The Paradox of Mainstream Indie

"I knew them before they were cool."

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Have a Listen :)

Hello, fellow music enthusiasts! My name is Daphne and my favorite music genre(s) is Indie Pop/Rock. Indie music is often associated with current hipster culture, yet I find myself absorbed by the sense of soothing nostalgia or dynamic beat rather than the politics behind artists. Above you can find a playlist to the music I’ve been into as of late! Maybe you’ll find something refreshing?

As you’re reading this you’ll be able to analyze the contradiction found between the words “Popular” and “Indie Music”. In this blog, I will tackle the question “Can indie still be categorized as so once it reaches an undetermined level of fame?”  Furthermore, I will take a closer look at how indie music of the 1940s sparked a new subculture for music appreciation and their resistance to artists’ fame.  

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Hip•ster: a person who follows the latest trends and fashions, especially those regarded as being outside the cultural mainstream

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Hepcats A.K.A. the “OG” Hipsters

The term “Hipster” was coined around the late 2000s and early 2010s once their alternative lifestyle reached the mainstream audience. The label was originally inspired by the 1940s subculture of hipsters, or “hepcats”. These men were described as a counterculture group pushing against rampant consumerism sparking during the mid 20th century. Many emulated the fashion of black jazz and swing artists. A “9 to 5 job”, Johnny Cash, and middle-class suburbia failed to impress the bubbling subculture. They were known for their social liberalism, cutting edge fashion, and migrating towards the underground jazz scene. 

Young hepcats of the 50s could be found in tiny clubs smoking joints to avoid the society’s materialistic post-war American dream. In Cab Calloway’s Hepster Dictionary (1939), he defines hepcats as “men who know all the answers and understand jive.” Their distinct fashion and music taste exuded a confident and rebellious nature. Over the late 20th century, the hepcat aesthetic dissipated but was soon revived by millennials in the approaching decades. However, the term has adapted new meaning after its resurgence.

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Independent “Indie” Music

Contemporary hipsters have reclaimed the label along with its counterculture taste. They exhibit their nostalgia for vintage culture through their clothing, music styles, and technology. The late 2000s gave rise to a new genre of music widely known as independent or “Indie” music. Modern indie culture had introduced the nonconformist values of hipsters onto a musical platform. Indie artists produce their art without the assistance of a mainstream record label. Autonomous from the consumerist culture of the present-day, they manage to release their work with the essence of hipster flare. Rooting for the “underdogs”, Hipsters undermined the influence of artificially produced media.

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The Lumineers (2002-Present)

Within the last decade, the genre of indie folk has made a come up. Its musical style features instruments such as harmonicas, banjos, and basses. The harmony produced usually creates a more rustic, acoustic, and mellow timbre. This style is vastly different from mainstream POP music. From music videos to festival venues, indie artists stick to a relaxed atmosphere, rustic visuals, and dim earthy tones.  

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Indie artists are new No. 1 in music industry

The growth of streaming music services and shared playlists, and the continued strength of YouTube, unleashed new forces on the music business last year — catapulting independent artists onto the c…

The Surge of Streaming Services

As Pandora and Spotify rose in popularity for their music streaming services, they allowed indie music to shoot up the charts. In 2013, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s Thrift Shop single swiftly reached the No.1 spot on the charts. This event marked the first time since 1994 that an artist without the contribution of a record label reached such a record audience of over 170 million users. 

A large amount of Thrift Shop’s success was due to high exposure through these streaming services. “There are artists who were invisible in the music business who now get exposed to an audience that is big enough to support them.” This quickly disproved the notion that acquiring a record label is essential for success in the music industry; therefore, giving independent artists the confidence needed to preform for a widespread audience. The power was now at the hands of the artists’ through the power of the internet and the admiration of loyal listeners. “There’s an opportunity for a really well-run band to take control of their careers.” 

Word of mouth became the optimal tool for indie artists attempting to rise out of the underground scene. In Thrift Shop’s case, Macklemore disrupted the expectations of his initial listeners, thereby sparking the match for conversation. The rest of his publicity was due to listeners encouraging a new face to continue with his style of music. 

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Pseudo-Underground Indie

With a user bases of over 100 million, Spotify offers music enthusiasts free streaming services for a diverse range of genres and artists. The global network allows artists to submit their own music for exposure to a larger audience. Spotify is often the route taken by struggling indie artists in order to broadcast their product. The website pre-selects playlists  so precisely that Indie can be split into four different subcategories. One of these being “Underground Indie”. Hepcats’ significance continues to influence the organization of music genres onto a cyber platform. There, users can unearth “underground” songs that have been noticed by the website’s algorithm as rising tracks. 

This pseudo-underground indie contradicts its own genre because how is it considered underground when it's promoted towards a rising audience and recognized by a mass music marketer? If a song is truly underground, it would it remain exclusive to a small population, not elevated to a profitable demographic. If a song is considered underground when it debuts, surely it eventually graduates to a mainstream category. Therefore, independent artists will be predestined for the pedestal of popular musics if they decide to embrace their growing fame. Yet, where is the line between what is considered underground indie and popular/mainstream indie? Where is the seam between 10 listeners to 10 million listeners? It’s too difficult to measure the exact number of listeners surpassed where a song qualifies as “popular”.  

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“Twist & Shout!” (at the youth for their money)

The proto-hipster, or hepcat, music was originally known for its nonconformity and opposition towards capitalist economy. However, trendy hipsters have twisted their label into a conflicting message. As indie artists continue to gain a larger fan base, they are more frequently associated with the majority of popular music. These artists risk entering the category of Corporate Indie once they become equally as popular as mainstream music. Many native hipster listeners express their frustration with losing beloved indie artists to the consuming culture of the music business. 

The advertising market knew how to tap into the profit potential of an impressionable demographic. Modern hipster are typically middle-class, educated adolescents. “The field of cultural production of advertising is powerfully shaped by ideas associated with youth and the counterculture” (The Sounds of Capitalism). With this knowledge, advertisers could effortlessly take advantage of the disposable income available through this market. Hipsters who “heard it before it was cool” flag coerced indie artists as sell outs. These “sell out” artists include artists such as The Lumineers, Mumford & Sons, and Foster the People. 

A true hipster’s reputation revolves around the fact that they enjoy underdog music artists. However, advertisers push new material to the front line of media in hopes that it will catch the attention of their target demographic. As a result, competitive hipsters constantly search for the next breathe of fresh air before it becomes marketable. Nevertheless, retromania and hipster fashion has become increasingly trendy, elevating these underground indie bands to the mainstream spotlight. Indie artists run into the difficult decision to sign with a record label for longterm success or remain loyal to their day one listeners, who are repelled by the rising fame of esteemed artists.

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I heard it before it was cool.

said by every trendy hipster, like ever

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Mumford and Sons (2007-Present)

Mumford and Sons is an indie folk band formed in London during the mid 2000s by Marcus Mumford, Winston Marshall, Ben Lovett, and Ted Dwane. Their music is characterized by an acoustic and alternative rock style with the use of a banjo, piano, and double bass. In 2009, the indie band signed a contract with Island Records after gaining global popularity. As of January 2017, Mumford and Sons has released three studio albums: “Sigh No More”, “Babel”, and “Wilder Mind”. In America and the UK, “Babel” and “Wilder Mind” both debuted with tops hits. Today, the band continues to tour globally from headline arenas to intimate bar scenes.

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“Fitzpleasure” heard in a Nokia Commercial

English indie rock band “alt-J” came together in 2007 with their debut album “Awesome Wave” (2012) immediately gaining success in Europe and the United States. It’s members include Joe Newman, Thom Green, Gus Unger-Hamilton, Cameron Knight, and Gwil Sainsbury until his amicable departure in 2014. Alt-J uses guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums with the lead vocalists Newman and Unger-Hamilton. The band's name “alt-J” refers to the delta sign, Δ, created when pressing the key sequence “Alt” and “J”. The band cleverly uses delta which symbolizes “change” or “difference” in reference to their alternative style of music.  

As their music has become increasingly mainstream, alt-J’s songs can be heard in different shows and company commercials such as Lovesick and Nokia. 

(Watch Nokia Commercial Here)

The subtle use of popular music in conjunction with visuals of marketable commodity is not a revolutionary tactic used by advertisers. “The virtually exclusive emphasis on appealing to one particular, extremely young generation is what most distinguishes the phenomenon of rock ‘n’ roll from its predecessors” (Starr and Waterman). Mainstream media has adapted over the decades to subconsciously persuade their target demographic by associating identifiable pop culture elements with their purchasable product. 

In the Nokia commercial, it is quite clear that the company is attempting to attract a younger generation of consumers to their phones. In the commercial, viewers can observe high-spirited adolescent actors gyrating and partying while interjecting visual specs of their their cutting-edge technology. This technique using music association allows for efficient brand recall. In this case, alt-J has progressed to the genre of mainstream media, making it convenient for marketing tactics. Its popularity resulting in widespread recognition and appreciation among the young hipster audience brought Nokia a higher  potential for profit. Modern advertisers took note of Coca-Cola’s success with music association during the 1950s. “If is aint broke, dont fix it.”

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“Do I Wanna Know?” heard in Peaky Blinders

Alex Turner, Matt Helders, Jamie Cook, and Andy Nicholson joined in 2002 to create the indie rock band Arctic Monkeys. In 2003, the band began recording demos at Yellow Arch Studios and releasing free CD copies to listeners at their gigs. Their small audience passed along their music under the title Beneath the Boardwalk, leading to their building success over platforms such as MySpace and BBC Radio. Soon, they created enough frenzy to be signed under Domino Records in 2005. Arctic Monkey’s success had little to do with advertising or marketing. It was their fan base that spread their art to a global audience. In 2013, they debuted the single Do I Wanna Know? during the AM Tour at the Ventura Theatre in California. The band’s presence in the mainstream audience was clear once Do I Wanna Know? was heard in television shows such as Peaky Blinders.

(Watch Peaky Blinders here)

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The Vinyl Revival

Who would have thought that in the age of practicality, we would turn from sensible portable CDs to large and fragile wax disks? The nostalgia for record players and vinyls returned during the 2010s along with the revival of hipster culture. Once digital streaming arrived after the turn of the century, CD sales drastically decreased over the decade. Vinyl sales exhibited a distinct revival around the same time hipster fashion became a mainstream trend. 

Teens and young adult hipsters began to romanticize the days of dated musical equipment. The aesthetic of 1950s musical culture became the defining trend for many alternative fans. Many turned to records in search of a distinctly un-digital crackle when listening to retro-inspired artists. The audio distortion produced by the disks give a more immersive experience for committed listeners.

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Modern Artists & Retromania

Modern musical artists from diverse genres are now selling vintage aesthetic vinyl sets to take advantage of the new wave of retromania. From Hip Hop to Indie Pop, you can expect to find wax disks at your closest record store.

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Coachella Hipsters Caught on Jimmy Kimmel Live

During the early 2010s, young adults and teens clamored to be a part of the new wave of fringe hipster fashion and edgy musical taste. Many were criticized for being “posers” if they were not aware of underground indie artists. Wannabe hipsters claimed to listen to any artists not synonymous with “mainstream”. Authentic members of the subculture believe that being a hipster is a lifestyle that only a few can acquire. Once it became a mainstream ideal, people wanted to be a part of this exclusive club. Even if that meant “Fake it until you make it.”

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Work Cited

Weber, Lena. "The real hipsters – a look at 1940s hepcats." Queens of Vintage. N.p., 2011. Web. 3 Jan. 2017.

Atkinson, Claire. "Indie artists are new No. 1 in music industry." New York Post. N.p., 2 Jan. 2014. Web. 4 Feb. 2017. 

Wikipedia contributors. "Mumford & Sons." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2 Feb. 2017. Web. 2 Feb. 2017. 

"Back on record – the reasons behind vinyl’s unlikely comeback." The Conversation. N.p., 17 Apr. 2015. Web. 5 Feb. 2017. 

Hopkins, Meg. "MAINSTREAM HIPSTER MUSIC? OH, THE IRONY." The Pacific. N.p., 22 Apr. 2014. Web. 5 Feb. 2017. 

Wikipedia contributors. "Alt-J." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 4 Jan. 2017. Web. 5 Feb. 2017.

Wikipedia contributors. "Arctic Monkeys." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 3 Feb. 2017. Web. 5 Feb. 2017.

Taylor, Timothy D. The Sounds of Capitalism: Advertising, Music, and the Conquest of Culture.: Chicago Scholarship Online, 2012. Print.

Starr and Waterman. "8: "Rock Around the Clock"." American Popular Music. Print.