Star Slight]

awesome

[PermanentTourists]

means independent to me.

[jaredohgren]

It technically means both now, I guess.
Indie has formed it's way into a genre (independent from 'normal' genres, I suppose)
but to me, it makes more sense to look at is as the way it's distributed. (Indie label - not a major label, or Indie - produced, funded, etc, by yourself).

Knowing this is AP, someone is going to shit all over what I've had to say, so I can't WAIT!

[Stephin_DC]

if the majority of the audience are wearing thick black frame glasses and clothes from urban outfitters you classify as an indie band

[spaghettti]

I just generally think of indie as being a less "popular" and more mellow type of rock, but I know that's not what it is.

[leftapart]

Comin' to you from the underground!

[phillipjacob]

I think in today's gentrified society it's just an umbrella term to describe bands or labels that fit a certain aesthetic or demographic.

[majinsharingan]

Indie is the new alternative. Don't know exactly what to call it? Call it indie.

[Jake Jenkins]

independent but the independent mindset is reflected in the music