A lot of people are very quick to judge music before they take it in long enough to be able to judge.

This makes it hard on indie artists everywhere that dare to be different from the Pop Culture standard. Being an "indie" musician myself I face problems like this on an everyday basis. People listen to your song and since it doesn't have lyrics and is different they automatically don't like it.

I wish that more people would stray away from the corporate controlled media and get back to "real music". Most people in the modern day society don't even know what they really like when it comes to music. Instead they are forced to pick from the few choices that major media sponsors deem worthy to sell their products or promote their industry. This is not how music should be associated with its listeners.

Now more than ever this is coming into the mainstream views as the RIAA is unknowingly drawing more attention to this. They are mad because their record sales are on the decline and they blame it on the filesharing of mp3 and other audio files for leaking out the album before it's release and etc.

This is a bogus claim. I for one will go out and buy and album as long as I "like" the album enough to do so. The decline is just a signal that people aren't just going to go and buy a record or cd with just one hit song on it and a bunch of "filler crap" on the rest. It should inspire artists to concentrate more on their "entire album" rather than just a quick hit to sell it with. Look at the statitistics of pop records which have quick high sales as opposed to long running constant sales. People are tricked into buying a product that they will most likely be unhappy with.

Pop music was almost designed to be too catchy so that the listener almost can't get it out of their mind. This is a good market association tactic. Hence why they are now losing money because people now have a chance to hear the the albums as a whole and not just their one radio hit. The trend is slowly being broken and the inevitable demise of corporate controlled pop music is evident.

A nice perspective.

I for one never listened to much 'indie' music until I joined this site. There is a lot of good indie music to be heard, but of course I'll never hear it on the radio.

I wonder if indie artists & labels would be more willing to create customized CDs for customers which might have several artists on a single CD? For example, how feasible would it be for me to go to DMusic or CDbaby and send in a list of indie music songs to be burned on a custom CD (with artwork)?

I don't think this is being done now, but is it possible for indie music?

"People listen to your song and since it doesn't have lyrics and is different they automatically don't like it."

very true. people have been brainwashed by the shitty music in mainstream television and radio today. then there's the assclowns who think that any band/artist not on MTV automatically sucks. ignorance.

to the metal fans reading this: check out artists on the Nuclear Blast and Century Media labels. Both are not on the RIAA, and there's plenty of good stuff offered by both. A couple bands to check out: In Flames, Soilwork, Children of Bodom, Arch Enemy, Strapping Young Lad, Lacuna Coil, Sentenced, and more.

very good article.

I don't think you can point to the mainstream music the RIAA pushes as a reason that someone dislikes your music. I can't speak for anyone else but I know exactly what I like, and always have. The only difference now is that I discover super-favourite songs all the time, rather than about one every few months before the net because I'm no longer beholden to what the RIAA feeds to radio stations on the basis of what will be most popular; I can now find everything I like without too much effort.

Maybe some of what the major labels put out influences pre-teens some what, but I doubt it plays any major role in "brainwashing" older people, and if it does it's minor.

Crap floats, you have to dig for the gold.

BTW--a good source to read reviews on Indie CD's go to www.allmusic.com

Click on the "styles" near the search box, type in "indie" and enjoy your time reading, learning about the bands, and make your own informed musical choices.

It's why it's czlled 'Pop' music dontcha know. There is no reason indies can't make 'popular' music. It does not have to be manufactured trash. But it can at least have a hummable melody and more people might buy it.

Rebelling against the music industry as it stands does not mean you have to sellout to popular culture but you can turn it to your advantage by taloring your music to suit a wider audience.

Well your staement isn't that compelling. I'm not a fan of pop music myself, but the issue is this. You don't have a focus group and psychiatrists and anylists knowing the song is going to be a hit before the song is made. Popular music is popular because the masses like it. Sure its manufactured, but its still accepted by the masses. Who says thats a bad thing? I also believe people don't care for indie music because its not heard. If more indi music made air play you would see more indi music become mainstream, and then it wouldnt be indie music anymore. And not to piss anyone here off, but the majority of indie music is not good and not as refined as pop music, so people are not going to gravitate towards it. I don't think you can just say all pop music sucks and since a corporation own it that it suck. The fact is people are used to a certain quality of music, and most indie music doesn't meet that quality of most pop music (And I don't mean quality of lyrics, I mean produced and overall polish) and will never be accepted by the masses. I think if anything to blame for indie music not being heard, its simply the radio companies fault. Theres no money for them in indie music, so from a bussiness aspect I don't blame them. I just don't think anyone can be so quick to hate pop music it just comes off as jealousy.

"Quality of Polish".

Some people like Spar Varnish; others like satin latex. Some like raw wood.

Some people like veneer and plastic slip covers.

The masses used to see flying saucers on a regular basis. Hillary Duff just had a #1 record.

I liked the flying saucers better.

How to have a number one. Ship 500 copies of cd to selected stores. "Indie (not to be confused with independent musician) Promoter" goes into selected store and buys 475 of the cd. Promoter then returns them to label (or uses them to give to radio stations, and the label charges them off as "promotional copies"). Artist gets charged for 500 cd's mfg., shows 475 sales, but also gets hit with chargebacks for 475 returns plus 475 "promo copies". No wonder major label artists rarely recoup, never get any royalties, while having "major hits". There is a reason its often referred to as Soundscam...its easily gamed.

This is why the artists and their accountants want to know mfg numbers..without that it is next to impossible to do an aduit that means anything..

I wish I can say I share your faith in people guys but I can't. I would say that the majority of population likes the crap that is fed to them. The good thing about p2p is that this majority now can get it for free and (I hope) most of them do not care enough about the labels or musicians to buy a CD later. People who do care tend to like more complex music, sometines idie.

Variety is the spice of life.
The more options that are available, the better.
Maybe some people are turned off on pop music because they feel they are being forced to accept it.
I remember when the movie E.T. came out.
First of all, I recognized it as a rip-off of a couple of books I had read as a child. But, the reason I never went to see it in the theaters was because everyone insisted that you weren't with it, cool, whatever, if you had not experienced this film. I deeply resent this type of coercion. I was a sophisticated individual, even though I never saw the film when it was popular.
My sister said that when she saw it, adults were crying in the darkened theater.
Well, one night she and I finally watched this momentous flick on VHS. I was shocked at how bored I was. In my humble opinion, the movie was not written very well, the acting was not that great, and the story was made for someone who was not like me. I'm certainly glad I did not pay for a ticket to watch it.
I feel the same way about a lot of music.
Maybe I'll like it, or maybe I won't, but I refuse to listen to what I am told to listen to.
And does anybody really understand what a lot of music videos mean ? How about commercials (you should read an old book from the 60's, called "The Hidden Persuaders") ?
I think if Madonna were not crammed down our throats (whoops, sorry about that), and all of the other manufactured stuff, that seems to be everywhere, like some Muzak nightmare, we might give pop music an objective listen.

Just my usual two cents worth.

The Kid

Want to listen to some INDIE music and get a FREE DOWNLOAD of The We Be Jamin Band Anti RIAA song called GENERATION D then follow the LINK http://www.soundclick.com/bands/6/thewebejaminbandmusic.htm
and that is our 2 cents worth

I would like to disagee with Hazard 369. While I agee that isn't the artists fault that their music is being played on the radio and the "indie" band isn't. However if you look at that song and an indie song, the indie song isn't a manufactured piece of crap. For example: if you look at a Britney Spears song, more than likely she did not play any of the instruments on the song, nor wrote the song or probably sang all of the notes in the song. If you listen to an indie band like Belle and Sebastian, you wil hear many instruments being played by the band and multiple talented singers. Yet the Recording industry will flock to put Miss Spears on their label and both mass produce her albums and heavily market her appeal to society, all not because she has any musical talent but because sex sells. I think if the recording industry put a near as much effort into selling bands like Belle and Sebastian and quit selling garbage like miss Spears and others like her, you would see higher quality of music on both the radio and TV, and less unrulyness that you see in pop culture today.