Understanding Indie/Pointless Drivel

The term Indie is being thrown around so much these days that the word has virtually lost all meaning. What does Indie even mean? Growing up in the nineties I always understood indie to mean "independent", meaning that the band or artist in question was not signed to a major record label. Indie bands were usually more underground and not part of mainstream culture.

I always like to describe Pavement as a quintessential indie band: Lo-fi guitar rock with an underground cult following. They gained their moderate commercial success without the support of a major label, and paved the way (pun intended) for many other independent bands.

The Internet changed everything. Suddenly bands could reach a much larger audience through the miracle of modern technology. When Napster hit the web at the turn of the millennium people were able to access music that they never would have heard otherwise. And now with pitchfork and soulseek and bit torrents everyone gets to hear everything.

So here's my question: If everyone likes indie music can it still be called indie? Or does it just become 'music'? Or if you say to someone "I like indie music" what does that mean? Do you mean you like music that they write about on Pitchfork? Or does it mean that you only like bands that aren't signed to major labels? What if a band was on an indie label and then they get signed to a major label? Do you still like them? What if a band was underground and then they become mainstream? Do you not like them because other people like them? And if so, why not?

I don't know why I'm asking all these questions about indie. Last night in a drunken stupor me and my pal Diego were talking about indie music (which we often do) and I thought I had this amazing idea for a blog entry. "Diego, should I do it? Should I write about indie? I think this could be my greatest blog entry ever." He looked at me and said, "Whitey, you do what you gotta do."

This morning I was crafting the blog entry in my head and thinking about how awesome it was going to be. I was even going to write an outline. An outline for god's sakes! But then, true to form, I gave up on that and wrote the entry off the top of my head. And this is what you get. Literary diarrhea. Pointless drivel written only to distract the writer and reader from things that actually matter, such as climate change and Senators hockey.