We're Indie! Who F'in Cares?

"Indie" is both a genre and an artist's statement. During the 70s, 80s, and 90s, "indie" was a style of grunge/punk/garage rock, and a cultural style of music and listeners. These days it may mean an artist has an "alternative" sound, though "alternative" is no longer actually "indie," or literally, the artist isn't signed to a major label.

Recently, SFCritic noticed on a blog that Fleet Foxes were fighting accusations that the band had signed to Virgin Records (oh no! major label!). Lead singer Rob Pecknold denied the allegations adamantly stating:

"Fleet Foxes will never, ever, under no circumstances, from now until the world chokes on gas fumes, sign to a major label. This includes all subsidiaries or permutations thereunder. Till we die."

Shit man, that's gangsta--they'd rather die than sign to a label! Last time I checked, thousands of people are trying to get signed--BY ANYONE. The whole "indie" thing is way pretentious. I mean really, who's an artist fooling--they want to make money right? With the album sales failing, more artists have looked into other methods of selling their work. I no longer feel like an artist is "selling out" by leasing their songs to commercials (you gotta do, what you gotta do).

So who cares whether a band is indie or not--if the music is good, than that's all that matter.