'Is Indie dead?'

This debate will undoubtedly end in trying to define what indie is - It's come close already.

I wish the word 'Indie' would die. I hate the abreviation with a passion. It ceased to mean anything specific a long time ago.

Who gives a shit what you call it? If you like it just go with that.

The new "indie" can be found on myspace - the new way to find self-produced music. GarageBand is the 4-track recorder of this generation. Exposure in such a large fishbowl can be hard to garner, meaning (hypothetically) only the best will float to the surface on publication radar-screens.

But that's using the definition of "indie" as a form of independently released music. I don't really care about the "selling-out" aspect of the "indie sound." I think bands should be allowed to make money while they still can... Before record labels finally disappear...

.....I'd rather not read spin.

genres don't die, they just....progress into subgenres...hopefully somewhere nice and warm. that is all.

i'll have to agree with rickenbacker's initial statement. Indie is becoming the new major...but doing it much smarter. and majors are paying attention to and financially backing a lot of the indies.

I think indie is alive as it's ever been, you just have to look for it, which applies to my sensibilities. Music fans that just wait for the recognized bands are totally missing out on all the fun. The fact that a phenomenal band like the Constantines have stayed so under the radar is pretty kick ass to me, it just makes me love them more. The depressing part is, that when they come out with a new album, I have noone to talk about it with.

It feels like everyone's answering the wrong question. Of course indie music still exists, the question should be whether it still has anything to offer musically. From a UK perspective, there've been times in the past few years when I've questioned this. A lot of UK indie music seems to repeat the same musical formulas not taking many risks, and ends up sounding rather same-ish. It's become less vibrant and interesting than some other genres. This said, I think the Arctic Monkeys have been a breath of fresh air, and have given rise to a new wave of exciting young bands from the north of England which offer hope for the future.

Sory dude, I may like the Arctic Monkeys, but they sound pretty samey in comparison to a lot of what the UK is pushing out as indie... they just do it well.

There will always be independent music, and there will always be cycles of what's popular one day and no longer popular the next. 'Indie' hasn't meant anything in terms of sound for a long time. Once it was Sebadoh and Pavement, but I think that for the most part, even in the 80s and 90s, it really just meant non-mainstream, whereas today, people use it as a means of describing stuff like Bloc Party or Death Cab For Cutie, who aren't even on independent labels. It's convenient, but fairly void of concrete meaning on the whole.

To give my short answer, which might not even be adequte, I think that the internet and torrents have ensured that indie music will become the leading "genre" in the future..
Now of course, it depends on how you define indie. If you define it as "independent label bands", indie has a very bright future, as the major labels are all busy digging their own graves.
People have a better access to "indie bands" these days, so these bands have to become ever more creative to find their own living space..
Personally, I feel that labelling music is almost useless, if not impossible. As someone wrote earlier in this thread: genres tend to develop sub-genres, and I think that's the most important and interesting thing about indie music.

I say, if you are that worried about the concept of genre, you obviously miss the whole point of music.

There are so many directions a song can take you, so many feelings and so many emotions that can be created, developed and employed in the songcraft OF a band.

Who the fuck cares if a band can advertise themselves as "Indie"

If a band has a label, I am pretty sure they (or their management company) care about money, as EVERYONE ELSE IN THIS WORLD DOES, so why attack them for an action based on necessity?

Indie probably died the moment some dude turned to another dude at a concert and said "This band is so Indie man"

^^^great post