because there is indie metal, indie rap, indie rock, indie pop. MGMT is not indie, radiohead is not indie, death cab for cutie has not been indie since transatlanticism.

no matter what people say, i will never look at it as a genre. looking at it as a genre is what has allowed us to say that MGMT is an indie rock band. they are released by columbia! how can you be indie rock when your first album is released by a major label?

hahahahahaha

How can a genre be defined by the label it is released on?

its not a genre!!!!

Well, if you're referring to any genre's validity that's debatable I suppose, but you didn't answer my question.

it was once identified by the label (back in the DIY days of hardcore punk), today it's come to be associated with the type of music which independent labels cater to. it's no less of a genre today than rock n' roll or RnB music.

if you can't identify the common thread within indie music labels then i suppose there's little more that can be said.

if you are asking how a genre arose from the label it was released on then i can speculate on that...

i was going to write this whole speal on where indie really came from and the ideals behind it but i'll sum it up: it was underground and different. bands started really promoting themselves as being "indie." people started identifying with the artsy, hipster, "different" ideas that indie was promoting. indie became a genre. not in my eyes, but in the eyes of everyone else apparently.

if you want a term for the vampire weekend, fleet foxes style of music: hipster rock. leave indie alone.

the problem with indie being a genre: the idea behind indie is being experimental and different. (at the very least that is what i love about indie music and associate it with) if everyone is different, no one is friggin different! the incredibles taught me this! god!

of course i can identify the common thread, but that does not mean i have to agree with it. and there are still plenty of indie labels out there that do not "cater" to the "indie" style of music

That's fine and I can respect that, but I'm not sure there is much that can or needs to be done about a genre or movement's natural evolution.

i hear you on that. i just personally won't enable it. it is just sad that a retaliatory music movement that has spawned so much great music and has such a great philosophy has been whored an commercialized. punk rock all over again.

what a load of crap.

the term "indie" arose about twenty years ago in reference to DIY hardcore punk entrepreneurs who started labels like SST and Discord Records to escape the pressures of major-label restrictions. subsequently bands on the roster like Pixies, Sonic Youth, Meat Puppets, Dinosaur Jr., the Replacements, Husker Du, the Dead Milkmen, Minutemen, etc. began to develop a certain style, people described it as "indie rock" and the genre grew as people started emulating their sound.

quit making it out to be like they're some form of counterculture elitists.