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Gavin B. · 01-04-2011, 07:15 AM

The term "indie" doesn't describe any sort of musical genre. My own understanding of indie is that the term describes any kind of music produced by an independent music label as opposed to one of the four major labels that dominate the music industry.

Independent labels are responsible for producing most of the recorded music for the less commercially viable genres, like folk music, jazz, reggae and afrobeat. From my perspective nearly any music (regardless of genre) that is produced by an independent label is "indie" music. The confusion about exactly what indie music is began with the misuse of the "alternative" by the major label to market rock music in the early Nineties.

The term "indie" came into usage when the four major labels began marketing rock music using the catch phrase "alternative." Musically savvy folks began using the term indie to make a distinction between independent label music & major label music that was hyped as alternative music. In the 90's many major labels set up wholly owned boutique labels to fool the public into believing that they were purchasing music produced by an independent label. A lot of music buyers, myself included, shop by label and prefer indie label music because the music content is far more interesting than most music produced by the four major labels.

There have been indie labels around since the Fifties. If I'm not mistaken, Blue Note was the first indie label. Blue Note was established to record and market some of the less commercial bebop jazz artists that the major labels weren't interested in signing or recording. Miles Davis & Thelonious Monk recorded a great deal of music on Blue Note before the major label, Columbia Records decided sign them on and market contemporary jazz to a larger mainstream audience.

Here's of the most prominent independent labels

ROCK
Sub Pop
Dischord
Factory
Touch and Go
Matador
SST
4AD

FOLK MUSIC
Rounder
Red House

REISSUES & RARE MUSIC
Rykodisc
Rhino

REGGAE & WORLDBEAT
Greensleeves
Ras Records

JAZZ
Blue Note
Verve

01-04-2011, 07:15 AM	#25 (permalink)
Gavin B. Model Worker Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,248	The term "indie" doesn't describe any sort of musical genre. My own understanding of indie is that the term describes any kind of music produced by an independent music label as opposed to one of the four major labels that dominate the music industry. Independent labels are responsible for producing most of the recorded music for the less commercially viable genres, like folk music, jazz, reggae and afrobeat. From my perspective nearly any music (regardless of genre) that is produced by an independent label is "indie" music. The confusion about exactly what indie music is began with the misuse of the "alternative" by the major label to market rock music in the early Nineties. The term "indie" came into usage when the four major labels began marketing rock music using the catch phrase "alternative." Musically savvy folks began using the term indie to make a distinction between independent label music & major label music that was hyped as alternative music. In the 90's many major labels set up wholly owned boutique labels to fool the public into believing that they were purchasing music produced by an independent label. A lot of music buyers, myself included, shop by label and prefer indie label music because the music content is far more interesting than most music produced by the four major labels. There have been indie labels around since the Fifties. If I'm not mistaken, Blue Note was the first indie label. Blue Note was established to record and market some of the less commercial bebop jazz artists that the major labels weren't interested in signing or recording. Miles Davis & Thelonious Monk recorded a great deal of music on Blue Note before the major label, Columbia Records decided sign them on and market contemporary jazz to a larger mainstream audience. Here's of the most prominent independent labels ROCK Sub Pop Dischord Factory Touch and Go Matador SST 4AD FOLK MUSIC Rounder Red House REISSUES & RARE MUSIC Rykodisc Rhino REGGAE & WORLDBEAT Greensleeves Ras Records JAZZ Blue Note Verve __________________ There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff. Townes Van Zandt